AUSTRALIAN CHAMP STARTS HIGH SEASON IN STYLE

Feature photo: Marcus Dumesny. Shot by: Gary Reid.

Media release by: Brian Van De Wakker

ECS Sprintcar Track Series Round 8

Marcus Dumensy has clinched his second win of the season at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Speedway after a drama filled night for the Australian Champion.

Dumensy started the feature in fourth and quickly made his way into second by the start of lap three.

His older brother Matt Dumesny started in second and took control of the early part of the race.

With 10 laps to go Marcus took over the race lead off the bottom side of the racetrack through turn four as Matt stayed on the top.

Matt then went to the bottom in turns one and two before the pair made wheel to wheel contact down the back straight resulting in Matt spinning and having to go to the rear of the field.

“It’s definitely not ideal, I feel bad for him and all the boys,” Marcus said after the race.

“Obviously, I’m going to be the one to blame there but it is what it is, still got the win for the team.”

That wasn’t the last bit of drama for Marcus Dumesny in the 30-lap feature, he held off pole sitter Sam Walsh in the closing stages, but Marcus’ car limped out of turn four and crossed the line to win the race by just 0.187 seconds in what was the closest Sprintcar feature race winning margin at the track.

“I ran out of fuel or something, lucky to make it across the line, or some other issue with it.

“It did it before that last yellow and I was like ‘I’m in trouble here’ but luckily it held off, but I think we’ve got some dramas of some kind.”

Walsh was meters away from his first win at the venue, but second was still his best result at the track, while Lachlan Caunt secured his first podium of the season with a third-place finish after he started in sixth.

Jordyn Brazier finished fourth while Ian Madsen was fifth after a spin in the early laps put him rear of field.

Daniel Sayre was sixth, followed by Aaron Kelly, Michael Saller, Luke Stirton and Michael Stewart rounded out the top ten.

Marcus Dumesny was lucky not to rollover in his second heat race after contact with Brendan Scorgie on lap one down the back straight resulted in Marcus Dumesny spinning and collected the outside wall.

Scorgie went for several rolls before being collected in the air firstly by Alex Attard then Luke Geering.

Thankfully Scorgie walked away from the accident, but his car suffered heavy damage.

“I think Marcus on the bottom was sort of coming up track and I think we obviously just tagged wheels halfway down the back straight and it just pulled me down to the inside and it was all over from there,” Scorgie said after the crash.

Midgets

Jay Waugh claimed his first win in Midgets after holding off a fast-finishing Kaidon Brown in the 20-lap feature.

With the Midgets handicapped feature starting spot system, Waugh started out of eighth and vaulted to the lead by lap two.

Michael Stewart, Brown and Nathan Smee were all charging towards the front as Stewart was challenging Matt Geering for second.

Stewart went to the bottom on lap seven to try and find a way past Geering, but as he did so, Ethan Brown had spun, and his car was stranded in the middle of turns one and two – Stewart had nowhere to go and collected him with the right-hand side of his car.

“Just a case of I was committed in there, I was watching Matt (Geering) up the top there and was trying not to cut him off and yeah, wrong place wrong time I suppose, once you’re committed like that you’ve got nowhere else to go,” Stewart said after the accident.

Waugh was able to clear lap traffic at pivotal points in order to maintain his lead out in front – it was only a slender winning margin, just 0.562 seconds.

His first win in the category was also KEWL Motorsports first win.

“It’s been a really tough couple of weeks pace wise for us, good to knock out, both Jayden and Steve have worked hard over the last couple of years,” Waugh said post-race.

“It’s just good to get that confidence back.”

Brown secured his third podium finish in a row with second, while Geering claimed his first Midget podium of the season in third.

Smee was fourth followed by Troy Jenkins in fifth, then Dean Meadows, Glen Arnold, Jordan Mackay, Jeffrey Burns and Monique Matherson completed the top ten.

Wingless Sprints

Travis Millar became the second Victorian to secure a Wingless Sprints feature race win at Eastern Creek Speedway after a dominant drive from fourth position.

Jason Bates started from pole and was going for four straight wins at the venue.

He lost the lead on the opening lap after Mark Blyton got a tremendous start from third.

A lap later and Bates took the lead back from Blyton who went up the racetrack and fell back to third as Millar jumped into second.

Millar then closed in on Bates before making the race winning move out of turn two on lap seven.

From then on he dominated, pulling out a 2.963 second lead by races end.

“To be honest, Jason (Bates) pipped me on the bottom last time I was here and beat me on the bottom, I saw he was a tad loose in the middle so I could just roll one and two real nice and pip him back, so it was good,” Millar said after the race.

Blyton finished in second while Jamie Dicker came from fifth in B-Main one finish in third in the feature in what was one of the drives of the season.

Bates was fourth followed by Andrew Seery in fifth.

Amy Shute had a career best result with a sixth-place finish, John Egan was seventh, Jarrad Rust eighth, Brayden Shute tagged the wall on the last lap and destroyed the rear end of the car as he crossed the line in ninth while Warren White completed the top ten.

Racing returns Friday, December 30 with round nine of the Sprintcar Track Series, 39th NSW Lightning Sprints Title, AMCAs and RSA Street Stockers