Forum: Northern California Sprint Car (go)
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After waiting out 5 days of rain, they finally got the race in at Brisbane International Speedway and Jesse Hockett proved a terrific replacement for Cody Darrah. Here's the writeup from Brisbane:

It's possible there were two types of Sprintcar fans at Brisbane International Speedway on Wednesday night, those that have been fortunate enough to see Jesse Hockett in action in the United States in either a winged or non-wing Sprintcar and those who were about to see what the fuss was about. Hockett lived up to his reputation of a gas man, he had the elbows up, he put on a show for the fans and he tamed the tight, 1/4 mile Speedway at his first attempt. Not a bad start for a bloke from Warsaw Missouri who just over a week ago was faced with the prospect of a cold Christmas at home.

Jesse arrived in Brisbane on Christmas Day, with Motorguard Motorsport team owner John Weatherall picking him up from the airport mid-morning. The Weather Channel back home told Jesse Brisbane was the capital of the "Sunshine State" of Australia, five days of rain later he finally got to turn a lap in the team's USA 1 Maxim. Ironic that at home he would have been waiting for a break in the snow, in Brisbane he was waiting for a break in the rain.

Hockett wasted little time at the race track though, taking a look at the track after all the rain, settling on a set-up for the car and then posting third quick time behind Brent Kaeding and Richard Morgan. Third in his first Heat race and winning his second was enough for Jesse to make the Dash, third in the six lapper gave him the favoured inside row for the thirty lap Feature.

Five days of rain was always going to have an effect on the race track, it was always going to favour those that love to man-handle an 850HP winged Sprintcar and run it on the edge. Brisbane fans knew from experience that Brent Kaeding would put on a show and they weren't disappointed with what the big Californian produced. Jesse didn't disappoint them either.

The race between Jesse, David Muir, Brent Kaeding and Pete Thorley is why fans love Sprintcar racing, although this battle was for the minor placings and not for the race lead as Allan Woods looked to have them all covered early on.

Jesse nearly flipped after contact with Muir on the back stretch, he broke the Jacob's Ladder off the car about ten laps in when he found the wall on the front stretch, he jumped the cushion, he biked the car, he ran the top, he ran the bottom, he ran the middle, he wheel stood the car off the corners. Adriano Moraes, the bull riding legend on the Pro tour, would have been proud of the way Jesse hung on.

Jesse finally ran down Woods and passed him for the lead with seven laps left, going on to win his first race in Brisbane and adding his name to an illustrious list of American and Australian drivers who have won with the Motorguard Motorsport team over the years. Team owner John Weatherall liked what he saw while Jesse was full of praise for the Motorguard boys and thankful to the BIS Promotional team of John and Kathy Kelly for answering his "shot in the dark" email when Cody Darrah became unavailable for the tour.

It's only the first race of the summer for Jesse and the team, and they know the competition will get even tougher when the World Series Sprintcars tour returns to Brisbane next week along with Donny Schatz. But if last night's race is any indication, it's fair to say they're up for the challenge. And the fans are in for a treat with Jesse "The Rocket" Hockett behind the wheel.

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