PETERSEN MEDIA
On the heels of a very tough week, Ian Madsen and his McDonald Motorsports team rebounded nicely for the Australian Championship in Tasmania, AU as they tallied two second place finishes, however, following the marathon, rubber-down race Saturday night, Madsen’s car came up light at the scales, and he was disqualified from his finishing position.
“We had such a great racecar all weekend long, I feel terrible for my entire team, and all of our partners,” a disappointed Madsen said. “The racetrack took rubber very early in the feature, and we burnt up a lot of tires and used a bunch of fuel, and were just a little to light, and sometimes that’s part of it.”
Though the final result doesn’t showcase the teams great weekend, it was in fact a great weekend that started off on Friday night.
Heat race action saw the St. Mary’s, NSW driver win his first heat from the pole, and saw him charge from last in his second heat to also earn the win aboard his Watson’s Express Transport/Eagle Motorsports/East Coast Logistics machine, putting him on the front row for the preliminary night feature event.
Starting on the front row alongside Ian Loudoun, Madsen had a great start that saw him hook up in a torrid battle with Dave Murcott and Loudoun during the early stages of the race.
With Murcott out front, Madsen hounded him, never letting him out of his sights, as he searched for another win with his McDonald Motorsports team. When the checkered flag flew, Madsen crossed in the second position, and sat second in event points heading into the Saturday night finale.
Running second in his Saturday night heat to Murcott, Madsen earned the right to start on the front row for the feature event, again with Murcott sharing the row with him.
On the extremely slick and abrasive track, Madsen fell into the second position on the start, and the track immediately began taking rubber thereafter.
Staying in the rubber, and right on Murcott’s rear bumper, Madsen was careful not to burn his tires up to early, as he would need them to hold for the duration of the race, though, tires were burning up quickly.
Though he was able to make it to the finish in the second spot, the lack of rubber weight and fuel found Madsen too light during post race inspection, and his finish was disqualified.
“The rubber-down track was unfortunate for a couple of reasons,” Madsen said. “First, it made for a pretty uneventful race for the fans, and then second for us personally the lack of tire rubber and fuel that we had cost us a strong finish. I have to thank my guys and all of our partners for their work this weekend, because we had a very strong racecar that was capable of winning the race.”
None of this would be possible without a ton of support, and Madsen would like to thank Watson’s Express Transport, Eagle Motorsports, East Coast Logistics, Lucas Oil , Interstate Finance and Leasing, Gin Gin Diesel, Adornato Sand and Gravel, QSS Spares, Oval Express, Inglis Race Engines, and Factory Kahne Shocks for everything they will be doing for this team.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-13, Wins-0, Top-5’s- 3, Top 10’s-5
ON TAP: Madsen and his McDonald Motorsports team will be in action this weekend at the Carrick Speedway for the South Pacific Classic.
STAY CONNECTED: To keep up with Ian make sure you follow him on twitter by clicking over to www.twitter.com/IanMadsen.