May 7, 2013
by Ryan Harris
The build up was big and the racing didn’t disappoint, as a star-studded field of Late Models turned out for the Queensland Late Model Title held at the annual Kingaroy Show meeting on Saturday night.
Gold Coast’s Aaron Van Zeeland raced down and passed Dave Robertson on the second last lap to win a nail biting Queensland Championship in front of a massive show crowd.
Van Zeeland started from pole position but soon dropped back to second position as Robertson surged from down the back of the field around the fence to open up a big lead during the thirty lap championship race.
Robertson, who stayed on the top, ran a brilliant race, but Van Zeeland edged closer to narrowly slip past and become the first ever Queenslander to win the Queensland Title.
Sydney Duo Dave Robertson and Ben Nicastri rounded out the top three in a wonderful night of Late Model racing at the Speedway.
Earlier in the night, Sydney’s Graham Lillford smashed the old lap record by lowering it to 13.798 seconds. This is over half a second faster then the old mark.
Heat wins during the night went the way of Nathan Disney, Graham Lillford, Ben Nicastri and Aaron Van Zeeland. Local hopes Travis and Ashley Barron unfortunately got caught up in some opening lap incidents which saw both retire early from the feature race.
In the other events on the night, newly crowned NSW Champion David Jacobi won a brilliant Modified Sedan feature race by the narrowest margin over Todd Doyle and Gavin Fletcher. Kingaroy’s Brett Barron was the best of the locals, finishing fourth just behind the front three who battled epically for the duration of the Modified Sedan feature race.
The Street Sedan feature was taken out by Queensland Champion Josh Arthur, who showed his class during an impressive display of driving during the night. Bundaberg’s Mostert Woodrow finished second just ahead of Kingaroy’s Jack Stead.
Moranbah’s Brandon Atto won the Junior Sedan feature race from Carter Armstrong and Steven English.
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The next event to be staged by the South Burnett Speedway Club will be a Monster Trucks (“Outback Thunder” and “Spot the Dog”) and Demolition Derby night at the Kingaroy Showgrounds on September 14.
There’ll also be Production Sedans, Street Stocks, Junior Sedans and Microsprints as well as fireworks.
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RESULTS
2012-13 Queensland late Model Championship
1. Aaron Van Zeeland Q22
2. Dave Robertson N4x
3. Ben Nicastri N99
Modifed Sedans
1. David Jacobi
2. Todd Doyle
3. Gavin Fletcher
Street Sedans
1. Josh Arthur
2. Moz Woodrow
3. Jack Stead
Juniors
1. Brandon Atto
2. Steve English
3. Carter Armstrong
Videos by Ash Media:
Late Models
