Surviving the Kings Challenge

From CDR

The Kings Challenge was the next event for the D&B Goodyer Development team as they headed to Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier, South Australia on Friday.

A field of 44 cars assembled for racing action with Dollansky turning the 6th fastest lap in qualifying. In the first round of heats, the USA #7 sprinter started second and would go on to take the victory. The second round of heats saw Dollansky start ninth and come up to 4th at the finish. The American driver then competed in the ‘Pole Shootout’ and blistered the rest of the field by turning a lap of 11.6 seconds, 3/4 of a second faster than the competition.

Turning the fastest lap in the shootout meant ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ would start from the pole for the 35-lap A-Main. After losing a few positions at the start of the feature and battling a car that looked like it was on the verge of destruction, Dollansky benefited from the long green flag action to climb back up to second and catch race leader James McFadden. A late race caution however would kill Dollansky’s momentum and chance of passing McFadden as he needed long green flag racing and would finish 2nd. It wasn’t until after the race was over that the team discovered that a last minute right rear tire change before the feature started had an inch less offset and not enough wheel spacing. “I’ve never been so happy to get out of a race car in my life”, commented Dollansky. “I thought I was going to crash it every lap, we were lucky to pull of the track in one piece.”

Two nights of racing in the land Down Under remain for Dollansky and the D&B team as they will now head back to Premier Speedway for the 39th Annual Sprintcar Classic on Saturday and Sunday.