He came, he saw and he conquered, Aidan Hall was the surprised performer to take the win in round five of the Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series at Premier Speedway last night and by the taking that feature win Aidan was also crowned the new Victorian Open Sprintcar Champion in memory of the great Graeme McCubbin.
Aidan Hall driving the S15 sprintcar held off Warrnambool’s Jye Okeeffe and two times Australian Sprintcar Champion David Murcott to take the win in a race that had only one caution period after the first lap to take a flag to flag win with a very impressive performance.
The night started off with the group time trial qualifying format that would see Aidan take fast time in his session and give him top points to get his night under way, John Vogels, Corey McCullagh and David Murcott would also be the fastest qualifiers in the time trial groups, this would give these drivers position one in their first heat race as well before starting from the rear in their next heat races.
Three casualties of the Time trials that would see no times recorded after mechanical issues stopped their night’s activities were Tim Rankin, Ian Loudoun and Grant Anderson, Grant’s mechanical problem sent him into the turn four wall that would see him roll over.
The importance of a good time trial was more than just the points and a front row start in their first heat race but for the drivers that qualified on points in the top six position after the heat races they would get their time trial time back to form the first three rows of the Eureka Garage & Sheds A Main event with fastest driver starting from pole position.
Eight heat races were conducted that would see eight different heat winners where most heat races went thru without much drama with the exception of heat four, this would see both Darren Mollenoyux and Chris Rodda roll in separate incidents.
After the qualify races were complete fourteen drivers came on to the track to contest the C main event, that was won by Jordan Charge, in second was Harley Bishop, third went to Terry King and Rod Matthews filled the forth place, these drivers would transfer to the B Main.
The fifteen laps journey for the B Main went no stop with Daniel Pestka taking the win to transfer to the Eureka Garages & Sheds A Main event, going with Pestka would be Queensland’s Lachlan McHugh, Darren Mollenoyux who had move thru the field to third from his tenth starting position, Mitch Foster, Jacob Smith and Sam Wren would also go to the A Main event.
The A main grid was set for round five of the Eureka Garages and Sheds Series / the Graeme McCubbin Victorian Open Sprintcar Title.
Aidan Hall elected to start the race from position two giving pole position to Jye Okeeffe, row two had David Murcott and last round winner Glen Sutherland, row three, Corey McCullagh and Shaun Dobson followed by John Vogels, Steven Lines, next was Brad Keller, current Eureka Series Champion Brett Milburn, while Dion Bellman and Tim Van Ginneken filler row six then it was the B main transferring drivers.
Halls decision to start on the outside of the front row for the Main event payed off clearing Okeeffe as they came off turn two with Sutherland into third followed by Murcott and Dobson at the completion of the first lap.
Into the second lap and it all went wrong for Dobson, he hit the wall coming of turn two that sent him across track in front of the pack, McHugh was taken out when hit by Dobson before Lines was left with nowhere to go but into Dobson and Milburn was left to follow suit as well, end result four cars were eliminated.
Back under with the green flag waved and Bellman rolled infield to go no further in the competition, Foster also spun on the restart but kept his mount going as the leaders were approaching on lap two, the order was Hall from Okeeffe, Sutherland and Murcott who was staying with Sutherland.
With a clear track Hall was into a consistent rhythm leaving Okeeffe to try and find a little more speed to catch the leader. Murcott had Sutherland in his sight to make a move just over one third race distance to take third place. With Sutherland now in fourth place McCullagh was next then Van Ginneken, Keller, Mollenoyux, Pestka and Vogels round out the top ten while Jacob smith was next in line leaving Wren and Foster to tail out the field.
Mid race distance and both Van Ginneken and Mollenoyux were on the move, Van Ginneken caught and passed Sutherland to take over forth place leaving Mollenoyux to try and find a way past Sutherland as well.
Five to go and Okeeffe looked as though he may have found that bit more speed to try and catch the flying S15 car of Hall, Okeeffe closed in but not close enough to mount a challenge for the lead as the chequered flag was waved.
An elated Hall taking the win will now go into the history books at Premier Speedway as a Eureka Garages & Sheds Series round feature winner and just as importantly into the records of the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria Inc as a Victorian Open Sprintcar Champion in memory of Graeme McCubbin for season 2016-2017.
The finishing order was S15 Aidan Hall, V42 Jye Okeeffe second, V88 David Murcott third followed by V36 Tim Van Ginneken, S20 Glen Sutherland who remains the Eureka Series points leader, sixth went to V52 Darren Mollenoyux who passed the most cars in the race, seventh was taken by V90 Corey McCullagh while rounding out the finishers was S19 Bradley Keller, S27 Daniel Pestka, V70 John Vogels, V72 Jacob Smith, V84 Sam Wren and S72 Mitch Foster.
Heat wins on the night went to S15 Aidan Hall, S20 Glen Sutherland, V90 Corey McCullagh, V88 David Murcott, S72 Mitch Foster, V42 Jye Okeeffe, Act21 Shaun Dobson and V84 Sam Wren.
The next round of the Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series is the rescheduled round two that will be conducted at Premier Speedway on Saturday night the 17th of December 2016. The round two event will double with the annual Max Race.
Eureka Garages and Sheds Series nightly contingency awards:
AVALON RACEWAY DRIVERS DRAW: $50 – V28 Andrew Hughes.
HOOSIER TIRE AUSTRALIA – 11th Place in the A Main at Each round.
11th place – V72 Jacob Smith.
D&F RACING PRODUCTS - Hard luck of the night – V37 Grant Anderson
STEELPIPES PTY LTD - 1st competitor not to transfer from B to A-Main –
V23 James Gardiner
End of Series awards:
Eureka Garages & Sheds major sponsor of the Series overall prize money Poole.
KTM Top Ten Motorbike award – Random draw at the Presentation Dinner.
Camden Neon Signs – sponsors of the Series Prize Poole.
Hoosier Tire Australia – sponsors of the Series Prize Poole.
Western Nissan - for drivers finishing between 11th and 20th place in the Series. Random draw at the Presentation Dinner $1500 to the winner.
Lumbar Transport - End of Series most heat wins – S20 Glen Sutherland, V36 Tim Van Ginneken, V70 John Vogels, V72 Jacob Smith, V84 Sam Wren, V91 Brad Warren and V98 Peter Doukas. (2 wins each).
Western Nissan - most cars passed in the A-Main on the night,
V52 Darren Mollenoyux (9 cars)
(End of series award) cars passed overall – V90 Corey McCullagh (20 cars each)
ELIMINATOR RACE WINGS – for the driver that transfers the most from the B Main to the A Main events the most. Overall, V90 Corey McCullagh, V48 Adam King & V72 Jacob Smith (2 Times)
(In the event of a tie the driver with the most points in the Series wins)
PARR MOTORSPORTS –Drivers Driver award as voted on by the drivers in the Series.
Eureka Garages and Sheds Series – KTM Top 10:
1st – Glen Sutherland - 1449
2nd – Jye Okeeffe - 1435
3rd – David Murcott - 1335
4th – Tim Van Ginneken - 1300
5th – Corey McCullagh - 1277
6th – Jacob Smith - 1205
7th – Brett Milburn - 1116
8th – Brad Warren - 1033
9th – John Vogels - 992
10th – Adam King - 984
Western Nissan
(End of Series random draw between 11th & 20th place)
11th – Jordyn Charge - 926
12th – Dennis Jones - 922
13th – Braydan Parr - 895
14th – Sam Wren - 892
15th – Peter Doukas - 889
16th – Charles Hunter -740
17th – Terry Kelly - 722
18th – David McKay - 696
19th – Scott Reilly - 666
20th – James Gardiner - 620
The Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria thank the following Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series and season sponsors:
EUREKA GARAGES & SHEDS, KTM AUSTRALIA, WESTERN NISSAN, MD MOTORSPORT, HOOSIER TIRE AUSTRALIA, CAMDEN SINGAGE & BUILDING SERVICES, PARR MOTORSPORTS, STEELPIPES AUSTALIA, LUMBAR’S TRANSPORT, AVALON RACEWAY, D&F RACING PRODUCTS, ELIMINATOR RACE WINGS, COREY GIBSON PHOTOGRAPHY, MAXAM PRINTING, SPRINTCARWORLD.
Eureka Garages & Sheds www.eurekagarages.com.au
KTM Australia www.ktm.com
Western Nissan www.westernnissan.com.au
Hoosier Tires Australia www.mdmotorsport.com.au
Camden Signage & Building Services www.camdenneon.com.au
Steelpipes Pty Ltd www.steelpipes.com.au
Lumbars Transport www.lumbars.com.au
Eliminator Race Wings www.crossmotorsport.com
Parr Motorsports www.parrmotorsport.com
Avalon Raceway Avalon Raceway Lara (New Web Site TBA)
Corey Gibson Photography www.gibsonphotography.com.au
Sprintcarworld www.sprintcarworld.com.au
Maxam Printing www.maxamprinting.com.au
Eurerka Serie R5 top three Left to right Jye Okeeffe - Aidan Hall - David Murcott
Aidan and the Team celebrate the win - Photos courtesy of Corey Gibson Photography
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