By Daniel Powell
Although he was relatively pleased with his runner up finish in last weekend’s latest round of the Sydney Speedway Sprintcar Track Championship; Ben Atkinson was left wondering what could’ve been.
Atkinson, whose second place finish once again consolidated his lead in the Sydney Speedway Track Championship point standings, started the feature race from position nine in the field and in the closing stages moved into second and chased after eventual winner Ian Loudoun, but managed to fall just short of victory lane.
“My team gave me a really good car for the feature race and it was just me as a driver that didn’t come to the party on this occasion,” admitted the pilot of the Garry Rush owned NSW # 2 Pick ‘N Payless supported J&J. “I needed to get going a bit earlier in the feature race, as I was caught up battling with a few cars and that cost me. Towards the end of the feature race when I moved into second I made a few mistakes in turns one and two and that also denied me of a better chance of challenging for the win.”
The Sydney Track Championship now takes a two week break before it resumes on Saturday night, March 12 and Atkinson, who has three feature race victories at the track this season to his name, is looking to once again extend his lead in the overall point standings with a continuation of his current form.
“There aren’t too many rounds remaining, but I’m looking to continue to finish on the podium and hopefully get a few more wins towards the season tally,” Atkinson said. “It’s been a pretty full-on couple of months, so it’s going to be good to have a few weekends off and then return fresh for the run home in the Sydney Track Championship.”
Atkinson would like to thank Garry Rush, John Barrett and Tim Gleeson for all their support, along with sponsors: Pick ‘N Payless, Rush Auto Parts, Castrol Oil, PASS Powdercoating & Sandblasting, and Hydrokleen.