October 22, 2014
Four-times Australian Super Sedan champion Darren Kane demonstrated his racing dominance at the Lucas Oil Kingaroy Speedway on Saturday … but the real star on the night was the new track.
The South Burnett Speedway Club has been working on the track to produce a smooth and consistent surface for the opening of the new season, and the effort paid off with lap records being set on the night and door-handle to door-handle racing in all categories.
A good crowd turned up to watch Ipswich-based Kane win a double … easily taking the opening round of the Queensland Late Model Thunder series as well as Round 2 of the Queensland Super Sedan series.
In the Late Models, Kane won two of the three heats and led all 15 laps of the main feature to defeat runners-up Nick Girdlestone and Matt Ingrey by nine seconds.
In the Super Sedan main feature, Kane narrowly beat home a fast-finishing Wayne Brims and Jason Campbell.
In the 4 Cylinder feature, Hamish Redman threaded his way from the rear of the field to win Round 1 of the J&M Racecraft Super Series, just defeating Aaron Knox and Thomas Fuller.
But it was a night of mixed emotions for the Redman family. Earlier, Hamish set a new lap record in Heat 5, breaking Paul Redman’s time which has stood for four years. This heat also featured one of the biggest spills on the night when Thomas Fuller managed to put his car on its side at the exit of turn two.
However, Hamish Redman’s record didn’t stand for long, with Cameron Taylor posting a new lap record time of 17.348 seconds in Heat 6.
In the Production Sedans, Russell Cowley won the feature race ahead of Josh Arthur and Australian (and Queensland) champion Tim Atkin.
In the Street Stock feature, Jarred Ash – who is only in his second season of racing – managed to get past Kingaroy driver Brad Mendes on the last lap to seal victory. Earlier in the night, Sheree Barron and Liesa Smith made their debut in this category.
The crowd enjoyed some novel racing at the Lucas Oil track with innovations in several races designed to test the drivers’ skills and shake-up the fields.
In the Super Sedans feature, the top 10 drivers drew their grid positions out of a hat.
In the four cylinders, “super six” races were held where heats consisted of three lots of two laps, with the field reversing order each time.
The Production Sedans reversed direction in the heats, keeping the drivers (and photographers) on their toes.
Results:
Super sedans
1. Darren Kane
2. Wayne Brims
3. Jason Campbell
Late Models
1. Darren Kane
2. Nick Girdlestone
3. Matt Ingrey
4 Cylinders
1. Hamish Redman
2. Aaron Knox
3. Thomas Fuller
Productions
1. Russell Cowley
2. Josh Arthur
3. Tim Atkin
Street Stocks
1. Jarred Ash
2. Brad Mendes
3. Peter Thompson
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Video highlights from Saturday’s racing by Ash Media
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The next speedway meeting at Kingaroy will be held on November 15.
Categories will be Modified Sedans, Production Sedans, 4 Cylinders, Late Models and Formula 500s.
