The final night of the 2009-2010 Sprintcar racing season in South-East Queensland drew to a close last night with Peter Thorley taking his maiden feature event win of the season, and the Queensland Speedway Spares Sprintcar Series crown. It was a thrilling race over 25 five laps with Thorley taking the win ahead of Dan Murray in a career-best second and Richard Morgan in third. Allan woods and Andrew Scheuerle rounded out the top five.

Twenty-two Sprintcars turned up at Brisbane International Speedway with both the QSS Series and the Sprintcars Queensland Club Championship on the line. Peter Thorley entered the night as the leader of the QSS Series with Richard Morgan sitting in second and a mathematical chance of stealing the series crown from Thorley if everything went his way. Richard entered the night as leader of the Sprintcars Queensland Club Championship, with Allan Woods in striking distance. The battle was certainly on right from the first drop of the green, each determined to make the most of their last chance to get some valuable points on the board.

Todd Wanless was the fastest qualifier during time trials, recording an 11.739 second lap. Kevin Titman was next fastest on the racetrack with Peter Thorley, Richard Morgan and Andrew Scheuerle rounding out the fastest five. The fastest 18 cars were separated by less than one second, with only the tiniest of margins between some competitors – Des Collier was 0.003 second faster than Allan Woods, while Murray Gibson beat Tasmania’s Terrance Kirkpatrick by the same margin. Steve Johnson was also 0.003 seconds faster then Craig Stevenson, proving once again that even the smallest fraction of a second can make a big difference in qualifying positions.

Qualifying was followed by the National Anthem and moving tribute to the late Jesse “The Rocket” Hockett. The Warsaw, Missouri (USA) based racer, who campaigned the Motorguard Motorsport USA #1 racer here over Christmas and New Year, sadly passed away a week and a half ago after a tragic accident in his workshop. Jesse may have only spent a few short weeks here, but that was all it took to endear him to many here. He was not just another competitor, he became a friend who was considered part of the Sprintcars Queensland family. The drivers, crews and officials of Sprintcars Queensland lined the turn three fence at BIS last night, as local star Peter Thorley strapped into the very car Jesse campaigned here. Thorley piloted the car during the playing of the national anthem, with both the Australian and American flags flying in the air. After a minute of silence, Thorley completed five solo hot laps, with “Rocket Man” by Elton John playing in the background, in tribute to a man who was not just an incredibly talented racer, but a commendable person who was taken way too soon. Sprintcars Queensland send our deepest sympathies to Jesse’s family and crew.

Heat one got under way with lady racer Melissa Boyes getting the jump off the start and settling into a comfortable lead over second placed Paul Morris. Boyes opened a comfortable lead over the rest of the field, while Morris tried to hang on to second with a tough field coming on strong behind him. Richard Morgan was making his way through the field, as was Todd Wanless and Andrew Scheuerle, who themselves were embroiled in a race long battle. Steve Johnson had a spin at the tail end of the field, bringing out the yellows and bunching the field back up. Boyes once again led the restart, with Morris close behind, but Boyes was determined to get as much track between herself and the rest of the on-coming field and quickly opened a small lead. Two laps later and Brent Kratzmann had a spin in turn one. Unfortunately with most of the field still coming at him, Brent was a sitting duck and while both Mark Pholi and Des Collier went high to try and avoid contact, neither really had enough room to squeeze past and contact between the three left Collier with enough front end damage to end his race. Pholi and Kratzmann both restarted at the rear of the field. Melisa Boyes continued to lead on the restart with Paul Morris doing a magnificent job to hold on to second. Andrew Scheuerle managed to get the better of Todd Wanless, but as the remaining laps ticked away the battle between Wanless and Scheuerle really took off. Wanless managed to slip past Scheuerle in the closing stages of the race, but Andrew was not about to give up without a fight and pushed back to regain his position before the chequered flag flew. Melissa Boyes was the first to greet the chequered flag, with Paul Morris in second ahead of Andrew Scheuerle and Todd Wanless. Richard Morgan was fifth across the line ahead o Adrian O’Connell, Mark Pholi, Brent Kratzmann, Murray Gibson and Steven Johnson. Des Collier the only non-finisher of the event.

Heat two started in a bad way for some. Steve Wright couldn’t get the NQ77 to fire and missed the start of the race, while Timmy Garrett and Paul Rooks both exited the race on turn two. Matthew Butler got the jump on the start, with Tim Garrett fighting back hard on the inside line. Unfortunately for Garrett it didn’t stick and he started to spin the #31 racer in the middle of turn two. Allan Woods and Paul Rooks were coming up fast and were both left with little choice – Woods went high, Rooks headed as low as he could get, but neither could avoid contact with Garrett. Woods was the first to make contact, clipping the left rear of Garrett and helping him spin that little bit more. Rooks tried to squeeze past on the lowline but contact between his right rear and Garrett’s right rear would end the race for both drivers. Allan Woods did not stop in the incident and took to the restart from position four. Matthew Butler got the jump on the start and ran away from the field, opening a sizable lead over even his nearest competitor. Dan Murray held down second, while the battle was on behind him. Peter Lack chased Dan Murray for much of the race and eventually found a way through with the chequered flag in sight. Allan Woods and Peter Thorley were caught up in their own race, the pair racing hard for the entire race distance, arguing over who would finish in front of whom, swapping and changing positions several times over the closing laps of the race. Matt Butler went on to take the win with second placed Peter Lack still about 1/3 of a lap behind. Dan Murray finished third ahead of Peter Thorley, Allan Woods, Craig Stevenson, Terrence Kirkpatrick and Kevin Titman. Tim Garrett, Steven Wright and Paul Rooks all failed to finish the 10-lap journey.

Heat three hit the track, without front row starter Tim Garrett, his crew still working feverishly trying the repair the damage to the #31 racer. Dan Murray was elevated to the front, alongside pole sitter Paul Morris. Morris got the jump on the start but contact between Des Collier and Peter Lack, both on the second row, brought the race to a stop. Unfortunately Collier suffered sufficient damage to the #63 car that his race was prematurely over, while Peter Lack restarted at the rear of the field. Peter Thorley, who originally started from position eight, was now starting out of position four. Paul Morris got the jump when the green flag flew, with Dan Murray settling briefly into second. Andrew Scheuerle, Peter Thorley and Todd Wanless were quickly working their way toward the front. Thorley slipped past Scheuerle, before Scheuerle took his position back, both drivers keen to set themselves up to score their first Round win of the season. Both Scheuerle and Thorley managed to get infront of Morris in the closing laps of the race, with Wanless also finding a way past. Andrew Scheuerle went on to take the race win from Peter Thorley, Todd Wanless, Paul Morris, Peter Lack, Dan Murray, Craig Stevenson and Brent Kratzmann. Terrence Kirkpatrick and Des Collier did not finish the race.

Matt Bulter got the jump on the start of heat four, but Allan Woods, from position three, wasted little time and slipped quickly into second before making his move around the outside of the race leader. Woods took over control of the race and though Butler fought back hard it was not meant to be. Butler pushed so hard heading into three that he spin the #71 and was relegated to the rear of the field. Unfortunately for Butler, things didn’t pan out the way he would have liked them to and after catching up to the tail end of the field for the restart he drove straight into the turn two fence coming around for the restart and was relegated to the infield. Allan Woods went on to take the win from Melissa Boyes in second and Mark Pholi in third. Adrian O’Connell was fourth across the line followed by Richard Morgan, Paul Rooks, Murray Gibson, Kevin Titman, Steven Johnson and Steven Wright. Matt Butler was the only non-finisher of the 10-lap journey.

Allan Woods the biggest beneficiary of the pre-dash draw. Woods was sixth highest on points heading into the dash event but managed to be left with pole position for the start of the dash, with Andrew Scheuerle alongside. The way Woods and Scheuerle started last nights dash event was almost as if they had forgotten it was a dash event and though for a moment it was the feature. Scheuerle got the jump on the start, but over the following two laps he and Woods alternated who would pull a side-job on whom, each slipping past the other several times for the lead before Scheuerle finally managed to open a small gap on Woods. Scheuerle went on the win the dash with Woods in second ahead of Todd Wanless, Richard Morgan, Peter Lack and Peter Thorley.

Ten cars lined up for the start of the B-main event, with young Tim Garrett finally making it back trackside after a mammoth effort from his crew to fix the damage to the rear end of the #31 racer after the opening heat. Garrett was to start out of position six. Mark Pholi and Matthew Butler shared the front row of the starting grid and it was Pholi who got the jump when the lights went green. It wasn’t to last though with Steven Johnson having a spin in turn four and bringing out the yellows and a full race restart. This time it was Matthew Butler who got the jump on the start, but it was about this time that things went from bad to worse for Tim Garrett. Starting mid-field, a row behind his cousin Des Collier, Garrett got his left front wheel up over Collier’s right rear. Garrett’s front end bounced around a little but he managed to get it back under control, that was until Brent Kratzmann came through and contact between Brent’s right rear and Tim’s left front sent Garrett into the fence and ripped the front end of his car apart. Garrett bounced around and nearly managed to keep it on four wheels, but momentum inverted the #31 racer on the entry to turn one. Garrett was unscathed in the incident, but his night was over. The twelve lap B-Main was then reduced to ten laps and it was Mark Pholi who got the jump on the restart. The race was plagued by several yellow light stoppages, but it was Matt Butler who took the win, after an impressive passing move on Mark Pholi in the closing stages of the race. Pholi finished second ahead of Brent Kratzmann with Murray Gibson securing the final transfer to the A-Main. Terrence Kirkpatrick crossed the line in fifth ahead of Steven Wright, while Des Collier, who had been running in about fifth until the final corner, spun the #63 racer in turn four of the final lap and failed to finish the event. Craig Stevenson, Tim Garrett and Steven Johnson all failed to finish the 10-lap race.

Andrew Scheuerle and Allan Woods picked up right where they left off in the Dash, only this time they were racing for A-Main honours and had a few more cars behind them. Scheuerle got the jump and while Woods pushed hard, Andrew had his maiden feature win of the season in his sights and was not about to let Woods steal it away from him, not without a fight. Within five laps Andrew had made himself comfortable in the race lead, with a small margin over Peter Thorley who had managed to slip by Woods. Unfortunately for Andrew the back markers would play a pivotal role in his last race for the season. Kevin Titman was running mid-field when he spun the #59 racer in turn three, the front end rearing up in the air before coming back to the track. Titman was able to keep the car going, somehow avoiding a flip that looked like it should have happened, but as the cars behind him took evasive action in order to try and avoid him, they found each other. Melissa Boyes and Brent Kratzmann became entangled in turn three, with Murray Gibson spinning into them to try and lessen the impact. With Boyes, Kratzmann and Gibson all stranded in turn three and race leader Scheuerle coming up fast on the lapped traffic, Scheuerle was left with nowhere to go and he too became entangled in the pile up. All four cars took to the restart from the rear of the field, Scheuerle with a massive task ahead of him. Peter Thorley inherited the race lead with team mate Todd Wanless hot on his tail tank, the pair having a thrilling battle out in front. Wanless secured the race lead briefly late in the race, but Thorley was determined to get the win and raced back past Wanless to regain his lead in the race. Almost everyone on the racetrack favoured the highline, and it made for a spectacular show, but quiet achiever Dan Murray stuck to the low-line and it was about half race distance when those of us watching the race started to notice just how well young Dan was making the gutter work for him. Dan started the feature event out of position 11 and by working the bottom managed to quietly work his way towards the front. With only a few laps left to run Dan had worked his way into third behind Thorley and Wanless. He clearly had everything worked out just right and drove a particularly smart race. With the chequered flag in sight he worked his way past Wanless to steal second, a career best for Murray (his previous best was fourth) and become the talk of the venue. Peter Thorley took the win with Dan Murray in second and Richard Morgan in third after Todd Wanless had a spin within sight of the chequerd flag. Allan Woods was fourth across the line ahead of Andrew Scheuerle, Paul Morris (a very impressive sixth), Adrian O’Connell, Mark Pholi, Kevin Titman, Matt Butler, Peter Lack (who became entangled with Wanless’ final spin), Todd Wanless, Paul Rooks, Brent Kratzmann and Melissa Boyes. Murray Gibson was the only non-finisher of the 25-lap feature event.

Sprintcars Queensland will now head into the winter off-season, a time to regroup and rebuild, and be back ready for another action packed season starting on Saturday 18 September 2010 at Brisbane International Speedway.

Sprintcars Queensland will hold their annual presentation dinner next month where Queensland Speedway Spares Series Winner Peter Thorley, and Sprintcars Queensland Club Champion Richard Morgan will receive their crowns and the rest of the Sprintcars Queensland season awards will be distributed.

On one finale note, Sprintcars Queensland would like to take this opportunity to congratulate James McFadden, our newly crowned Australian Champion. Raised in the Northern Territory, driving a car based in Western Australia and living in Queensland this 21-year-old star has a massive future ahead of him and we wish him every success for the years ahead.