It was standing room only on a thrilling night at Toowoomba Speedway for the Ultimate Sedl Earthmoving Grand Finals for Sprintcars, Speedcars and Super Sedans and they didn't disappoint. The racing was fast and exciting on a well prepared track it allowed for plenty of passing opportunities from fence to the low line.
In yet another first at Hi-Tec-Oils Toowoomba Speedway saw 60 cars on the track at the same time all doing a four wide salute to the capacity crowd. Firstly Speedcars followed by Sprintcars then the Super Sedans and what a spectacle it made accompanied with a fireworks display. Something that had never been seen before at an Australian Speedway venue.
Twenty Sprintcars made it into the Grand Final in the Queensland Speedway Spares Ultimate Sprintcar Championship with Nicholas Whell having a career highlight with a brilliant run in the Stars Dash to get the win ahead of Lachlan McHugh and Cody Maroske. He and McHugh shared the front row for the start, McHugh got the jump and secured the race lead and while Whell settled into second. Cody Maroske sat in third while both Luke Oldfield and Brent Kratzmann started going forward quickly running the high line.
McHugh still in front as Maroske drives into second with Nicholas Whell, Michael Stewart and Brent Kratzmann close behind with Luke Oldfield sitting just outside the top five. Oldfield slipped past Stewart and turned his attention to Whell, while this was happening Whell slid underneath Maroske in a perfectly timed move from the high line and back into second. Kratzmann got past Stewart while Oldfield slid underneath Maroske at pretty much the same time bringing the crowd to their feet only to tag the wall and hand it back to Maroske.
The battle between Oldfield and Maroske continued, with Oldfield again switching to the top through lapped traffic. Oldfield began to pull away, while Whell closed in on McHugh. Enter Brent Kratzmann he wasn't giving up and proceeded to put Oldfield back one spot and Whell before the lap was completed. Whell fought back and regained, but Kratzmann was determined and came back in one big slider to again pass Whell going into turn one. Kratzmann and Whell continued to trade places back and forth, absolutely thrilling the crowd as Oldfield closed in behind. Oldfield made his way underneath Whell then Kratzmann in quick succession to claim second and leave Nick and Brent to argue over third.
With ten laps left to run McHugh was still in front from Luke Oldfield and Brent Kratzmann, with Nicholas Whell holding down a comfortable fourth. Oldfield had a few big looks underneath McHugh while waiting for the right time to pounce and then Kratzmann relegated McHugh to third briefly as McHugh got back past Kratzmann a lap later.
McHugh took to the highline and began challenging Oldfield for the lead with three laps to run. McHugh took the lead briefly with Oldfield fighting back just as Jayden Peacock flipped right in front of them. Oldfield made contact with Peacock's car ending his night and left us all to wonder what could have been.
With three laps remaining Brent Kratzmann, having been second on the last completed lap, inherited the race lead with Lachlan McHugh second ahead of Nicholas Whell. With the white flag out McHugh remained committed to the top searching for a way past both top and bottom having a big look on a number of occasions racing around Kratzmann and taking the lead with just half a lap remaining. Only for the race to be brought to a stop when Jessie Attard flipped over in turn four. The race was declared, and with Brent Kratzmann, as the leader of the last completed lap. Lachlan McHugh claimed second ahead of an impressive Nicholas Whell in the drive of his career to date.
Harry Stewart put in an excellent drive holding back a number of challenges in the final of the GSA Advanced Machining Ultimate Speedcar Championship at the Hi-Tec-Oils Toowoomba Speedway. Stewart started on the front row alongside Kaidon Brown for the 30 lap Series final from the green light the action was intense with Michael Kendall and Troy Ware fighting for position. While behind them Nathan Smee, Casey O’Connell and Boyd Chaffey were charging forward in a big hurry. With a few laps left to run the race changed dramatically when Scott Farmer clipped the wall in the main straight, the result cutting the right rear tyre bringing on the yellow lights.
From the restart Stewart now had Brown right behind him while Troy Ware, Rusty Whittaker and Boyd Chaffey were still within striking distance. By this time Stewart was using the bottom half of the track making a nice rhythm for himself while Brown was ‘on the fence and winding up anticipating his run to the finish getting closer each lap to a point where the two levelled up. With two laps to go Brown bumped the wall in turn two slowing his progress.
After a deep breath from Brown and race fans alike wondering how that was going to end, this was all Stewart needed to cross the finish line for the Grand Final win. Brown kept the second while Boyd Chaffey came in for a well deserved third.
Zac Pascoe won the Ultimate Super Sedan Championship Grand Final but it was JJ Hamilton who became the overall Championship winner while the Pascoe family all stood on the podium at the end of the 30 lap feature father Matty in second, and Zac's brother Brad came from midfield to finish 3rd.
The next event at Hi-Tec-Oils Toowoomba Speedway will be the Cush Clothing Late Model Queensland Title on Wednesday night April 24th and the Hanceys Turf Australian Late Model Title April 26th and 27th. Don't miss this one. It's our last event for the summer and it's sure to be a cracker of a week. What better way to finish than the Australian Late Model Title. For more up dates in the coming weeks go to Hi-Tec-Oils Toowoomba Speedway Facebook page.
Release written by Toowoomba Speedway.
QUICK RESULTS
Ultimate Championship Grand Final
Sprintcars
Q2 Brent Kratzmann
A1 Lachlan McHugh
Q21 Nicholas Whell
Championship overall winner Lockie McHugh
Ultimate Super Sedan Championship Grand Final
6 Zac Pascoe
N1 Mat Pascoe
Q1 Brad Pascoe
Championship Overall winner JJ Hamilton
Ultimate Speedcar Championship Grand Final
7 Harry Stewart
92 Kaidon Brown
43 Boyd Chaffey
Championship Overall winner Troy Ware
