American sensation Jason Johnson stormed to victory during Round 3 of the Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars Championship at the Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway Saturday.
After missing the opening round due to commitments at home, Johnson endured a forgetful race in Toowoomba so the win could not have come at a better time for the Haynes Motorsport outfit. Johnson did not have things all his own way however with Danny Reidy taking out the Vortex Top-8 Shootout and pole position.
Rediy took command of the feature event and raced into the lead but was hounded by six-times Australian Champion Garry Brazier who was searching the top and bottom of the track for a way through. Locals were expecting Brazier to runaway with the main event but they were not counting on Johnson to come on so strong.
The race developed into a thrilling three-way dice between Reidy, Brazier and Johnson with Western Australian Ryan Farrell also sticking his nose into the battle on one occasion. Johnson took back second position from Brazier on lap 21 and made the winning move on Reidy 2 laps later.
Points leader Brooke Tatnell failed to make an impression on the field starting thirteenth. He dropped off the unforgiving Parramatta berm to record a fourteenth place finish. Robbie Farr once again came through the B-Main to finish ninth, picking up the Hoosier Hard Charger award. That was good news for Max Dumesny who finished eleventh and now moves within striking distance of Tatnell. In fact ten points only separates the top four on the leader board with Tatnell on 422, Dumesny only two behind with 420, Farr a further two back on 418 and Reidy fourth on 412 points.
Johnson performed a wing dance and thanked car owner Allan Haynes saying he was the only reason he was in Australia after such a good relationship with the Disbury family. For Reidy it was a case of oh-so-close and that first career PWWSS win will have to wait another round. As always Brazier was a contender finishing third and Farrell had a welcome return to form in fourth.
Earlier in the night Queenslander Peter Lack rode out a wicked flip down the back straight in heat race competition while Anthony Orr performed a simular feat along the main straight during the C-Main.
New track manager Ashley Vanderstelt did a fantastic job hosting his first PWWSS round at the Sydney venue with the return trip in January shaping up to be another night not to be missed.
The drivers and teams can now enjoy the traditional Christmas break and regroup before Speedweek commences at Adelaide’s Speedway City on Boxing Day.
A Main Feature Results
1. NQ47 Jason Johnson
2. NT5 Danny Reidy
3. A1 Garry Brazier
4. W95 Ryan Farrell
5. Q68 Cameron Gessner
6. N22 James Thompson
7. V5 Max Dumesny
8. N10 Adrian Maher
9. Q7 Robbie Farr
10. N75 Glen Saville
11. N2 Craig Brady
12. N17 Marty Perovich
13. N54 Grant Tunks
14. W2 Brooke Tatnell
15. N4 Kelly Linigen
16. SA4 Ian Madsen
17. N77 Mitchell Dumesny
18. Q83 Grant Anderson
QSS Quicktime – Garry Brazier
Revolution Highest Heat Points – Andrew Scheuerle
Vortex Top 8 Shootout – Danny Reidy
Hoosier Hard Charger – Robbie Farr
DMI Lucky 11th – Craig Brady