American Jason Johnson jumped into the lead of the East Coast Pipeline Speedweek when he took out Round 2 at the Murray Bridge Speedway. Johnson started on the outside of the front row and shot ahead of Vortex Top 8 Shootout winner David Murcott who literally had an up and down evening.
Murcott and Ryan Jones made contact in heat 3 with the Victoria domiciled Tasmanian sailing into the catch fence. Murcott was extremely unhappy about the incident and made his feelings know to Jones in front of another huge crowd. Despite the crash he managed to top the qualifying chart and then hang on to pole position following the Shootout. Things went downhill once more when he was caught out by the first set of caution lights for Matthew Reed who punctured a right rear tyre just 2 laps into the 35-lap main event.
Somehow Tatnell and Ryan Farrell managed to miss Murcott who spun to a stand still and was regelated to the rear of the field. Two laps later Grant Anderson spun out of fifth and the field was reformed in single file once again. Johnson led Tatnell away however Robbie Farr and then Ryan Farrell soon passed the defending champion. On lap 8 Kerry Madsen rode over the front of Mark Reuter while battling for eighth, putting them both on the infield.
There was some good racing mid pack while Johnson took command of the lead and lapped traffic. Farrell’s great run ended in the main straight wall with a flat right rear tyre. Max Dumesny qualified through the B-Main and came on strong towards the end of the main event to pass Tatnell for third.
Steven Lines pulled out with brake trouble with just 2 laps remaining while Johnson ran away to claim his second PWWSS round of the series from Farr, Dumesny, Tatnell, James McFadden, Jamie Cobby, Bryan Mann, Murcott who salvaged eighth place, Terry Pitt who was granted a main event start when Matt Egel was penalised two positions for passing on the infield during the B-Main, Grant Anderson and Smith who rounded out the finishers although he was circulating on the infield with a broken Jacobs Ladder.
It was a disappointing night for Steve Caunt after spinning out of pole position on the first lap of the B-Main. Smith ended up on his side for the second night in a row after launching of Daniel Peskia and hitting the wall. It was a brutal event for Justin Sloan who made contact with Murcott and took a hard hit into the turn 3-4 wall in heat race competition. There were also some giant wheel stands, most notably Eddie Lumbar, Jason Kendrick and Phil March.
Although Johnson was won two rounds he is yet to crack the top ten in Performance Wholesale World Series Sprintcars points due to missing the opening round. Meanwhile Tatnell hangs on to a narrow six point lead over Robbie Farr with Max Dumesny a further two points behind in the overall series. Most of the teams are now driving to Mount Gambier for Round 3 of the East Coast Pipeline Speedweek.
A-Main Results
1. NQ47 Jason Johnson
2. Q7 Robbie Farr
3. V5 Max Dumesny
4. W2 Brooke Tatnell
5. W25 James McFadden
6. S12 Jamie Cobby
7. Q16 Bryan Mann
8. Q29 David Murcott
9. S8 Terry Pitt
10. Q83 Grant Anderson
11. U4 Danny Smith
12. S3 Phillip March
13. S10 Steven Caruso
DNF
14. S45 Steven Lines
15. W95 Ryan Farrell
16. S95 Mark Reuter
17. W92 Kerry Madsen
18. V92 Matthew Reed
QSS Quicktime – Robbie Farr
Revolution Racegear Highest Heat Points – Lynton Jeffrey
Vortex Top 8 Shootout – David Murcott
Hoosier Hard Charger – Max Dumesny
DMI Lucky 11th – Danny Smith
Pro Shocks Award – Jason Johnson
East Coast Pipeline Speedweek Points
1. Jason Johnson 296
2. Brooke Tatnell 292
3. Robbie Farr 290
4. Max Dumesny 286
5. Jamie Cobby 274
6. Bryan Mann 270
7. James McFadden 268
8. Danny Smith 266
9. Kerry Madsen 256
10. Ryan Farrell 252