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[FONT=Times New Roman]Sprintcar Thunder Series Showdown [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Lewis and Cobby shoot it out for $5,000, Moule and Bell go for glory, Chippindall retires and Bishop debuts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Sprintcar Thunder Series leaders Jamie Cobby and veteran Ian Lewis will face off in an old fashioned gun fight this weekend at Ballarats famous Redline raceway.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]This top duo, driving for respective car owners Ray Bartlett (Saxon Engineering, Sign-a-rama #67) and Paul Jordan (pro gold hose fittings #75), are separated by only four points following Cobbys win over Lewis in the last round at Simpson just a fortnight ago.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]“It seems like I’ve been racing at Redline for a hundred years .” Said Lewis recently who also won the round when last the series visited this venue. Lewis started his racing career at Redline and has many laps of experience around the recently refurbished racetrack.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]“It may be Ian’s 100th birthday at Redline but we’ll just have to try and spoil the party.” Was Cobbys tongue in check response to Lewis. Cobby, the only driver to win two rounds of the series suffered his worst result of the championship here when he cut two tyres in his heat races and subsequently struggled in the final due to a lack of worthwhile feedback from the cars behaviour during those heats.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Stephen Bell (Jacobson’s transport #76) could the biggest threat to both drivers’ chances of overall victory. Bell won the second round at Bacchus Marsh and is always fast. A frustrating run of incidents at Simpson saw him miss the podium by less than 2/100ths of a second last time out and Bell is sadly out of championship contention due to a mechanical failure in the opening round and then missing the previous Redline event.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Bell will be looking for individual glory with a mind focused purely on winning.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Recently crowned national Champion Tony Moule joined the series at the last round and looked good for a solid finish until an unusual happening sent him unfairly to the rear with just a handful of laps to go. Moule, will be angry and looking for some revenge and like Bell will be solely focused on putting the Palm and Pawn Motel A1 into victory lane.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]In a bonus for the series, Victorian Open Sprintcar Champion Matthew “Mr Speed” Reed will take the wheel of Mark Charges Westside Honda #48 Avenger. Reed subbed for Charge at this venue last time around but couldn’t quite get the set-up right. This time however, look for a better run from Victorias winningest driver this season.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Another to keep an eye on will be the debut of Victorias winningest Midget racer Harley Bishop. Bishop is a young, hard charging and aggressive racer in the little car brigade and will be a little apprehensive as he buckles into Bob Forbes’ United National Security Maxim for the first time. After a handful of hot laps, Bishop no doubt will straighten out his style and adapt to the overhead wing.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Redline raceway will also be the last opportunity to farewell one of the states most versatile and successful speedway racers - Garry Chippindall. “Chippa” who has won six state titles in both Super Sedans and 360ci Sprintcars will hang up his helmet after this event and retire the Hussey Performance NT43.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]“I’m not sad at retiring.” Said Chippa, “rather I’m looking forward to my next phase of helping out other people. It’s almost a full time job preparing and running a Sprintcar these days and I’m looking forward to a break.”[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Other top flight Sprintcar racers looking for their first STS round win include Darren Hickman (Beeps auto parts J&J), Rick Barrand (Lee Transport #61) and the Solomon brothers, Paul (Caged racing products Eagle) and Chris (Racer Magazine Eagle) who snared his first podium finish last time out.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Throw in Wild Bill Fraser, Lindsay Trotter, Ben Reid and battler Ken Hutchins and a good nights racing is assured.[/FONT]
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[FONT='Times New Roman']Further information can be obtained by calling the Sprintcar Thunder event hotline on 0400 00 55 88 or by visiting either www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au[/FONT]
