Logan Survives Night of High Drama!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Logan Survives Night of High Drama
American Sprintcar pilot Ricky Logan topped a star-studded field to triumph in the latest round of the International Sprintcar Series. The cool Sunday evening’s racing was punctuated by two big crashes, and the crowd were wowed by some of the best drivers from the other side of the globe. Logan’s win was just reward for his many appreciated trips to the Robertson Holden International Speedway over the past few seasons.
The night was kicked off with time trials to determine groups and grids for three qualifying heats. Despite having more laps around this track than the Americans, the novelty of the timed flying lap worked against the locals, as this format is not often used here. International drivers set the five fastest times in the following order; 19usa Paul McMahan, 9usa Joey Saldana, 10usa Ricky Logan, 7usa Craig Dollansky and 0usa Jonathan Allard, with the first NZ’ers being 22a Dean Brindle and 66m Skinny Colson in sixth and seventh.
The first qualifying heat saw a good win to the young 8a Ryan O’Conner, holding out Colson and 1nz Carl Wilson. McMahan and Brindle followed closely behind to take the direct route to the A-Main. The second heat saw three of the Americans in action, and the difficult surface made it tough for them to shine. 78a Daniel Eggleton took the win and 51m Rodney Wood was set to finish second, until he clouted the wall on the final lap, but managed to avoid major damage and finish fourth. 5usa Bill Rose and Saldana benefitted from Wood’s misfortune, with compatriot Allard in fifth. A similar story was told in the final heat, 71a Jamie McDonald victorious over 27a Allan Wakeling and 21v Peter Huijs. Dollansky and Logan made it to the A-Main in the final two qualifying spots.
The C-Main saw 9p Wade Savage and 8p Paul Donovan squeeze through to the B-Main for another qualifying chance. Unfortunately this race was the end of an unhappy night for 18a Greg Pickerill, when he impacted the wall heavily after being baulked by a struggling 7p Brent Harris. The Dash gives the top ten qualifiers a chance to improve their grid, but the race was fairly processional as no-one wanted to risk damage heading into the feature.
The top few finishers in the 12 lap B-Main are promoted to start from the rear of the grid for the finale. 11a Ray Griffen led from start to finish, while 4p Bryan Menefy held second place from the charging 6p Nelson Hartley. As the race was winding down and the field passed the chequered flag, 5p Nick Pedley drifted wide on the exit of the final turn, striking the wall and starting a cartwheel that ended abruptly in the wire-rope fence just past the flagman in a startling incident. The 30 lap A-Main was shaping up to be a US benefit, with the starting grid as follows; Dollansky, Logan, Saldana, McMahan, Allard, Brindle, Rose, McDonald, Wakeling, Colson...
Logan got the start he would’ve dreamed of, beating Dollansky around the first corner using the smoother wide line. The rest of the field got away from the start cleanly, and following the front pair were Saldana, McMahan and the impressive Brindle, who had managed to get ahead of Allard. All eyes were on the battle for the lead, as Logan and Dollansky reeled off the laps. They soon had lapped traffic to contend with, and disaster struck when 57m Aaron McConachy and Eggleton spun in the pit corner, causing three of the leading bunch to spin in evasive action. Sanity prevailed as the leaders were restored to their rightful positions for the restart. Dollansky seemed to have fractionally more speed than Logan and he was applying massive pressure, but he could not make a passing manoeuvre stick.
With about ten laps to go, defending round winner 21v Peter Huijs was clipped and performed a massive roll, coming to rest over the wire ropes and bringing down a section of the catch fence in a horror accident. Thankfully the driver was ok, although the fence and his poor car will require extensive repair. After the restart Logan pressed on and made the passes through traffic as needed, to power home to an impressive victory over his compatriots. After shadowing Logan all the way, Dollansky was removed from the results when it transpired that his car was attended by his crew during one of the stoppages. Saldana couldn’t quite match the blistering pace he displayed here last season, but will be happy picking up second place. McMahan will likewise be satisfied with his third, after crashing out of last week’s round in Wellington. Allard did find a way back past Brindle to make a top 4 for the Americans, but Brindle was a deserving first Kiwi home in fifth ahead of McDonald.
RESULTS
Sprintcars
Heat One: 8a Ryan O’Conner, 66m Skinny Colson, 1nz Carl Wilson, 19usa Paul McMahan, 22a Dean Brindle, 11a Ray Griffen - Fastest Lap: 19usa - 13.6338
Heat Two: 78a Daniel Eggleton, 5usa Bill Rose, 9usa Joey Saldana, 51m Rodney Wood, 0usa Jonathan Allard, 4p Bryan Menefy - Fastest Lap: 9usa - 14.0503
Heat Three: 71a Jamie McDonald, 27a Allan Wakeling, 21v Peter Huijs, 7usa Craig Dollansky, 10usa Ricky Logan, 18a Greg Pickerill - Fastest Lap: 27a - 14.3399
C-Main: 9p Wade Savage, 8p Paul Donovan, 9a Havard Daniels, 5m Bernie Gillon - Fastest Lap: 9p - 14.7360
Dash: 7usa, 10usa, 9usa, 19usa, 0usa, 22a - Fastest Lap: 7usa - 13.6656
B-Main: 11a, 4p, 6p Nelson Hartley, 48t Jason Scott, 57m Aaron McConachy, 28p Chris Uhlenberg - Fastest Lap: 11a - 15.0462
A-Main: 10usa, 9usa, 19usa, 0usa, 22a, 71a - Fastest Lap: 10usa - 14.1459
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