From jak industries
Todd Wanless secured another podium result in 410ci Sprintcar competition for the ABC Auto Gear Racing team on Saturday night May 8 with a solid third place finish in Round 9 of the Qld Speedway Spares Series in Brisbane, the result marking four consecutive trips to the podium for Wanless over the past month.
It was a satisfying result for Wanless who elected to roll out a Maxim chassis for the night in favour of his usual J&J mount, the #2 side of the ABC team headed by Crew Chief Justin White quickly adapting to the change and setting the fourth quickest time of the hot lap sessions behind team mate and Fast Time man Pete Thorley in the familiar #51 Tyrepower/Action Metal Recyclers Eagle. Thorley stopped the clocks at 12.295s to Wanless’ 12.442s to earn his third Quick Time Award of the season.
Both drivers advanced through the Heat races to qualify for the six lap Dash, although an engine problem that developed during Pete’s second Heat would eventually bring his night to an early end and cut his lead in the chase for the Series Championship. Pete lined up on the front row of the Dash but it was soon apparent the engine problem was more significant than first thought and he pulled the #51 Eagle to the infield on the opening lap while Todd raced to a fourth place finish to earn a start in the Feature from the outside of row two.
On a slick racetrack that was quickly widening out and providing a second line for the leaders in lapped traffic, Todd spent the majority of the race in third position chasing Darrell Hodges and eventual winner Danny Reidy, crossing the line in the same position after a fairly uneventful twenty-five laps of the 1/4 mile Archerfield raceway for the former Series Champion.
“We just thought we might try something different tonight” Todd explained in reference to the decision to run a Maxim chassis on Saturday night. “We’ve been running the J&J for a couple of years now and thought we’d give the Maxim a go just to see.”
“We ran one earlier in the season when we drove a couple of races for John Weatherall so we had a bit of an idea what we needed to do with the car, (we) made a lot of changes after hot laps at the start of the night and just kept getting better with it as we went. Pretty happy with third, probably just a bit short on having something for the leaders especially through the middle of the race but we gave it our best shot and it’s good to come away with another podium for the team. Unfortunately for Pete he had a motor problem and will take a bit of a hit in the points, hopefully not too bad and he can keep challenging for the Series Title over the final few races of the season.”
Todd, Pete and the ABC Auto Gear Racing team will next compete together in Round 10 of the Qld Speedway Spares Series at Brisbane International Speedway on Saturday night May 22.
Qld Speedway Spares Series – Round 9 – Team Results:
Q2 Todd Wanless: Timed Hot Laps – 4th, Heats – 5th, 1st, Dash – 4th, A-Main – 3rd
Q51 Pete Thorley: Timed Hot Laps – 1st, Heats – 4th/2nd, Dash – 6th (DNF), A-Main – DNS
Team Partners And Supporters:
ABC Auto Gear Racing thank the following companies for their continued and valued support of their racing program:
ABC Auto Gear
Tyrepower
Action Metal Recyclers
Action Tyre Recyclers
Self Service Auto Parts
Grove Truck Sales
Rocklea Truck Parts
Aljon Manufacturing
Benic Enterprises
Lucas Oil Products
MHF Equipment Finance
MAN
KRE Race Engines
Pro Yamaha
Colorcorp
Jak Industries
Amazing Signs
PWR Performance Products
Wanless Enviro Services
Brisbane Truck Centre
Western Star Trucks
Wanless Truck Parts
B&B Caravans
Baron Media