By Daniel Powell
After disappointingly failing to finish last season’s Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic; Danny Reidy returned for this season’s event that was held last weekend at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway in Victoria and this time around achieved a much better result.
Reidy had started from 13th in the feature race field on the second and final night and at the fall of the chequered flag of the dramatic 40-lap journey he had worked his way up to finish in eighth place.
The key to Reidy’s pleasing weekend was a third place in qualifying time trials amongst a massive field of 90 plus drivers and after consistent results throughout the heat races and it consequently allowed him to transfer directly into the feature race field.
“Like the majority of race meetings qualifying well is the key and especially with the Grand Annual Classic and I managed to get a good pill draw and post a good time,” said Reidy. “When you qualify well it’s just a matter of finishing strongly in your heat races to make the feature race field which was what happened and I was pretty pleased to come away with a Top 10 finish.”
Throughout the feature race Reidy had to battle with his foot slipping off the throttle due to oil dripping onto it in the lead up to the start and that certainly wasn’t an easy thing to deal with.
In the lead up to the Grand Annual Classic Reidy had finished seventh in the Kings Challenge at Borderline Speedway (Mt. Gambier, SA) on the Friday and the Presidents Cup at Avalon Raceway (Geelong, VIC) on the Wednesday night resulted in a DNF due to damaging the jacobs ladder aboard the NT # 5 Desert Palms Resort backed Eagle in the opening laps of the feature race.
This Wednesday night (January 26) Reidy returns to Premier Speedway to contest the Prelude to the Championships and then again on Friday and Saturday night (January 28 and 29) for the 49th running of the Australian Championship.
“It’s great that we’re able to run at one track for three different race meetings all within the space of a week as it allows teams to dial their cars into the track,” commented Reidy, who is aiming for a finish somewhere on the podium at this weekend’s Australian Championship. “The Grand Annual Classic and the Prelude to the Championships are kind of like practice sessions leading up to the Australian Championship and it’s going to make for some exciting racing.”
Reidy would like to thank Desert Palms Resort in Alice Springs, Camden Neon Signs, P & M Motor Body Repairs, Gonzo’s Race Pipes and Inglis Race Engines for all their support throughout the 2010/11 season.
The official Danny Reidy website can be viewed at: www.dannyreidy.com