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#32 Back in
Action!
Posted: 07/03/04
After heavy rain Friday,
and forecasts of scattered rain for Saturday, some thought that the
Speedway in Brisbane would be cancelled, but luck was on our side
once again, and the rain just held out. For heat 1 of racing in the
East Coast A' Grade section, Shane Macdonald started from position
4, with Nathan Macdonald behind him in 6th and Darren Lester in
5th. After the field sorted itself out, Paul Zoubakin spun out,
which moved most cars up one position, while Shane Hollyman dropped
back through the pack, and eventually retiring after having an
engine misfire. Darren Lester had his Holden Commodore V8 running
smoothly, after jumping to the lead within a few laps. This left
Shane Macdonald in car #27 in 3rd position behind Steve Conway, and
Nathan back in 4th position. After experiencing difficulties
handling the track, Nathan dropped back to 5th position after
Australia #1 got through on the inside. Dennis Bullpitt put chase
to car #32, but left the challenge too late, finishing in 6th
position. Final positions were: 1st Darren Lester 2nd Steve
Conway 3rd Shane Macdonald.
Heat 2 saw Tony Blacker and Chris Duffel on the front row, with
Dennis Bullpitt out of 3, Nathan out of 4, followed by Darren Lester
and Shane Macdonald. Tony Blacker got a good start, taking the
lead, with Nathan Macdonald following him, and getting into 2nd
position. Darren Lester tried to get up the inside of Dennis
Bullpitt and Shane Macdonald, with three cars wide into the first
corner, but Chris Duffel got a bit offline, which forced Lester on
the infield, nearly spinning out, and back to the rear. After
changing the setup of the car a bit, Nathan found to handle the
track much better this time round. Shane passed his brother up the
front straight, with Nathan switching back on the inside, both cars
side by side up the back straight, car #32 drifted up a bit higher
around turn 3 and 4, forcing Shane to back off and both cars touched
slightly. Nathan ended up victorious, and managed to pull a few car
lengths over his brother, but couldn't reel in Australian Champ Tony
Blacker. Shane was now having trouble with the handling of his car,
with a few times, Macdonald coming within centimetres of the wall on
a few occasions, which allowed Darren Lester to come from the rear
of the field to take 3rd position. Results: 1st Tony Blacker 2nd
Nathan Macdonald 3rd Darren Lester.
After achieving a 1st and a 3rd, Darren Lester was highest point
scorer, and chose to start out of position 2 (highest point scorer
allowed to choose Pole or outside pole). This left Tony Blacker on
pole, Nathan Macdonald out of 3, followed by Shane Macdonald, Dennis
Bullpitt and Steve Conway to round out the top 6. With the green
light on, Tony Blacker managed to take the lead, with Darren Lester
sliding into 2nd, followed by Nathan in car #32. After a few laps,
Lester drifted high around turn 1 and 2, which allowed Nathan to
steal 2nd. Macdonald now concentrated on what was in front of him.
Nathan managed to bridge the gap between himself and Blacker, when
they come up to the lapped car of Chris Duffel, Blacker got tangled
up with Duffel, which opened the gate for Macdonald.
Macdonald going around the outside to obtain 1st position. Darren
Lester then pounced in the next corner, taking 2nd position, which
left Blacker in 3rd. While back in the pack, Shane Macdonald and
Dennis Bullpitt had a tussle between themselves, swapping paint,
with Bullpitt at one stage hitting the wall. This forced Bullpitt
to retire with a bent steering rack. While Shane fell back to 6th
position. Steve Conway showed improvement after a lengthy break
preparing his car to take 4th, followed by Pat Dennis. Darren
Lester was happy to take 2nd position, but is still chasing his
first feature win in his new car, after obtaining a 2nd in the last
three feature races held at Brisbane Speedway. 1st Nathan
Macdonald 2nd Darren Lester 3rd Tony Blacker.

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