By Daniel Powell
For the fifth occasion in the 2010/11 season, Ben Atkinson has finished on the podium at Sydney Speedway and once again it has consolidated his spot at the top of the Sydney Speedway Sprintcar Track Championship point standings.
After he had moved into third place from his seventh starting position in the middle stages of last weekend’s feature race on a restart; Atkinson was unable to progress any further up the field due to failing to not pin-point the setup of the NSW # 2 Pick ‘N Payless supported J&J.
“Third place was the best we could do on the night, as we had the car setup too tight and that hurt us in the end,” Atkinson admitted. “The track in the feature race had one main race line and due to my car being too tight I weren’t able to venture up to the top of the track. The final 15 laps of the feature race went non-stop and with the setup that I had, I ran the bottom through to the finish and claimed a podium finish. It was pleasing to bounce back from our disappointing run at the last meeting when we had failed to finish.”
With just two rounds of the Sydney Speedway Track Championship remaining, Atkinson isn’t focused on consolidating his lead in the point standings and more than anything wants to add to his Sydney Speedway feature race victory tally of three.
“I’ve said all along that I’m not focused on the point’s game with the Sydney Track Championship and at the moment the focus is working with my team to get back into victory lane,” he said. “There are only two rounds remaining and it’d be great to get a feature race win or two before the end of the season.”
The penultimate round of the Sydney Track Championship is going to be held on Saturday night, April 9.
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.