From Wayne Aunger
MURRAY BRIDGE, Aus. (November 26, 2016) — Victorian Phil Lock prevailed in what was a drama filled 30 lap finale for Round 4 of Australian 360ci Sprintcar All-stars Series at the Murray Machining and Sheds Speedway. With three laps remaining Lock was running in sixth position but he found himself in the box seat as the top 5 drivers in the main event were all involved in accident that was triggered by contact between race leader Ryan Jones and current Australian Champion Luke Dillon.
Prior to the contact the race for the lead between Jones and Dillon was exceptional with both drivers trading slide jobs for the lead on what was a brilliant racing surface. After winning the pole shuffle Dillon started on the pole position leading a procession of regular 410 racers including Chad Ely, Jones, Chris Soloman and Mark Caruso.
At the drop of the green the battle between the top three was intense as Ely got the jump over Dillon and Jones but it wasn’t long before Jones found his way to lead after a couple of monster slide jobs following two early restarts for Brendan Guerin and Cody Atkins.
The caution would also come out on lap 5 as teenager Rusty Hickman slammed the wall hard in turn one resulting in a lengthy caution.
Following the restart Jones held the lead briefly until Dillon reclaimed the top spot with Ely in third but his run would end on lap 20 as he slammed the turn two wall. The final 10 laps proved to be some of the most dramatic laps at the venue for several seasons as shortly after the restart the dramas began as the front wing post broke on the Ryan Jones driven #63 but the damage failed to slow the 4 times Australian Champion as he drove to lead passing Dillon on the bottom of the race track.
With five laps to go the red lights came on for Rory Button, who rolled in turn four, ending what had been a tough night for the Mount Gambier racer who had earlier rolled in the heat 2.
With only five laps remaining the damaged front wing became a real problem for the leader as the wing completely folded back obscuring the vision of the race leader. But the vision issue failed to slow down Jones as he continued to lead using the concrete gutter as a guide to get around the track. With three laps to go Dillon sensed an opportunity to take over the race lead and dove to the inside of Jones in turn one with the two cars making contact. As a result, Dillon spun and in the process collected third placed Mark Caruso, fourth placed Chris Soloman and Tyson Chambers in fifth.
Jones managed to escape the scene of the accident but he was black flagged under the caution sending the race leader to the infield. Therefore Phil Lock, who sat back and saw it all happen in front of him inherited the lead from Brenten Farrer and Trigga Gates and that’s how they finished. South Australian Champion Dan Evans, Paul Soloman, Michael Lovegrove, Jarman Dalitz, Kane Newcombe, Jack Gartner and Darwin’s Jamie McInnes were the only other finishers.
Earlier the four heat race winners were Ely, who also topped the time sheets during time trials, Dillon, Chambers and McInnes while Dillon won the pole shuffle over Ely and Victorian Kane Newcombe was victorious in the B-Main.
Australian Sprintcar Allstars
Murray Bridge Speedway
Murray Bridge, AU
Saturday November 25, 2016
Feature: 1. V4 – Phil Lock, 2. V34 – Brenton Farrer, 3. SA5 – Trigga Gates, 4. S44 – Daniel Evans, 5. V7 – Paul Soloman, 6. SA90 – Michael Lovegrove, 7. SA56 – Jarmin Dalitz, 8. V65 – Kane Newcombe, 9. SA16 – Jack Gartner, 10. NT4 – Jamie McInnes, 11. A1 – Luke Dillon, 12. SA63 – Ryan Jones, 13. SA33 – Mark Caruso, 14. SA75 – Chris Solomon, 15. SA26 – Tyson Chambers, 16. SA69 – Cody Atkins, 17. SA57 – Rory Button, 18. SA22 – Chad Ely, 19. V40 – Rusty Hickman, 20. SA96 – Brendan Guerin
Wingless V6 Sprint Car Feature:
1. S1 – Joel Chadwick
2. S57 – Robert Heard
3. V43 – Daniel Storer
4. S47 – Anthony Tapley
5. V93 – Travis Millar
6. S35 – Mitchell Broome
7. S31 – Casey Vanderstelt
8. S10 – William Caruso
9. S13 – Dale Gesell
10. S24 – Aaron Doe
11. S16 – Joel Heinrich
12. S8 – Darryl Sloan
13. S82 – Greg Cunningham
14. S19 – Michael Spoljaric
15. S33 – Brad Evans
16. S28 – Renee Pestka
17. S21 – Matthew Kennedy
18. S44 – Lucy Evans
19. S41 – Bronson Mauro
20. S3 – Roydn Bailey
21. S80 – David Cuppleditch