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Langton
unbeatable at Charlton
Posted:
12/04/04
Over
the Easter break, Shane and Nathan Macdonald raced at Charlton
Raceway for the Saturday and Sunday night. There were to be 3 heats
on Saturday night and 1 heat and a final Sunday night. Peter
Rodgers pieced his car back together from his roll over in Brisbane
the other week, but could only make it for Sunday night. Heat 1 on
Saturday night saw Shane Macdonald lead the race while Rodney
Pammenter come through the field to take the lead from Macdonald in
the later stage of the race. while Nathan come from the back of the
field into 4th, and got up the inside of Shane Langton who was 3rd,
on the last lap across the finish line, but wasn't quite ahead of
Langton. 1st Rodney Pammenter 2nd Shane Macdonald 3rd Shane
Langton.
Heat 2 saw Nathan Macdonald and Rodney Pammenter off the front row,
with Nathan getting the better start and took the lead into the
first corner. Pammenter dropped back from Macdonald while Shane
Langton was sitting in 3rd, Shane Macdonald in 4th and Dennis
Bullpitt in 5th. With about 3 laps to go, Chris Duffel from
Brisbane rolled his Ford Cortina onto the roof which saw the red
lights come on. On the restart Pammenter was looking to take the
lead by getting up the iniside of Macdonald a few times, but
Macdonald held onto the lead. 1st Nathan Macdonald 2nd Rodney
Pammenter 3rd Shane Langton.
Heat 3 for the night saw Pammneter off the front row with Langton
beside him. Pammenter broke free and took the lead, opening up a
good lead. While Shane Macdonald and Nathan Macdonald were fighting
for 3rd position, with Shane running on the inside and Nathan on the
outside for 2 or 3 laps. Shane ended up getting into 3rd while
Dennis Bullpitt pulled out after breaking his rack on his car.
Nathan caught his brother Shane back up, as Nathan come faster into
the corner than his brother around turn 1 and 2, Shane threw his car
a bit sideways to get around the corner, while Nathan braked to miss
his brother, the #32 car pushed straight ahead and hit Shane in the
left rear tyre, which tore a big hole in his tyre, forcing him to
retire. Nathan was still able to keep going and obtain 3rd spot.
While Peter Campbell finished 4th. Nathan later receiving the black
flag from the officials for hitting his brother. Macdonald was
forced to accept the ruling. 1st Rodney Pammneter 2nd Shane
Langton 3rd Peter Campbell.
The
first heat on Sunday night saw the two Macdonald brothers off the
front row. This was the first race for the night so the track was
still fairly wet in some places. Both Shane and Nathan tried to
beat each other into the first corner, but Nathan come into the
corner too fast and slid up into the wall again. This set off a
series of events with the rest of the field hitting each other and
spinning out, trying to avoid Macdonald. Nathan pulled onto the
infield with a bent pannard bar and suspension damage to the right
front corner of the car. The cars were put into a single file
restart. Shane out in front, found some grip right up high near the
fence, and eventually pulled a half lap lead over the rest of the
field. Peter Campbell drove well to pass Shane Langton and get up
into 2nd place. While Dennis Bullpitt was running 5th when he found
a distinctive high line like Macdonald, and went around the outside
of Pammenter, Langton and Campbell, all in one corner, to take 2nd
place. Peter Campbell held onto 3rd position with Shane Langton in
4th followed by Rodney Pammenter and Peter Rodgers. 1st Shane
Macdonald 2nd Dennis Bullpitt 3rd Peter Campbell.
For
the feature race, Rodney Pammenter in his #8 Commodore, was the
highest point scorer and started from pole, with Shane Langton
beside him followed by Shane Macdonald, Peter Campbell, Nathan
Macdonald, Dennis Bullpitt and Peter Rodgers. The water truck was
put out before the race, making it extremely slippery. Langton was
able to take the lead over Pammenter, while Bullpitt once again
found the high line working for him, after coming from 5th, going
around the outside of everyone to eventually take the lead. But
while going around the outside of Shane Macdonald, the two cars just
touched, which saw Shane's right rear axle break, Macdonald
eventually realising this and pulled onto the infield. Nathan
managed to get past Rodney the Rocket Pammenter into 3rd, while
Shane Langton stole the lead back from Bullpitt. Nathan come around
turn 1 and 2, and got a tap from Rocket, which put him off line and
allowed Pammenter through. Pammenter then passed Bullpitt to take
2nd. While Nathan was happy to finish and had to settle for 4th
with Peter Rodgers in 5th and Peter Campbell in 6th. Shane Langton
being unstoppable, making this his 3rd successive feature race win
at Charlton. 1st Shane Langton 2nd Rodney Pammenter 3rd
Dennis Bullpitt.

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