QUINN MEETS CHALLENGE AT SIMPSON SPEEDWAY

Brendan Quinn, who was a last minute nomination for the Mainline Dynolog Dynamometers All Star Challenge, made the most of his opportunity at Simpson Speedway last weekend.

Quinn had earlier made the trek up north to contest the Queensland Speed week deal but with a couple of washouts and not having results he had hoped, he decided to try and secure an engine and run the Challenge. 

Managing to lease an engine from SA based series regular Jarman Dalitz enabled him to run. “Quinny used to run a lot with us back in the day and it was fantastic to see him back and his efforts rewarded. I told him Saturday night it was like a fairy-tale ending for him,” All Star series operator Mandy Searle said.

With a full field of 42 cars parked in the pits hot laps/time trials commenced ahead of schedule.Unfortunately for the defending Aussie 360 champ Brett Milburn engine issues sidelined his night from the start. 

Heavy hitters James McFadden, Daniel Pestka lined up on the front row of the feature with Quinn, Vogels, Lines Hickman behind. Pestka got the start and held the lead for 28 of the 35 lap race. Johnny V was first to bring out the reds tagging the wall under the judges box and up and over. At the restart Steven Lines pushed and bounced up into the wall in the second turn, sustaining enough damage to finish his night. 

Second-placed J Mac was almost in the wall early in the race but incredibly saved it but with front end damage, had to pull into the infield. Rusty Hickman, now in second, incurred front end damage ending up infield. On the same lap Pestka retired after tagging the wall and breaking a drive line. Brenten Farrer had worked his way up to third after starting in position ten, broke a Jacobs ladder; the car had a moment in turn four nearly losing it. He managed to keep it going but lost precious positions.

 The battle was then on for the top three with Quinn in the lead, Grant Anderson and Jordyn Charge battling out second and third positions, while Cam Waters had a very impressive drive into fourth after transferring from the B and in doing so also winning the TEH Hard Charger Award.

Todd Moule kicked the night off well timing sixth overall but while leading his first heat the engine expired and ended his night. Corey Sandow was another to have engine issues at the start of the night not allowing him to time and therefore start of the back most of the night.

The team worked hard and managed to get things sorted. Adam Cullinger was another plagued with problems all night. Dan Scott got off to a good start timing 14th out of 42 but here was was another driver who experienced engine issues in and was out for the night after the first heat.

Tim Van Ginneken won the Maxi’s Keep on Fighting Award after having a heavy roll in the middle of the back straight in his first heat. His hard working team rebuilt the car but again ended up against the wall and didn’t finish his second heat. Not giving in they got the car ready for the C but missed the B by one place after only the first four place getters progressed into the B from the C.

“Well that’s it for another year. What a fantastic night – a record car count, record prize money and all round exciting night of racing. Thanks to all our teams and to Simpson Speedway. We all worked our butts of and got the show done early. The track was mint and I think that between all of us we lifted the event to the next level. Roll on next year,” Searle commented.

Heat race wins went to – John Vogels, David Donegan, Daniel Pestka, Ryan Davis, Steven Caruso,

Brendan Quinn, Steven Lines, and James McFadden.

A Main results: – 1st SA14 Brendan Quinn, 2nd V11 Grant Anderson 3rd V60 Jordyn Charge, 4th V6 Cam Waters, 5th V92 Matt Reed, 6th SA10 Steven Caruso, 7th V34 Brenten Farrer, 8th V4 Phil Lock,9th

V73 Charles Hunter, 10th VA75 David Donegan , 11th V7 Paul Solomon, 12th V46 Jordan Abbot 13th

V95 Ryan Davis-DNF ,14th S27 Daniel Pestka-DNF, 15th V40 Rusty Hickman-DNF, 16th V56 James Aranyosi , 17th W17 James McFadden-DNF, 18th V45 Steven Lines-DNF, 19th V70 john Vogels-DNF 20th V83 Chris Solomon-DNF.

Contingency Winners

IDIGIT Lucky $100 draw – Adam Cullinger – $100 cash

Bar Up Bull Bars 8 – Phil Lock

Hoosier Hero – N/A

Bullseye Lucky 7 – Brenten Farrer $100 cash

CCPH Random Draw – Jordan Abbott – $200 cash

All Star Hot Arse Award – Ryan Davis – Fire Extinguisher

Heath Hunter Hire Quick Time Award – James McFadden – $100 cash

HCC Maxie’s Keep on Fighting Award – TVG – $100 cash

TEH Hard Charge – Cam Waters – $100 cash