Blake Dominant In WA Final
He started the night slowly in his opening heat, but from the second heat on his form in his Blake Auto Centre #0 was sensational and proved to be the one to beat come the final. The racing was every where during the thirty five lap final, with great battles for position all through the field. Mark Duncombe (Centre Ford/Enviro Tint #7), Ryan Halliday (GT Radials/Stirling Low Loaders #99) and Ben Ludlow (DiCandilo Steel City/Lucas Oils #9) all had brilliant battles until problem ended their runs towards the front of the field. “We got caught out early in the night as I’m not used to racing in slop like we had at the start of the night” Blake said referring to the exceptionally wet track that greeted the LMRA at the start of the event. “So we waited for the track to come to us a bit, loosened the car up a bit and it was perfect for the feature. The track was good in the feature but it was still hard work. It was hard to pass (lapped traffic) as it was only one lane and if it was a normal (Manjimup) track and we could have gone two wide it would have been better but the jobs done. Thanks to Dad, Buster and Luke for all their work in the pits tonight.” For the challengers it was a situation where you had to wait for Blake to make a mistake, but the opportunity never really arose. Warren Oldfield (Ultratune Morley/Shakerz Bakerz #15) showed signs early that he could of taken it up to Blake, but a couple of uncharacteristic spins during the final put paid to the big effort he and his crew had put in over the recent couple of weeks. Second place finisher Craig Vosbergen (Worldwide Construction Machinery/Racin Tyres and Accessories #12) made a couple of runs at Blake, but every time he challenged, Blake had an answer. “I was filled in and I ran out of tear-offs about lap ten and we struggled after that. No excuses though we had pretty good race car, but things didn’t fall our way, traffic and all that stuff, and to beat Brad Blake you got to have all the cards fall right and it didn’t happen for us.” Next of the best was the ever improving Jay Cardy in his T.L. Dozing/B.B.T. Steel #52. Cardy ran a calculated race and was happy with his podium finish. “It was difficult starting from ninth, we knew we had an uphill battle and we needed some cautions to help us as we put on soft tyres. We got them, and we attacked on the restarts as we weren’t good enough to catch Blakey and Craig on the longer runs. Dad set the car up nearly perfect, maybe a fraction lose, then again I could have driven straighter and put the four wheel brakes on which could have changed things a bit.” The surprise packet of the evening was Busselton racer Kevin Bell (Norwestar/Fuchs #5) who impressed everyone with his run in the heats to earn pole. The veteran was a little run down after the final but was still happy with his form. “It was good fun and to finish fourth in a field like that, you have to be happy with that. I was a bit disappointed with the third restart as I had a Mud Eater chuck it in and I had to keep cleaning my helmet visor at every yellow so I could see. I got past Jay with my visor up but as I got in to the turn my visor dropped and I missed the turn all together and he got past me again. It would have been good to watch, and it was great fun – it’s just great to be out here running with these guys.” He won one of the heats early in the night, and grabbed a brilliant third in his second heat to claim the pole. Other heat winners included Blake, Vosbergen and Oldfield. Other official results for the final had Michael Holmes in his Ozmine/Holmes & Associates #91 in fifth, with Matt Goodlad (Crane Haulage/Diversified Contracting #27), Late Model Racing Australia would like to thank the series sponsor RACIN Tyres & Accessories suppliers of Hoosier Tires & R2C Performance Air Filters as well as series support sponsors Hot Shot Settlements, Duralite Trailers, Holmes & Associates, Able finance, Norring Grain, MOTOfoto, Battery King, AJN Transport, JT Transport, Litchfield Motorsport, Xtreme Pix, Kings 4 Cars, Roads 2000, Western Pacific, MOTOsport Management, Hutch Contracting, Dragon Industrial, Snap On Tools by Trevor Williams, Team Lucas, SAS Project Management, JD Premier Fitouts, BCM Motorsports Marketing & Promotions,
Release By BCM Motorsports Marketing WA |
