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Sides Wins World Series Round Three In Hobart
Author : Darren ODea
AMERICAN Jason Sides won the third round of World Series Sprintcars at Mountain Dew Ice Raceway in Hobart on Saturday night.
The Krikke Motorsport pilot led all the way in the 30-lapper to claim victory from fellow front-rower David Murcott and another American Jason Johnson (in his first round of the series).
Subbing for defending series champion Brooke Tatnell, who is still in America with family commitments, Sides was ninth in qualifying with a 13.838-second lap before gathering strong points with a fourth and fifth in his heats.
It was obvious Sides and crew chief Pete Caporn had the car dialled into the slick Hobart track, being second quickest in the Bronze Top Eight Shootout before then dominating the Silver and Gold Shootouts to start on pole for the first of the two Tasmanian rounds.
The driver of the Toyota Genuine Parts Cool chassis was never troubled in the main event with Murcott and the rest of the pack not able to make any serious moves, even on the two restarts, both caused by a spinning Bryan Mann who was sent to the infield after the second misdemeanour.
“It just shows how good this team is,” Sides said after the win.
“We just had to fine tune it a bit for our driving style.
“First up I have to thank Shane Krikke for giving up this opportunity.”
Sides will be in the car for one more round before Tatnell returns to Australia for round five in Adelaide on Boxing Day.
“I hope I don’t tear it up between now and the time he comes back.”
Sides also paid tribute to the entire Krikke team and said the race track suited their driving style “and fortunately we came out on top”.
For the third week in a row Murcott started on the front row, lining up on the outside of Sides after being the polesitter in the earlier rounds.
Fortunately for the driver of the Mainline Dynolog Dynamometers Eagle chassis this time around he converted a good start into a good finish.
“The car ran really nice,” Murcott said.
“The start was everything.”
He said to get Sides he needed to strike early but was unable to make the telling move.
“He got the start and just rolled around and drove the perfect race…full credit to Jason.
Murcott started his night with third quickest in qualifying and then claimed an eighth and a sixth in the heats.
Once again he proved to be the master in the shootouts, winning the Bronze round before being second to Sides in the Silver and Gold bouts.
“Hopefully we put on a good show for the crowd…we hope to see you all at Latrobe next week.”
Johnson returned to the Haynes Labour Hire Maxim chassis driven so well by substitute Matt Reed in the first two rounds.
He said they missed the set-up after officials reworked the track.
The popular American said the series was getting tougher each year.
“It’s a lot of fun to race with this calibre of drivers,” Johnson said.
Ian Madsen finished fourth and was followed over the line by Jamie Bricknell, James McFadden, Tyler Walker, Max Dumesny, Trevor Green, Matt Reed, Steven Lines, Matt Egel, Robbie Farr, Danny Reidy, Shaun Dobson, Adrian Redpath, Ricky Maiolo and Malcolm Lee with Mann and Tim Hutchins out after 17 laps.
Bricknell gave Tasmanian fans something to cheer about early when he set quick time with a 13.522-second lap, edging out Dumesny in his new car in a 13.540 and Murcott in 13.627.
Madsen won the first heat from Johnson and Jamie O’Neill, after charging through from sixth, crossing the line in spectacular fashion with an oil flare up.
Reed raced from fifth to win heat two from Walker and Maiolo while local driver Mark House took full advantage of his outside front row start to win heat three from Lee and Dobson.
Green inherited the lead late in heat four after Jason Redpath spun around while out on front.
Redpath recovered for second with Farr third.
Rowett won the fifth heat after starting on the front row, crossing the line ahead of Madsen (out of fifth) and Lee (out of fourth).
Maiolo claimed the final heat (after starting out of fourth) from polesitter House and Reed (out of sixth).
Egel won the B Main from Hutchins and Dobson.
Round four of World Series Sprintcars will be held at Bendigo Bank Arena in Latrobe next Saturday night.
Qualifying: Jamie Bricknell 13.522, Max Dumesny 13.540, David Murcott 13.627, Matt Egel 13.718, Danny Reidy 13.734, Steve Lines 13.752, Jason Johnson 13.816, James McFadden 13.837, Jason Sides 13.838, Tim Hutchins 13.882, Tyler Walker 13.922, Bryan Mann 13.969, Ian Madsen 13.989, Robbie Farr 14.064, Shaun Dobson 14.071, Trevor Green 14.083, Matthew Reed 14.134, Gerry Hoekstra 14.159, Wayne Rowett 14.169, Kurt Luttrell 14.278, Adrian Redpath 14.368, Jason Redpath 14.472, Ricky Maiolo 14.534, Malcolm Lee 14.655, Terrence Kirkpatrick 14.779, Ashley House 14.862, Mark House 14.870, Jamie O’Neill 15.096, Michael Parker 15.346, Damian Robins 15.688.
Heat 1: 1st Ian Madsen, 2nd Jason Johnson, 3rd Jamie O’Neill, 4th Trevor Green, 5th Jason Redpath, 6th Tim Hutchins, 7th Jamie Bricknell, 8th Matt Egel, 9th Terrence Kirkpatrick, 10th Shaun Robins. DNS: Wayne Rowett.
Heat 2: 1st Matthew Reed, 2nd Tyler Walker, 3rd Ricky Maiolo, 4th Ashley House, 5th Robbie Farr, 6th James McFadden, 7th Kurt Luttrell, 8th Max Dumesny, 9th Danny Reidy. DNF: Michael Parker.
Heat 3: 1st Mark House, 2nd Malcolm Lee, 3rd Shaun Dobson, 4th Jason Sides, 5th Adrian Redpath, 6th Bryan Mann, 7th Steve Lines, 8th David Murcott, 9th Damian Robins, 10th Gerry Hoekstra.
Heat 4: 1st Trevor Green, 2nd Jason Redpath, 3rd Robbie Farr, 4th Ashley House, 5th Kurt Luttrell, 6th James McFadden, 6th Tim Hutchins, 7th Max Dumesny, 8th Shaun Robins, 9th Matt Egel.
Heat 5: 1st Wayne Rowett, 2nd Ian Madsen, 3rd Malcolm Lee, 4th Terrence Kirkpatrick, 5th Bryan Mann, 6th Jason Johnson, 7th Jamie Bricknell, 8th Steven Lines, 9th Gerry Hoekstra, 10th Damian Robins.
Heat 6: 1st Ricky Maiolo, 2nd Mark House, 3rd Matthew Reed, 4th Tyler Walker, 5th Jason Sides, 6th David Murcott, 7th Danny Reidy, 8th Adrian Redpath, 9th Shaun Dobson.
Bronze Top 8 Shootout: 1st David Murcott, 2nd Jason Sides, 3rd Matthew Reed, 4th Max Dumesny.
Silver Top 8 Shootout: 1st Jason Sides, 2nd David Murcott, 3rd Jamie Bricknell, 4th Tyler Walker.
Gold Top 8 Shootout: 1st Jason Sides, 2nd David Murcott, 3rd Jason Johnson, 4th Ian Madsen.
B Main: 1st Matt Egel, 2nd Tim Hutchins, 3rd Shaun Dobson, 4th Ricky Maiolo, 5th Adrian Redpath, 6th Malcom Lee, 7th Wayne Rowett, 8th Ashley House, 9th Jason Redpath, 10th Gerry Hoekstra, 11th Mark House, 12th Terrence Kirkpatrick, 13th Shaun Robins. DNF Damian Robins, Jamie O’Neill and Kurt Luttrell.
A Main: 1st Jason Sides, 2nd David Murcott, 3rd Jason Johnson, 4th Ian Madsen, 5th Jamie Bricknell, 6th James McFadden, 7th Tyler Walker, 8th Max Dumesny, 9th Trevor Green, 10th Matt Reed, 11th Steven Lines, 12th Matt Egel, 13th Robbie Farr, 14th Danny Reidy, 15th Shaun Dobson, 16th Adrian Redpath, 17th Malcolm Lee. DNF: Bryan Mann and Tim Hutchins.
On a charge: Jason Sides (pictured below) was in control in round three of the series in Hobart on Saturday night.
Craig Dollanksy completed a near-perfect evening at the Robertson Holden International Speedway, leading the 30-lap final race from start to finish. He was chased hard by Jonathan Allard, with Ricky Logan completing the American clean-sweep of the podium positions.
The night’s racing kicked off with an enthralling battle in the two-lap time trials. 6p Nelson Hartley set a good early time of 13.8711, which repelled the challenges of former and current national champions 22a Dean Brindle, 71a Jamie McDonald and 1nzm Rodney Wood. However the first international driver 0usa Jonathan Allard topped it with a 13.7079, which was then also bested by compatriot 7usa Craig Dollansky’s 13.4986. The crowd were impressed when firstly 66m Skinny Colson and then 8a Ryan O’Connor fought over second place ahead of Allard (13.6881 and 13.6356 respectively), until 10usa Ricky Logan stunned everyone with a 13.4596 on the very last lap of the time trials.
8a Ryan O’Connor looked sharp when he held off 10usa Ricky Logan around the first bend to lead the opening heat. A lapped car caused consternation when O’Connor and Logan were held up. 0usa Jonathan Allard dove up the inside of Logan then flicked to the outside to overtake the slower car. This caused Logan to clobber the wall, but he survived after dropping a few places. 66m Skinny Colson made the most of an impressive start to beat 7usa Craig Dollanksy to the first corner in the second group, but crucially hesitated when coming across a lapped car, allowing Dollansky to zip past for the win.
Drama in the second heats started when 6p Nelson Hartley drifted wide into the wall on the opening lap and Allard rode up the back of him, damaging the American’s front end and puncturing his right-rear tyre. 28p Chris Uhlenberg made the most of his front row grid, securing a good win ahead of 11p Ian Easton. Logan and O’Connor found the going tough from the back, only making their way up to sixth and eight respectively. 22a Dean Brindle was on fire in the final heat, passing three cars on the opening lap and then working his way past 7p Brent Harris. 6m James Dahm had a healthy lead, but had his thunder stolen by the flying Brindle on the last lap of the race. Dollanksy from the back was facing heavy resistance in the form of Colson, until he finally passed both him and 18a Greg Pickerill around the outside in one movement.
Uhlenberg backed up his heat win with an assured drive to victory in the B-Main, the biggest mover being 1nzm Rodney Wood who made inside passes on 35a Hans Boere and Harris. Logan set the top six shootout’s alight with a stunning outside pass on Colson in the final lap of their battle, but had to concede defeat to a determined O’Connor, who was then comfortably beaten by Dollansky in the final run-off.
A number of false starts punctuated the beginning of the 30 lap A-Main, the first involving the rollover of speedway veteran Easton, and the second a botched take-off which caused Logan to launch into a massive wheelie after striking the rear of Dollansky’s car when he didn’t expect the race to be started - luckily neither car suffered damage. Once underway it was a professional performance by Dollansky who cleared out to a solid lead. Starting on grid nine after extensive repairs, Allard was on a mission. He was up to fifth place by the time the first yellow lights were activated on lap nine for an incident between Uhlenberg and 11w Michael Gray. Allard then overtook the brisk Kiwi duo of Brindle and O’Connor with outside and inside passes respectively, and when Logan was held up by a lapped car Allard stormed past his compatriot also.
When the next caution period arrived on lap 19 for the stricken car of O’Connor who had tangled with a backmarker, Allard had amazingly moved from grid nine to second place behind Dollansky. But Allard couldn’t manage to mount an attack for the lead, as Dollansky poured on the pace once again after the restart. Dollansky exuded class in this victory, leading all 30 laps from start to finish. Allard drove the most aggressively, and recovered well from his earlier damage to finish an excellent second, while Logan showed he was just as quick as the other two but luck was not on his side tonight. McDonald made a good pass on Pickerill to finish fifth, behind the first and pick of the New Zealander’s Brindle in fourth, who shone despite having a damaged front wing in the final.
RESULTS
Sprintcars
Group One - Heat One: 8a Ryan O’Connor, 0usa Jonathan Allard, 71a Jamie McDonald, 11p Ian Easton, 10usa Ricky Logan, 24w Martin Halcrow - Fastest Lap: 8a - 13.6807
Group Two - Heat One: 7usa Craig Dollansky, 66m Skinny Colson, 22a Dean Brindle, 18a Greg Pickerill, 35a Hans Boere, 1nzm Rodney Wood - Fastest Lap: 66m - 13.6530
Group One - Heat One: 28p Chris Uhlenberg, 11p, 6p Nelson Hartley, 24w, 71a, 10usa - Fastest Lap: 8a - 14.2739
Group Two - Heat Two: 22a, 6m James Dahm, 7usa, 7p Brent Harris, 18a, 66m - Fastest Lap: 7usa - 14.4599
B-Main: 28p, 24w, 6m, 7p, 1nzm, 35a - Fastest Lap: 1nzm - 15.1983
A-Main: 7usa, 0usa, 10usa, 22a, 71a, 66m
Superstocks
Race One: 98p Craig Humphries, 32p Graeme Barr, 77p Wayne Norris, 45s Steve Guilford, 31p Andy McCabe, 7p Shane Penn - Fastest Lap: 7p - 19.1580
Race Two: 7p, 93p Roydon Collingwood, 79p Kerry Humphrey, 98p, 32p, 31p - Fastest Lap: 7p - 18.2833
Feature: 7p, 57p Dave Tarrant, 32p, 79p, 77p, 282s Phil Ogle - Fastest Lap: 282s - 18.3339
Stockcars
Heat One: 94p William Humphries, 557p Darrel Wallace, 53p Todd O’Donnell, 6p Ricky Garth, 5p Brett Hyslop, 581p Jordan Dare - Fastest Lap: 94p - 21.2823
Heat Two: 66p Graham Peter, 53p, 81p Eddie Arnold, 581p, 97p Graeme Ward, 16p Justin Kinane - Fastest Lap: 62p - 19.7698
Heat Three: 94p, 557p, 581p, 73p Mitchell Hill, 119p Zac Harris, 97p - Fastest Lap: 6p - 20.3418
Youth Ministocks
Race One: 98b Max Bayley, 85b Mitch Fairhurst, 11p Asher Rees, 39v Tyler Gibbons, 7p Conor Dahl, 4w Blake Ellett - Fastest Lap: 11p - 21.2982
Race Two: 34w Matt Eckersley, 26p Nic Davey, 93p Jordan McGill, 4w, 62s Regan Gernhoefer, 13p Michael Butcher - Fastest Lap: 4w - 20.7280
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