Shane Macdonald has had a great start to his QLD title campaign, being held at Mothar Mountain Speedway in Gympie.  Problems had struck Shane even before his first race, with the alternator not charging the battery.  A temporary fix saw Shane get through the night ok.  Shane then went on to post some solid heat results and come out of the first night with the car in one piece and looking good for night two.

Shane's first heat saw him start from pole position.  Shane put the pedal to the metal, as he raced away to a comfortable lead.  Lurking in the background was hometown local and the current Australian Champion Todd Doyle.  Doyle had started at the rear and made his way through pack, and was slowly reeling in Macdonald.  Doyle made his way past Macdonald up the front straight out of the hairpin, but Macdonald was not done yet as he saw the opportunity to bounce back in the next turn.  Doyle took his preferred racing line, not expecting Macdonald to come back.  Shane dived up the inside of turn 2, and made slight contact and retained the lead.  Macdonald lead for another lap until a mistake in the hairpin cost him the win, allowing Doyle to take the heat win.  Shane crossed in 2nd with Aiden Raymont 3rd.

Heat 2 saw Shane start from the rear of field, as the race got underway Macdonald made a daring move to the outside around the first turn of a few cars, as the track had been a bit greasy from the water truck.  But Macdonald had to back out after a car had almost come to a halt in the next turn.  Shane went on to have a brilliant race with Stephen Geritz, the two side by side for most of the race.  Macdonald had more speed but couldn't quite find a way around, having to settle for 5th. 

In what was a promising result for Macdonald in heat three, Shane started from position 4 along side Todd Doyle.  Shane had settled into 3rd place with race leader Mark Raymont out in front and Todd Doyle 2nd.  Steve Thomsen had spun in the hairpin bringing the yellow lights on.  As the restart got underway Raymont held onto his lead, with Doyle close behind.  While Shane Macdonald was right on the hammer as well, working away at the rear of the Australia #1 car.  Macdonald's car was unbelievably quick under brakes coming into the hairpin.  Shane waited for the right moment and made a pass stick on Doyle up the front straight.  Getting past Doyle was one thing, but staying ahead was another, but Macdonald drove extremely well as Doyle had no answer for Macdonald as Shane come home for a brilliant 2nd placing behind Mark Raymont. 

Shane's car seemed to come better the drier the track got, which sounds promising on a track that is very tricky to master.  Shane recieved a few compliments, saying that was the quickest they have seen a non-local go around the circuit.

With little work to do to the car, the team is looking forward to final night of racing, with one more heat and a 40 lap final.

After 2 heats of racing, Shane was sitting in 12th place in points for the title. With another 2nd placing in the heat after, Shane should be in 8th place or there abouts.  

Keep an eye out through the week, as we have some great footage from the in-car video camera which will be put on the website.