Mark Brown wins the 50 Lap Classic at Sydney Speedway
Brown powering to the Classic win
What a show Sydney Speedway gave the fans last night .A crowd eager for fun, action and fireworks filled into the Speedway. Fireworks, Monster trucks and that red hot jet powered car entertained the crowd before the track action exploded. A great reminder of days past was on display courtesy of Vintage Speedcar owners.
Remember number 4 Peter Cuneen and Peter Bowland
The pits were crowded, big entry list for the 50 lap classic and despite the unfortunate last minute withdrawal of National Champ Neville Lance the heat races left you wanting more. Brown and Clarke were devastating in winning their heats.
The interstate drivers were impressive with young West Aussie Duane kingshott showing early in the night great car speed and aggression.
The field for this 50 lap classic was worthy of National status including drivers from Victoria, Queensland and Hayden William from New Zealand.
The introductory lap, drivers four wide as they circled the track, great opportunity for race fans to spot their favorite and cheer loudly. The wait for the green flag was over as mighty midget speedcars unleashed their power and raced away for lap one of 50.
Inside two lap’s two stoppages and coming off worse was the BOC Speedcar of Troy Jenkins in turn one. The dump looked worse than it was but Troy would sit out the classic trading his race car for a spot in the commentator’s box providing race fans with a driver’s view of the action .Andrew Wright was also out during the opening lap incident.
Mark Brown was the first to make a move and in the early laps seemed to have the track worked out. There were two lines working well, Brown racing on the top as he charged to the front. Back in the pack Adam Clark was working the bottom. Plenty of moisture and grip but in turn one and two there was a deep cutter forming that might prove a problem.
As Brown cleared the pack Clarke was coming fast gaining every lap until they were nose to tail. This was a 50 lap race but the way these two gifted race driver hammered each other was unbelievable. Lap after lap, side by side, one of the top one on the bottom. They match raced for the best part of 20 laps before Clarke gained some small advantage.
Yes there were others in the race but all the interest was on Clarke and Brown. No matter what speedway you might visit it would be hard to better what these two champions were delivering.
Racing is all about luck and tonight the luck was not riding with Deane Contracting driver .Four laps from the finish a caution when Clarke was fronted by a spinning lapped car and on the restart the officials noticed that the right front shock on Clarke’s speedcar was broken .it was clear that Clarke would have great difficulty in getting the race car to the finish safely. The cruelest of decisions, but necessary for the safety of Clarke and the remaining competitors the black flag came out for Clarke.
Clarke had driven the wheels off his 21 car and departed for the pits as the field packed together to race out the remaining four laps. 50 laps around Sydney Speedway is a tough call on both car and driver and to win you need to finish and that what the Team Fox driver Mark Brown did to the wild cheers of his crew some that were next to me in the crowd . Boy was they excited.
The final restart and the young Bunbury based West Australian Duane Kingshott found himself in second behind Brown and a real chance to steal the victory in the closing lap. Brown had worked so hard and he would defend his lead to the finish.
Mark Brown, Duane Kingshott, Michael Stewart the 50 Lap Classic podium
Drivers quotes:
Mark Brown.
“I think it’s time to party on in the Fox camp after the meeting,” noted Brown in thanking his car owner Brendan Fox.
When asked about Adam Clarke receiving the mechanical defect flag, Brown replied: “It was a shame what happened with Clarke breaking the right-front suspension, but his car probably would have dived in nose first into the corner and could have ended pretty ugly.”
Happy Mark Brown after the win
Adam Clarke
“It was a safety call. The right-front shock was broken. It’s a bitter pill to swallow with four to go when you are leading and driving away, but I had no complaints with the call. We had a good car; we just got caught up with a lapped car. That’s racing, and we’ll fix it up and go again next week,”
The tail of Adam Clarke’s car List of Feature race wins
With the 50 Lap Classic over the Speedway season at Sydney would close with that entertaining and hilarious Caravan, Boat and dunny derby. The conclusion that all the kids both big and small had waited for all. Not your classic Speedway but just great fun, ask any of the kids
