From Phil Michell
Virginia, AU — (March 18, 2012) — Last night Speedway City dished up a double dose of Sprintcar action with the running of the 2012 Martelco Equipment Hire George Tatnell Sprintcar Cup and the City of Playford / Town of Gawler 360ci Lord Mayors Cup. After an entertaining night’s racing Luke Dillon captured the open Sprintcar event after a torrid early race battle with Shaun Dobson while Mark Caruso captured his third successive 360ci Lord Mayors Cup in dominant fashion.
“This is one race I really wanted to win. It is one of the few memorial races that we race that I actually knew the person. I remember George always kept coming into our truck during my rookie World Series Sprintcars season always asking for coffee†he added on the podium.
Dillon’s win was also a decisive win in his quest for a fourth consecutive Revolution Racegear Track Championship as it basically all but wrapped up the series with two rounds remaining.
Second across the line was current Australian Champion Brooke Tatnell, who was driving the Krikke Motorsports “Hot Rod†for the final time. Third went the way of inaugural George Tatnell Champion David Murcott with Matt Egel, Jamie Cobby, Terry Pitt, Mark Reuter, Luke Bowey, Ricky Maiolo and Justin Sloan rounding out the top ten.
Tasmanian Shaun Dobson failed to finish after he made contact with Dillon as they raced hard for lead in turn four. The slight contact forced Dobson up track and into the lapped car of Burford, with both Dobson and Burford slamming the concrete wall.
The 360ci Sprintcar feature was slightly less eventful with Caruso leading from start to finish. Second place went to Shane Hendry with Shannon Barry rounding out the podium.
Broken Hill pilot Brendan Guerin looked set for a podium result before he inverted his #86 Eagle in turn two.
Earlier the heat winners in the open class were Jamie Cobby, Dillon, Daniel Pestka and Dobson while Russell Worthley, who claimed his first heat race victory of his career, Brendan Guerin, Keke Falland and Shane Hendry emerged victorious in the 360ci heats. Dobson won an extremely entertaining open dash, Caruso knocked almost 2 seconds of off the 6 lap track record in the 360ci dash and Michael Burford won the B-Main.
The Late Models also made their season debut at the venue with a two feature race format. The opening race of the night was captured by Matt Crimmins, with Stuey Hill and Victorian representative Rod Edwards completing the top three while Michael Ffrench defeated Edwards and David Hartman in the second feature event.
The Lightning Sprints also contested the duel feature format with the feature going the way of Mark Brown with Jordan Barrow winning the second race. Melissa Crouch proved to be a standout throughout the night capturing two runner-up results.