By Daniel Powell
After finishing runner up in the event three seasons ago, Brendan Palmer last Saturday night at Wangaratta City Speedway managed to go one spot better in the 2011/12 season Victorian Speedcar Title.
Palmer, driving the Jack Berry owned QLD # 92 Polar Ice supported Hawk powered Spike, last month wrapped up the Archerfield Speedway based Polar Ice Series, and headed down to the Victorian Title from his Queensland base with his confidence high.
From the get-go Palmer and the Polar Ice Racing team took out a commanding victory in their opening heat race of the night. Palmer found the going a little tougher in his second heat race from the back of the field and finished in sixth. Those two heat race results earned him the third highest point scorer spot heading into the pole shootout. In the pole shuffle, Palmer stepped it up a level and worked his way to pole position. In the process he disposed of current and former Victorian Title holders, Travis Mills and Anthony Chaffey, during the pole shuffle.
In the feature race, starting from the ideal pole position due to the track going one lane and passing was always going to difficult, Palmer powered to command from the drop of the green flag. Throughout the 30-lap distance, which saw a number of the leading contenders drop out due to blowing their right rear tyres around the abrasive track surface, Palmer kept calm and consistent, and it rewarded him with the winning result.
“After finishing runner up in the Victorian Title a few seasons back, I wanted to go one better this time around, and it was a very satisfying to achieve it, not only for me personally, but for my hard working team,” Palmer said. “My team gave me a great car all night. They threw a great setup at the car for the feature race, and that, along with some conservative driving, paid off with the win. It certainly made the long drive back to Queensland that so much sweeter.”
With his Polar Ice Series success, which saw him finish on the podium at seven of the nine rounds and included three wins, and now the Victorian Title, adding to his South Australian Title win two seasons ago, Palmer’s focus is on this Saturday night’s 50 Lapper back at his home track, Archerfield Speedway, which will be his final appearance of the season.
“I’d love nothing more than to finish the season with a strong 50 lapper result. Ideally, it’d be wonderful to give Jack a 1-2 finish, as Michael Pickens is joining the team once again for this event,” commented Palmer, who currently holds down the lead in the Queensland Club Championship point standings. “We’ve had a really good season, and after spending most of last season on the sidelines, and has been great to be able to reward Jack [Berry] with a great season.”
Palmer would like to thank, car owner Jack Berry, crew chief Paul ‘Murf’ Murphy, and the rest of the Polar Ice Racing team for all of their support.