Brisbane, AU — Perseverance and a little luck may have helped Allan Woods to victory lane last night at Titan Garages Brisbane International Speedway (BIS) but a win is definitely a win and there would be little doubt both would be savoring the victory and accompanying pay checks this morning.
Woods won Round 3 of the KRE Race Engines Sprintcar Track Championship at the Archerfield raceway, taking over the front spot for the first and only time on lap twenty-five of the thirty lap Feature when race-long leader and likely winner Ian Loudon from NSW made an uncharacteristic mistake in lapped traffic and spun to a stop in turn three. Woods, who finished second in the Dash to Loudon, had been involved in positional battles to this point of the race with Robbie Farr, Bryan Mann and Pete Thorley but Mann would be the only finisher amongst this trio.
Robbie Farr’s tilt at six consecutive Feature wins in Qld came to a halt on lap sixteen with a deflating right rear tire while Thorley’s points haul towards the defense of his Series Championship will be dented by a DNF after flipping the #51 Action Tyre Recyclers/Tyrepower Eagle on the same lap as the field slowed for a yellow after Darrell Hodges and Paul Rooks made contact in turn four.
Give “Big Al” Woods a clear track with five to go and you may as well start inking his name on the check Bryan Mann had one or two tries on the lap following the final restart but Woods was never going to pass up the opportunity to win his second Feature at BIS. Mann held on for second ahead of Cameron Gessner, Todd Wanless and Series leader Andrew Scheuerle in fifth with B-Main winner Paul Morris, Steven Johnson and Melissa Boyes the only drivers in the eighteen car field to complete the distance.
Newly laid clay added to the racing surface through the week caught a number of competitors out during the Sprintcar races, including Terry Bracken who flipped in turn three the lap after taking the checkered flag in a Heat race, Cameron Gessner and Robbie Farr who flipped during a short hot lap session for the six drivers who qualified for the Dash, and Bracken again when he flipped the #V2 alongside Brent Kratzmann in the #77 Eagle on the opening lap of the Feature.
Next Saturday night, November 6, the South Pacific Monster Truck World Finals will be held at the venue. The next Speedway event at Archerfield will be the Polar Ice Qld Midget Series on November 13 with Super Sedans, Late Models and support class racing also on the program.