From Archerfield Speedway
Brisbane, AU — (March 24, 2012) — David Muir put an uncharacteristic DNF in the previous Round of the KRE Race Engines Track Championship behind him to bounce right back into Championship contention with a victory in the first of two Features at Supercheap Auto Archerfield Speedway on Saturday night March 24, following it up with a third place finish behind Peter Lack and Brent Kratzmann in the second twenty lapper to secure the overall win and the lion’s share of the bonus money on offer.
Muir opened his night with a fast 11.447s lap to outpace Steven White (11.581) and Championship contenders Bryan Mann (11.671) and Andrew Scheuerle (11.823) to be the quickest man in the Time Trials before posting a second and third place in his Heats to comfortably top the qualifying points heading into the Dash.
Dash grids are a mixed affair at Archerfield with a marble draw in front of the fans determining the starting order and Andrew Scheuerle, like he has many times in the past, didn’t waste any time making the six lap race his own after starting on the front row and led home Darren Jensen, Muir, White and Mann to secure pole for the first of the two Features.
Scheuerle led early in the first twenty lapper with Jensen, Muir, White, Mann, Lack and Brett Thomas in tow until he ran into trouble passing the tail of the field and came to a stop, gifting an opportunity to Muir who had moved into second ahead of Jensen to rack up his third KRE Feature win in his last four Series starts. Jensen finished second behind Muir in a confidence boosting drive after his wild, last lap crash two weeks ago with Steven White posting his best result of the season in third. Peter Lack and Bryan Mann completed the top five ahead of Brett Thomas and Brent Kratzmann with Scheuerle ruing a missed opportunity to post back-to-back Feature wins at Archerfield and bringing the #25 home in twelfth spot.
Pulling the ten marble and inverting the first five rows for the second Feature meant Muir had his work cut out for him, even more so when he and eventual winner Peter Lack got together four laps in and he was forced to restart at the tail of the field. “Blingy” though has been gaining a reputation as one of the real showmen in Qld Sprintcar racing and he enhanced that reputation with an outstanding drive back through the field to finish third behind Lack and Kratzmann at the flag.
Lack’s victory continues his run of consistency of late, with the Toowoomba based driver finishing no worse than fourth in his last four starts at Archerfield including last night’s two Features. The Twin Twenty concept also offered opportunities for some new and different names in the major results with Steven White returning to the podium after a lengthy absence, Brent Kratzmann posting a well-deserved podium finish in the second Feature, Ben Hilder putting in a good drive to finish fourth in the second race and Brett Thomas also being rewarded for his persistence of late with a top five result.
With KRE points awarded in both races, David Muir topped the combined Feature points by just two markers over Peter Lack with Steven White breaking a tie with Brent Kratzmann for third under the Twin Twenty rules. Fifth overall was Brett Thomas, sixth Bryan Man who should retain his Series lead, seventh Ben Hilder, eighth Darren Jensen with Andrew Scheuerle and Paul Morris completing the top ten.
The next Sprintcar event at Supercheap Auto Archerfield Speedway will be Night Two of the Qld Sprintcar Tri-City Shootout, presented by Tyrepower, on Saturday April 7 featuring Qld Sprintcar Champion Robbie Farr and Grand Annual Classic winner Ian Loudon up against Qld’s best and drivers from as far afield as New Zealand.