|
|

Macdonald
clinches Queensland Title from his brother!
Posted:
21/03/04
Saturday
night's racing at Brisbane International Speedway, saw the
Queensland Title for the East Coast A Grade up for grabs, with
Linmac Automotive sponsoring the event. The defending champion,
Shane Macdonald, tried his best to retain the title, but after
rebuilding the engine through the week, a slow oil leak was
discovered on the Saturday afternoon, which plagued his chances of
retaining the title. With a field of about 14 cars, with 6 from
Toowoomba, Saturday night was sure to see some good racing. In the
first heat, Paul Zoubakin and Darren Lester were off the front row,
with Shane Macdonald out of position 4, and Nathan Macdonald in
position 12.
For
the first start, Paul Zoubakin jumped the start, and was forced to
go to the rear. On the second start, all cars got around the first
corner cleanly, but Tony Blacker hit Rodney Pammenter in the next
corner, and spun out. Nathan Macdonald had nowhere to go and hit
Blacker slightly in the door. Tanya Blacker then come through and
hit both Macdonald and Blacker, which forced her to retire for the
night with steering damage. After the race was underway again,
Darren Lester cut loose to stretch out a good lead, while Peter
Rogers' car was going well, managing to take 2nd place from Shane
Hollyman.
Shane Macdonald was swapping places with Shane Hollyman, when
Macdonald's oil leak created too much smoke and was told to pull on
the infield. Macdonald went back to the pits to try patch up the
leak for the second race. Dennis Bullpitt was running a solid 4th,
when he made a mistake and got swamped by 3 Toowoomba cars and
dropped back to finish 9th position.Rocket Rodney Pammenter was
leading a freight train of Toowoomba cars in 4th place, with Shane
Langton behind him, followed by Nathan Macdonald. Nathan was
running 6th, when he made a mistake and Allowed Australia #1 Tony
Blacker to get passed on the last lap. The race finished as - 1st
Darren Lester 2nd Peter Rogers 3rd Shane Hollyman.
Heat 2 found Pammenter beside Nathan in car #32 on the front row.
Pammenter got the better run, and raced to the lead around the first
corner. Macdonald slotted back into 2nd, while his brother Shane
went around the outside of a few cars to jump into 4th spot behind
Shane Langton, until the red lights come on as Shane Macdonald
pulled onto the infield with a fire underneath his car from the
leaking oil. Shane then retired, and on the restart Nathan looked
for passing opportunities, but Pammenter was too quick and pulled
away to a comfortable lead. Shane Langton was chasing down
Macdonald in the #32 car, but was forced to settle for 3rd
position. Peter Rodgers charged though the field to finish 5th.
Dennis Bullpitt retired for the night after the first race, as his
flywheel had come loose, along with Shane Hollyman who had oil
pressure problems. 1st Rodney Pammenter 2nd Nathan Macdonald
3rd Shane Langton.
Pammenter had now racked up enough points to be the highest point
scorer, and opted to start on the outside on the front row. This
put Peter Rodgers on pole, with Shane Langton in position 3,
followed by Nathan Macdonald, Terry Medcalf, Darren Lester, Paul
Zoubakin, Shane Macdonald and Steve Conway. When the green lights
come on for the Queensland Title, Pammenter went around the outside
of Peter Rodgers, with Nathan following Rocket to take 2nd
position. Darren Lester was attempting to take 4th spot from Shane
Langton when his tail shaft come off his car. The yellow lights
come on after Darren Lester's tail shaft had to be removed from the
track, which on the restart, gave Nathan Macdonald a chance to catch
up to Pammenter. Macdonald was able to get up the inside of
Pammenter on the restart up the back straight, but couldn't take the
#1 spot. Pammenter then drove away from Macdonald, Macdonald having
no answer for him.
Shane Langton was running 4th behind Peter Rodgers, when Rodgers
drove into the fence up the front straight and rolling on his side
which made the red lights come on. Rogers later discovering that an
upper ball joint had broken, which steered him straight into the
fence. While the red lights were still on, bits of metal were being
picked up from the track, which came from Pammenters car.
Pammenter's disc rotor on the left rear wheel, had shattered, which
also made his tyre go flat. The race leader who looked to have the
race won, was forced to retire with 4 laps to go.
While Macdonald must have had luck on his side tonight, he was moved
into 1st position, with Shane Langton in 2nd and Shane Macdonald in
3rd. With 4 laps to go, Nathan broke free to a 10 car length lead,
to comfortably take his first ever Queensland Title win! With
Toowoomba cars taking the top 3 positions, Shane Langton held onto
2nd position and with Shane Macdonald's oil leak fixed, he was able
to come in for 3rd and Steve Conway in 4th. After a depleted field,
only four cars had finished. 1st Nathan Macdonald 2nd Shane
Langton 3rd Shane Macdonald.

|