Gympie 14th March – JEN-SATIONAL
17/03/09…Pam Franz….courtesy of Paul Vella GSCC Publicity Officer
The future of Queensland Speedway racing made their marks on the Mountain on Saturday night. With 20 of these young super stars out to contest the Landrover Spares Queensland Junior Street Sedan Title. They all rolled into the pits with one thing on their mind, win, win, win. As day turned into night the scene was setting to be a boy against girl series with some spectacular panel crunching amongst this volatile yet amazingly mature group of drivers.
The final 20 lap Feature event saw Mitchell Thomsen out of pole and defending Qld Champion Brad Jennings alongside, then girl power combination of Michele Blavius and Tiffany O’Keeffe right on their rear bumpers in row two. As the lights went green the front five cars broke away from the pack and provided an excellent calibre of racing from these young drivers that kept parents in the pits and grandstands feeling very proud.
The infield was filling up with cars and the constant pressure from Jennings was too much for Thomsen to bear, which saw the Maryborough based Falcon pull in with a flat tyre, allowing Brad Jennings to retain his title for the second consecutive year, followed by Tiffany O’Keeffe and Michele Blavius third.
If that wasn’t young enough, the Performax International SSA Juniors came out and showed their peers that they are a force to be reckoned with. “This is the class of Australia’s racing future, they are our next Sprint Car, Super Sedan or even V8 Supercar drivers”, these feisty little combinations raced like bee to a honey pot providing some of the best racing of the evening and it was great to see the family support around the pits and grandstands. Australian Champ Charlie Brown dominated all evening and greeted the chequered flag aftera twenty lap incident free final. Local drivers Stephen English, Michael and Brendan Learoyd finishing mid field.
The support program included the Round 4 of the Advanced Metal Turning Super Street Challenge, this unique two seater modified sedan series kept crowds on the edge of their seats as this usually volatile series has provided some of the most spectacular racing action seen at Mothar Mountain. Local champion Justin Jenkins qualified on pole for the twenty lap feature with Nigel Mulvena alongside in two. With less than half a second seperating the top ten fastest lap times, and a rutted track with only one race line, one mistake after leading for 17 laps was all it took from Jenkins which allowed Joel Thomas to slip underneath and claim victory in his AMT sponsored Commodore.
The fast and furious Modified Production round saw local hero Gavin Lorensen staying out of trouble all night and winning his feature event.
Tim Atkins dominated the Street Sedans and steered his Commodore to victory. The Qld Super Stocker Series made their debut at Gympie and saw that the challenge ahead of them held up to the reputation of this unique track.
All in all we were fortunate to race due to the wet weather leading up to Saturday and even showers that morning. Many thanks goes out to the volunteers and club members who worked the weekend prior upgrading and maintaining facilities and machinery at the track. The magic of Mark Pagel carrying out last minute repairs to the grader and providing us with a great track.
The next meeting is 18th April, and be ready to rumble with the thundering V8 Super Sedans returning to Mothar Mountain for a round of their Qld series and a full support program to boot.