VEAL VICTORIOUS, RANKIN REPEATS

Feature photo by: Geoff Rounds…Jamie Veal pours on the power.

SEASONED racers Jamie Veal and Tim Rankin showed their strong knowledge of Warrnambool’s Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway to record popular victories Saturday night, November 18, presented by Welsh’s Garage Doors & Gates. 

Photo by: Geoff Rounds

Veal sent an ominous warning to his rivals with a runaway win in round four of the Victorian Sprintcar Racing Association series to defeat Brock Hallett and Chad Ely. 

Veal swept the night recording his first win of the season, winning his heat, the shootout and topping the charts in quickest time at a venue that has shown great success to him over the years. 

From pole position the 2016 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic winner had to chase down reigning Classic champion Brock Hallett to win the 30-lap final after racing to the lead from position two. 

Veal, aboard his very neat looking SWI Engineering machine, executed a superb pass around Hallett mid-race and was never headed on a track surface that has been much maligned of late.

“Once that gap opened, that was my chance to get around Brock and I had to make it stick,” Veal said. 

“I doubt I’d get a second chance to pass. Sometimes it’s good to sit in second. The track was better tonight than it’s been which was good. 

“It’s good to get a win here now with bigger races for our team to come.” 

Hallett’s night was a tough one, as he missed the shootout with a fuel leak and was keen to look ahead.

“Maybe I was a bit too conservative out there,” Hallett said.

“I felt good in the car and knew Jamie would come at me eventually, he’s just always there. The win would’ve been good but I think we’ve got a bit left yet.” 

Prior to the commencement of the A-Main, Queensland’s Jye Corbet, who again showed his liking for the venue, would not start from outside pole position as he suffered brake issues and was forced out of racing before the feature commenced. This allowed Hallett to move from four to two on the start grid. 

Behind Veal and Hallett was another battle with Lachlan McHugh and Tate Frost while Marcus Dumesny again looked solid as did Ely.

For South Australian Ely, it was possibly his best result at the venue in a while, starting and pretty much holding position three. 

Frost again showed he will be a force in coming months after moving from 10th to fourth, while Ryan Newton raced from 15th to fifth, after winning the B-Main. Terry Rankin gained nine positions to finish tenth after finishing runner-up in the B.

Earlier in the evening, Veal was the fastest in time trials of the 35-car field with a 10.558 second lap to win group one, while Hallett was fastest in group two (10.873). 

Peter Doukas topped group three with a qualifying time of 10.925 seconds, while Ely (11.194) was the best of group four.

Prior to the sprintcar feature, Simpson driver Tim Rankin grabbed his second victory in the Jack Willsher Cup nearly four years to the day of his first. 

It was the 22nd running of the prestigious event for Formula 500s and Rankin hit the repeat button like he did when he won in 2019. 

The Simpson resident had close to a race-long battle trailing leader and fellow front row starter, Dylan Beveridge who went into the event as the  reigning Willsher Cup champion. 

The pair shot away from the field from the start and things stayed that way until four laps left when current national champion Beveridge was outed with ignition dramas. 

Rankin inherited the lead and went onto grab a decisive win from Liam Russell and Dale Sinclair. 

“That was tough,” Rankin said. 

“I’m bloody rapt to win this again. 

“Dylan is a tough guy to beat anywhere. He doesn’t slip up much so I knew I had to stay close just in case anything happened. 

“I guess I got a little bit lucky tonight, but I’ll take it.”

The Junior Formula 500s were a last-minute addition to the racing program and Rusty Ponting led all the way in the 12-lap final to record a popular win from Warrnambool’s Koby O’Shannassy and Cobden’s Hugo Chivell. 

The next race meeting at Premier Speedway will be the annual Max’s Race for Sprintcars on December 16. 

Supports will be Late Models and Junior Formula 500s.

Gates will open at 3:30pm and cars on track action from 5pm. 

For more information visit www.premierspeedway.com.au