NATIONAL STREET STOCK CHAMPION: THORNE GOES BACK TO BACK!

Channelling the names of other back-to-back National Street Stock Champions in Anthony Beare, Robbie Faux, and David Gartner, South Australian Nathan Thorne has tonight added his own name to that illustrious list as he claimed his second Australian Championship at Latrobe’s Gulf Western & Oils Raceway in Tasmania!

Thorne was simply unstoppable all weekend, going through the heat races undefeated and then leading every circulation of the forty lap final to remain champion for another twelve months.

With all the heat races run and won, the top twenty two cars hit the track, the first attempt at a start seeing a number of cars coming together, Braiden Russell the unfortunate one as he came to a stop to bring out the yellows.

The field was lined up once more and again Thorne for the jump, Matt Hammond into second but again the yellows came on, this time for Scott Purdie who spun in the exact same spot as Russell.

Take three and Thorne made it a trifecta, leading away Hammond while third was a fight between Mick Dann, Braiden Russell and Corey Bauld.

Dann was third at the line but Bauld got by both cars to be third on the second lap.

The top three began to pull away as fourth placed Dann came under pressure from Nathan Russell and Briden Russell.

Up front Hammond had actually closed the gap to Thorne and was right on his bumper looking for a way through as Bauld used the highline to stay in touch with the top two.

With six complete the yellows appeared again as Mark Purdie spun to a stop in turn three after blowing a tyre, bunching the field up once again.

Thorne, Hammond and Bauld stayed locked together as the race returned to green flag conditions but it would only last one lap as Nigel Apted stopped against the turn four wall with a damaged front end. Unfortunately the incident damaged the pit gate and saw the red lights come on as officials scrambled to fix it.

After a short delay the race resumed, Thorne away while Hammond was now coming under pressure from Bauld, Hammond going high through turn two and dropping a heap of spots.

With ten complete Thorne was now ahead of Bauld, Dann, Nathan Russell and Hammond, with the yellows coming on shortly after as Peter Dowie clouted the wall and slowed, ultimately going infield.

Thorne again paced the field, but this time he immediately broke away from the rest of the pack, Bauld and Dann doing all they could just to keep him in their sights.

With fifteen complete the order at the front remained unchanged though Hammond was under pressure from a resurging Braiden Russell for fifth.

Unfortunately for Hammond, a few laps later he slowed and headed infield.

At the halfway point Thorne was now leading Bauld and Nathan Russell, who passed Dann, but Russell was beginning to smoke badly, though it didn’t appear to be affecting his speed at this stage.

The yellows came on again with twenty-one laps complete as Dale Riley began to slow, with Russell also being forced infield under the cautions.

This left Thorne, Bauld, Dann, Braiden Russell and Steven Harvey now the top five for the resumption.

The top four got away cleanly, with Matthew Atkinson closing on Harvey for fifth, going around the outside down the front straight, but the gap quickly closed, Atkinson found himself in the wall, the red lights were on again and Harvey was sent rear for the restart.

Thorne again held strong, pulling well clear once more as Bauld had Dann and Braiden Russell right behind him while Matt Nelson moved into fifth.

With thirty laps complete the order remained unchanged, thirteen cars still battled it out, all in the same half of the track.

Three laps later the yellows were on again as Jayden Blomeley found himself spinning at the exit of turn four, reducing Thornes gap from over three seconds to nothing once more.

It mattered little though, as Thorne simply picked up where he left off and raced away again with Bauld still in hot pursuit while Dann continued to barely hold off Braiden Russell while Jaiden Russell managed to get by Nelson for fifth.

With four to go Mick Dann’s machine went up in a cloud of smoke and then caught fire, bringing out the red lights for a third time, and setting up a four-lap restart with eleven cars remaining as Nelson also retired infield under the yellows.

Thorne would now lead away Bauld, Braiden, Jaiden and Harvey, but still Thorne would break away and from here was never headed over the final laps, going back to back and defeating Bauld, Braiden Russell, Jaiden Russell and Steven Harvey.

Lenny Bates, Nate Garwood, Steven Watts, Peter Kinnear and Jayden Blomeley rounded out the finishers.

Unfortunately at post race checks the car driven by Bauld did not meet specifications and he was removed from the results.

Congratulations to all drivers, the officials at Latrobe and everyone who put in to make this Street Stock National Championship a success.

OFFICIAL RESULT:

1. S52 Nathan Thorne, 2. T45 Braiden Russell, 3. T27 Jaiden Russell, 4. T4 Steven Harvey, 5. W74 Lenny Bates, 6. T77 Nate Garwood, 7. V5 Steven Watts, 8. V3 Peter Kinnear, 9. V62 Jayden Blomeley. DNF: V88 Tim Hutchison (37), V61 Matt Nelson (36), V0 Mick Dann (36), T11 Mathew Crawford (22), T35 Matthew Atkinson (22), T23 Nathan Russell (21), T18 Dale Riley Jnr (21), W4 Matt Hammond (17), V38 Scott Purdie (14), W88 Peter Dowie (9), T80 Nigel Apted (6), V39 Mark Purdie (5). DQ: T24 Corey Bauld. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.655. Fastest Lap: 17.352 S52 Nathan Thorne.