Kicking Up The Dirt - USC Sprintcar Series Round Five
Joanne White posted Sunday February 7, 2016.
Despite some very patchy weather, thirty Sprintcars last night ventured to Hi Tech Oils Toowoomba Speedway in an attempt to run Round Five of the Ultimate Sprintcar Championship and Firecracker 50. It was the largest Sprintcar car count at the venue this season and was set to be a spectacular night of racing, culminating in a thrilling 50-lap final with the top 20 cars at the end of the night. Unfortunately though Mother Nature had other ideas, and light drizzle fell over the venue on and off all afternoon and into the evening. Unfortunately for Sprintcars Queensland we had only completed qualifying, with Robbie Farr topping the qualifying order, and had the first heat lined up, just half a lap away from taking the green, when the rain brought a holt to proceedings. Whilst the promotional team at the venue did everything they could to put on a show, in the end, while it was only light rain, by eight thirty they were forced to abandon the race meeting.
Danny Reidy secured the quickest time in hot laps, but would end up fourth overall at the end of qualifying. Robbie Farr was the quickest in the qualifying session, with a quick 11.306 second lap, but his qualifying run was not without incident. Farr had a moment in turn four, clipping the wall and spinning the NQ7 racer to a stop before completing his first timed lap. Lachlan McHugh had a brilliant qualifying run, the young gun only 0.003 seconds slower than Farr, stopping the clock at 11.309 seconds, with Darren Jensen third quickest with an 11.374 seconds. Jimmy Matchett unfortunately had mechanical issue and failed to record a time. Sixteen cars managed to dip into the 11-second bracket, while Mitchell Gee beat Andrew Liebke by just one thousandth of a second. Kevin Titman was two thousandths of a second quicker than Brent Kratzmann, while Luca Cox beat Scott Genrich by just one thousandth of a second. The top twenty-six cars were separated by less than one second.
The full qualifying results were as follows:
01. 11.306 Robbie Farr 02. 11.309 Lachlan McHugh 03. 11.373 Darren Jensen 04. 11.402 Danny Reidy 05. 11.478 Andrew Scheuerle 06. 11.543 Peter Lack 07. 11.584 Anthony Lambert 08. 11.598 Richard Morgan 09. 11.697 Luke Oldfield 10. 11.822 Dan Murray 11. 11.836 Mick Saller 12. 11.859 Mitchell Gee 13. 11.860 Andrew Liebke 14. 11.937 David Whell 15. 11.989 Kevin Titman 16. 11.991 Brent Kratzmann 17. 12.002 Brendan Scorgie 18. 12.069 Guy Stanshall 19. 12.080 Luca Cox 20. 12.081 Scott Genrich 21. 12.125 Brandon Rawlings 22. 12.139 Michael Matchett 23. 12.169 Steven Johnson 24. 12.173 Jason Bottin 25. 12.271 Nelson Reddacliff 26. 12.288 Dale Shilleto 27. 12.321 Adam Wray 28. 12.388 Andrew Marks 29. 12.860 Rob Hamilton 30. No Time Recorded - Jimmy Matchett
With heat one on the track and lined up ready for the start, just half a lap before the green flag was set to fly, the light rain made the track conditions too dangerous to continue. The race was put on hold and teams ventured back to the pits to wait out the rain. Once the rain eased the promotional team set about preparing the track and altering the program in an effort to get some Sprintcar racing in. Unfortunately the break in the rain was short lived and shortly after the rain began to fall once more before the meeting was abandoned. At the time of writing there was no rain-date scheduled. The promotional team at Hi Tech Oils Toowoomba Speedway should be commended for their efforts to get the show on, and for tapping into the Clay Per View live broadcast of the Australian Speedcar Title as it unfolded in Sydney in an effort to keep the crowd entertained while they waited for the rain to ease.
Sprintcars Queensland thank all the drivers and teams who braved the wet weather and tried to put on a show – it really was shaping up to be a brilliant night of Sprintcar racing action. Sprintcars Queensland will return to AusDeck Patios Archerfield Speedway next Saturday night, 13 February 2016, for Round 11 of the SuperCheap Auto Sprintcar Track Championship. Get yourself trackside and see all the racing action for yourself! See you there!
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