Dec 28, 2012 – South Aussie Luke Dillon pulled off a mammoth back to back Speedweek effort in winning his second consecutive Enzed World Series Sprintcars (presented by Hogs Breath Cafe) Speedweek main event at Murray Bridge Speedway tonight.
The second generation racer ran down race leader Steven Lines in the dying laps to rocket by on the lowline and drive away with an historic victory in his Action Line marking / Hogs Breath Cafe #81 Eagle, repeating the dose from the night before at Speedway City where he led home a SA trifecta.
He had to do it the hard way too, winning the B-Main earlier and coming from the eighth row of the grid in the 35 lap A-Main.
“I knew we had a good car,” he smiled after the A-Main win, “Lee (Dillon) had the car right on the money and I knew if we could get some breaks in traffic we could be a real force. On that last red light stoppage we had a quick chat and it was pretty clear that we had a package that could make the bottom work.”
Dillon led home Steven Lines in the Halls Haulage #3 KPC in what was the Mt. Gambier racer’s second consecutive podium result in as many nights.
“I can’t say I’m not disappointed because I am,” he lamented, “we were sitting ducks out there in front and when Luke got by on the bottom I tried to make it work down there too but we didn’t have anything for him. He did a good job again tonight.”
Lines may well have used up his good luck in the earlier Vortex Wings Top 8 Shootout (which he won) having completely shredded his left rear tyre on the last lap and still recording the fastest time to line up on pole position alongside James McFadden for the A-Main.
Speaking of James McFadden he was simply superb in his third place finish, considering where he came from to score the result.
McFadden sped the Totally Workwear #25 Cool Chassis back from the rear of the field after he initially led and crashed out when Nick Lacey and Shaun Bradford tangled in front of him as he came up to lap the duo.
“That’s racing I guess,” explained the remarkably buoyant defending WSS Champion, “the car was damaged in the crash but it was still pretty good after that and I really didn’t have to drive the car too differently to compensate. We salvaged a good result for the team but Luke is doing a great job at the moment and full credit to him.”
In the crash that initially took McFadden out the also innocent Matt Egel was shelved with a deflated right front tyre on his Rapiti Earthworks #29 car and Shaun Bradford sustained a flat left rear tyre on his #57 Carahaul Maxim in the same incident.
Victorian Nick Lacey’s #26 Video Ezy entry, like Matt Egel, was too damaged to restart.
Lively Tasmanian Shaun Dobson looked to be in for a big night in the Mainline Dynolog Dynamometers #97 Downing Brothers entry but a spin in turn two saw Dobson collect the hapless Shane Stewart in the process.
Dobson retired with damage and Stewart headed to the rear of the field with plenty of work ahead of him.
The battles between Robbie Farr, American Kyle Hirst, David Murcott and Tim Kaeding were nail-biting to say the least throughout much of the race before Kaeding came unstuck in spectacular circumstances for the second night in a row in the Krikke Motorsport #2 Cool when he jumped the cushion and slammed the wall in turn four rolling over.
David Murcott was lightning fast in the brand new Horrell Motorsport #83 Eagle and looked to be poised for a crack at the race lead before the hard charging Victorian unexpectedly crashed hard into the wall at the drop of the greens on a late race restart.
Robbie Farr was again consistent for fourth in the ECP #7 Maxim, finishing just ahead of livewire Californian Kyle Hirst in the Ruhs Family owned Highrace #99 ART in fifth.
Shane Stewart struggled all night in the Monster Energy #7 and still had his hands full in the A-Main struggling through to finish 7th (after coming from the rear of the field) just behind SA veteran racer Trevor Green in the NATRAD #4 Maxim.
Murray Bridge local Ryan Jones was solid in the Murray Machining & Sheds #63 car to finish 8th ahead of Brad Keller in the Fatchen Cartage Contractors #19 in ninth, Daniel Pestka’s Gawler Farm Machinery #27 J&J tenth and Terry Pitt’s #8 OP Shocks entry being classified as the last finisher in 12th position.
DNF’s included David Murcott (crash) Tim Kaeding (crash) Phillip March (flat left front tyre and damaged from wing) Shaun Bradford (race damage) Matt Egel (race damage) Nick Lacey (crash) Jake Tranter (roll over) and Shaun Dobson (crash).
Jason Johnson was classified in 20th position though he did not the start event after engine woes reared their head for the second night in a row in the GT Bobcats #47 Maxim.
Top 15 Championship points are:
| Luke Dillon | Hogs Breath Racing Eagle | 640 |
| Steven Lines | Halls Haulage Racing | 568 |
| Robbie Farr | East Coast Pipeline Racing | 522 |
| Brad Keller | Fatchen Cartage Contractors | 516 |
| James McFadden | Totally Workwear | 460 |
| Shane Stewart | Monster Energy Monte Motorsport | 452 |
| Trevor Green | NATRAD Maxim | 436 |
| Kyle Hirst | Ruhs Family Racing ART | 430 |
| Daniel Pestka | Gawler Farm Machinery J&J | 415 |
| Matt Egel | Rapiti Earthmoving Cool | 401 |
| Shaun Bradford | Carahaul Maxim | 399 |
| Tim Kaeding | Krikke Motorsport Cool | 398 |
| Ryan Jones | Murray Machining & Sheds | 385 |
| Shaun Dobson | Mainline Dynolog Dynamometers Cool | 383 |
| Jason Johnson | GT Bobcats Maxim | 380 |
Complete Championship standings after two rounds can be viewed by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldseriessprintcars.com.au/season/standings/
Round Three of the ENZED World Series Sprintcars Championship, presented by Hogs Breath Cafe will be held this Saturday night at Borderline Speedway Mt. Gambier.
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