MATT PASCOE’S ECGN AT LISMORE

Feature photo by: Tony Powell…Winner of the 2023 East Coast GN at Castrol Edge Lismore Speedway, Australian Super Sedan Champion Matt Pascoe.

Media release by: Ben Griffen

Matt Pascoe took out the annual sedan East Coast Grand National at castrol Edge Lismore Speedway with a calculated drive on Saturday, February 18.

Trent Wilson filled the runner-up spot while Steve Latham took third. Adam Beechey was placed fouirth while Zac Brims rounded out the top five. Hayden Brims was next to the chequered flag followed by Steve Jordan, JJ Hamilton and Nichols.

Matt Pascoe was very happy with the win and it was made extra special with all the legends who basically put Lismore on the map watching him from the corporate box in turn four.

Other classes supporting the Supers Sedans were AMCAs, Production Sedans, SSA Street stocks, and Juniors, and they all had good numbers on hand to put a show on for the fans in the stands.

Drivers contested three rounds of heats x 8 laps. Followed by a top-8 shootout and then a 40-lap A main.

Heat race results.

Heat 1 Winner.  L29 Zac Brims. P2  A1 Matt Pascoe. P3. T3 David Nichols.   

Heat 2 Winner. Q18 Brad Pascoe. P2. Q11 Mitchell Gee. P3 Q98 Micheal Hally. 

Heat 3 Winner. Q36 Darren Kane. P2. T14 Adam Beechey. P3 T8 Steve Latham.    

The first round of heats was action-packed and had the fans in the stands on the edge of their seats and it was great to see the mighty Super Sedans back at the home of champions racing hard and very fast on a very tacky track surface.

Heat 4 Winner. Q36 Darren Kane, P2. Q98 Micheal Hally, P3. Q6 Ty Pascoe.                   

Heat 5 Winner. Q10 Steve Jordan. P2, Q12 David Musch, P3 L77 Hayden Brims.                     

Heat 6 Winner. Q44 Trent Wilson. P2, A1 Matt Pascoe,  P3. T8 Steve Latham.  

With the second round of heats done and dusted it was now time for the top eight drivers on points to contest a Bronze, Silver, and Gold Shootout to set the starting lineup for the all-important 40-lap A main East Coast Grand National for 2023.                                         

Top eight shootout results. Winner.Q36 Kane, 2nd A1 Pascoe, 3rd, Wilson, 4th Q98 Hally, 5th L29 Z, Brims, 6th T8 Latham, 7th. T14 Beechey, 8th Q10 Jordan.

After the shootout, the track was given a heavy grade to take all of the ruts out of it and give all twenty drivers the best possible chance.

With the huge crowd ready the supers rolled out onto the track and did a 3 wide salute to the fans before getting back into rows of 2 for the main event. Green next time around was the call across the one-way communication.

It was action all over the place with cars racing two and three wide at times around the now very smooth and extremely fast Lismore circuit. In fact, the one-lap track record was broken many times throughout the feature race by numerous drivers.With 10 laps complete the first yellow light came on with race leader at the time Kane coming to a stop in tune 4 with front-end damage, putting an end to Darren’s night.With 30 laps to go at the restart. Race leaders Steve Latham, Matt Pascoe, and Trent Wilson set sail again giving all they had under their right foot to drive away from each other and the rest of the field.

With Latham out in front and only a hand full of laps remaining lapped traffic was going to play a huge part in the race as the three leaders would have to make a choice of how to pass the lapped cars and somehow still keep their positions on the track.

This made for some very entertaining racing with the top two cars contumely changing positions. Using the lapped car to get the upper hand when they could,

But in the end, Matt Pascoe was the driver who made all the right moves to get through the lapped cars and eventually take the win ahead of Trent Wilson and Steve Latham.

Next across the line was fourth placed Beechey with Zac Brims rounding out the top five. Finishing in position six was Big brother Hayden. David Musch crossed the line in P7 followed by Steve Jordan in P8. JJ Hamilton finished in P9 and rounding out the top ten was the T3 of Nichols.

Matt Pascoe was very happy with the win and it was made extra special with all the legends who basically put Lismore on the map watching him from the private box in turn four.

Other results from the night’s racing read as follows. AMCAs Winner N24 Tony Blanch, 2nd N27 Shane Newstead, 3rd. N74 Tim Gamble.

Production Sedans. Winner L81 Matt Layton, 2nd G34 Geoff Hayes, 3rd L25 Lindsay Chapham.

SSA Street Stocks. Winner L5 Luke Grey, 2nd L29 Adam Grill, 3rd Q64 John Stoward.

Juniors Top Stars. Winner A1 Aidan Rigby, 2nd G12 Brodie Holliman, 3rd DBO72 Tyler Burnham.

Juniors New Stars. Winner G19 Jackson Kenny, 2nd 10 Lawson Clark, 3rd L76 Deacon Tuner.

All in all, it was another great night of racing and it provided a wonderful night’s entertainment for everyone.

Walking around the pits and taking photos was like being back in time with so many legends among the teams, names such as Allen Butcher, John Leslight, Wayne Randall, and many more. I could listen to their old stories forever as rivals became mates again.

Talking about the history of the ECGN. Lismore track curator and photographer Tony Powell brought out his immaculate looking restored # 83 Allen Butcher yellow Corvette for all the fans and fellow drivers to admire.

Tony has put a lot of work into this car and it looks amazing and he has plans of putting a motor in it someday and having it back-cutting laps around the track.

A huge thanks to everyone who works their butts off to make this all happen. Congrats to all the winners. Have a safe trip home and we will see you all again here at the Castrol Edge Lismore Speedway on March 4th for the Sprintcar smackdown.