Sunday May 17,  2009

Starting out of pole position for his first heat, Macdonald used all of his newly acquired horsepower to power into the lead into turn one.  Macdonald was under pressure from Darran Lester early on, but was able maintain a three to four car lengths lead over Lester until an error by Macdonald.  Macdonald pushing his VS Commodore to the limit and scraped the wall up the front straight, making the car run high in turn one and two allowing Lester into the lead.  Macdonald was able to reel in Lester but had to settle for 2nd place.

Macdonald was pleased with the new engine, "The car feels really good, I can really feel the car wanting to pull out of the corners more than before".

Heat two Macdonald started from position six, and at the drop of the green flag Macdonald moved into 4th place around turn one and two.  This heat race would turn out to be one to remember, as Mark Ferguson, Darran Lester, Jason Campbell and Shane Macdonald displayed an exciting 8 lap sprint race, with all four cars running high, low and in between ducking and diving readily swapping positions.  After many gallant efforts Macdonald crossed the line in 4th place, while it was Darran Lester who come out on top with Mark Ferguson 2nd and Jason Campbell 3rd.

The feature race saw Darran Lester on pole, with Greg Worling in position two, followed by Mark Ferguson, Gavin Fletcher, Jason Campbell and Shane Macdonald.  On the start Lester broke the gearlever off in his hands which saw him have a rather slow start to the race, as Worling capitalised and took the lead.  Gavin Fletcher moved into 2nd place with Lester in 3rd and Macdonald 4th. 

Worling started to open up a lead out in front, as Macdonald battled with the track firstly, working out the quickest way around the circuit.  The pace was fast from the outset, as Macdonald diced with Jason Campbell early on, before he started to surge forward.  Fletcher spun his car in turn three, sending the black Falcon to the rear leaving Macdonald in 4th behind Campbell.  On the restart Macdonald found a way past Campbell for third then made his move on Lester who ran wide in turn two.  With some clear space ahead Macdonald put chase to Worling who already had a sizeable lead with only a few laps remaining.  The lap counter wound down  with Worling claiming another win ahead of Macdonald and Lester.

With another fantastic nights racing and no damage to the car, Macdonald will start his preparation to head north to Cairns for the QLD Title along with Fellow competitor Rodney Pammenter.  The title is being held over the June long weekend with a Practice Friday Night (5th) and heat races on the Saturday night (6th) and the all important feature race on Sunday night (7th).

With a friendly gesture from Toowoomba Local Peter Gray, the car will be towed up in a specialised transporter, taking away the hassle of driving the 18 hour long road trip.  Macdonald will instead take the 2 hour plane flight.  Having not raced at Cairns before, it will be a new venture for Macdonald.  All the same Shane will be looking forward to challenging the locals on their home turf.