By Daniel Powell
After a false start to the 2011/12 season, Grant Anderson finally managed to enjoy a full race meeting over the weekend at Heartland Raceway (Moama, NSW) and managed a second place finish on the podium.
With an anticlimatic start to the season last month at Avalon Raceway for the premature end to the $10,000 to Win Jackpot Invitational event due to the wet weather, Anderson contested the latest round of the Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series at the track where he has enjoyed plenty of success in past visits.
Anderson continued his good Heartland Raceway run from the outset by qualifying as the fifth highest point score heading into the top six time trial shootout, after he had placed third and second respectively in his heat races from mid field starts. A solid lap in the top six shootout resulted in Anderson jumping from fifth up to second. This performance from Anderson booked an outside front row start for the feature race, alongside side pole sitter Jamie Veal.
Confident of being able to challenge for the winning honours, Anderson and Veal powered into the first turn of the feature race side by side before Veal managed to sneak ahead. The opening half a dozen laps saw Anderson find his rhythm and maintain the pace of the leader. The feature race encountered its first yellow light on the sixth lap and that was when disaster struck for Anderson that nearly resulted in a race ending crash. The incident occurred when a competitor following behind didn’t see the yellow light and consequently collided with Anderson, who had slowed. Very lucky not to have suffered a flat tyre, Anderson’s car did, however, suffer a damaged top wing, a bent left hand side nerf bar, and a broken left rear shock absorber.
Due to the damage sustained to the VIC # 37 Wagga Mobile Cranes & Heavy Haulage supported Foster, Anderson battled on throughout the remainder of the feature race and finished up in a hard fought second place.
“It was a bit unlucky to be the innocent party of the yellow flag period, but on the other hand I count myself pretty lucky not to have sustained further damage that would’ve put me out,” commented Anderson. “Heartland Raceway has always been a good track for me and up until the incident early on in the feature race; I felt that I had a really good chance of challenging for the win. Although it was disappointing to have my feature race turn out the way that it did, when I consider the amount of damage that I had on board, I was pleased to still be able to bring home a podium finish.”
Anderson this Saturday night (November 12) returns to Avalon Raceway (Geelong, VIC) for the latest round of the Eureka Garages & Sheds Series.
Grant Anderson is proudly supported during the 2011/12 season by the following organisations:
• Wagga Mobile Cranes & Heavy Haulage
• Latrobe Valley Bandag
• Fuchs Lubricants
• D&F Racing Products
• Foster Chassis
• Townsend Service Centre
To find out more about Grant Anderson visit his official website: www.grantanderson.com.au