This message was edited on
January 01, 2009 at
10:10:49 PM by MikeR19
Lasoski Celebrates The New Year With Victory At Tpcr
Posted Thursday, 1 January 2009 by PCR PR
Danny Lasoski in the Owens Corning R19 took a convincing win in the Hogs Breath Café Parramatta main event tonight at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway. In front of a large crowd he was followed home by hometown hero Kerry Madsen whilst Indiana's Kraig Kinser was placed third.
Lasoski heaped praise on crew chief Leonard Lee and car owner Lon Carnahan who created a unique piece of history, that being the owner of a Sprintcar that has won in four countries, namely the USA, NZ, Canada and now Australia.
The early race duel between Lasoski, Kerry Madsen and California’s Brad Sweet was an enthralling one. Conditions were made a little more difficult by a howling southerly which hit the track just prior to the main event.
The first stoppage occurred on lap 12 when Ian Loudoun turned the car around and onto its side. He was unhurt and after going to the work area, rejoined at the tail of the field.
The restart order was Lasoski, Kerry Madsen, Brad Sweet, Kraig Kinser and Donny Schatz.
By this stage, Steve Kinser, who started from position 20, was starting to make his move through the field.
The next stoppage occurred on lap 16 when Skip Jackson, aboard the Harry Delamont machine, had a spectacular engine fire. At the same time, Ian Loudoun’s brakes let go in a shower of sparks.
The final stoppage occurred on lap 26 when Brad Sweet unfortunately spun out of top three contention on turn three after Kerry Madsen checked up for a lapped car and Sweet tagged the back of Madsen’s car before spinning to a stop.
From that point on, it was all Danny Lasoski who recorded a comfortable win over Kerry Madsen and Kraig Kinser. Rounding out the top ten was Donny Schatz, Jonathan Allard, Jason Meyers, Ian Madsen, Steve Kinser, Marty Perovich and Mitchell Dumesny.
The B-Main was an all the way victory to Grant Tunks from Martin Lawes, Peter Gordon and Paul Jeffrey who was the final driver to gain a transfer to the A-Main.
Mick Turner picked up a last gasp second placing to qualify from the C-Main to the B-Main.
The C-Main was one of the best races of the night after Kelly Linigen drove a super race to win.
Tennessee’s Jason Sides held the advantage early, but engine problems again hampered his progress as Linigen raced through into the lead. Bright looked a certain second placegetter before Turner made his bid for the B-Main qualification spot.
Loudoun took out the opening sprintcar heat and led virtually from the outset over Kraig Kinser, David Doherty, Marty Perovich and Mitch Dumesny as qualifiers to the main event.
Interest centred on the battle between Perovich, Dumesny and James Thompson for the final transfer spot as they ran in close formation throughout the heat.
Californian Jason Meyers led from start to finish winning the second heat. Ben Atkinson took second spot, while Steve Kinser, who relegated Kerry Madsen back to fourth with a superb slid job in turn three in the latter stages, was third. Rounding out the top five to the feature were Madsen and Maher.
Ian Madsen was a convincing winner of heat three. He was never headed, while Danny Lasoski made the most of his first race at TPCR for the 2008-2009 international season with a second placing and Darryl Campbell turned in a solid performance for third. Jonathan Allard was fourth and Sam Walsh picked up the last transfer spot.
A lapped car proved the difference between a win and a loss for Andrew Wright in heat four. Wright had the lead and looked strong until Schatz pounced on turn two as Wright was baulked by a lapped car. Schatz ultimately won convincingly from Wright, Cross, Sweet and Jackson.
Perovich was fastest in qualifying time trials with a best lap of 12.4720 seconds. Next quickest was Stuart Williams, who has impressed in the past couple of meetings in time trials, with 12.5880 seconds, while third fastest was Tunks (12.6040).
The top five were rounded out by Jackson (12.6180) and Kraig Kinser (12.6250).
Karl Geedes took out the opening litrecar pre-meeting qualifying heat while the second qualifier was won by AJ McTaggart.
Respective heat winners in the programme proper were Queensland’s Andrew Whittaker and Shane Cooper.
The Litre car A main was a battle between Mitchell Whittaker and Clayton Priest with Whittaker taking victory from Priest and Craig Geering.
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