A FAVOURABLE draw in the heats gifted United States dasher Craig Dollansky the perfect pathway into the final of the Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic late last night.
Dollansky was second in the crucial points tally challenge just behind three-time classic winner Kerry Madsen after the US invader took out the 25-lap Australia-America Challenge on Saturday night.
Last night the track played a huge role as the points played out with the surface rock hard in blistering conditions which favoured the frontrunners — making passing almost impossible in the early heats.
Madsen was able to win the first of 16 heats last night while Dollansky managed runner-up behind former Classic winner Trevor Green in the second heat.
Other heats went to in-form Sydneysider Ian Loudoun, evergreen Robbie Farr and perennial contender Brooke Tatnell.
But extensive work on the track after the opening round of eight heats made things slippery.
That did not work in the main contenders’ favour when the heats were inverted with the better-performing cars pushed to the rear of the fields in the second round of eight heats.
Madsen managed to surge from 10th to sixth in the ninth heat while Loudoun managed fifth in his heat behind Mitchell Dumesny.
Dollansky also managed to push through to finish just off the pace in his heat.
That meant that the A main grid for the $40,000-to-win final finished with Dollansky off the coveted pole position with Loudoun on his outside.
Madsen was tucked in behind them in position three with another USA campaigner Daryn Pittman out of position four.
They were followed by Farr, Jason Kendrick, with former US Classic placegetter Jason Johnson to start ahead of Green, Tatnell and Ryan Farrell who rounded out the top 10.
It looked like a repeat of Saturday night with Dollansky, Loudoun and Madsen generally being considered the three outstanding drivers in qualifying for the main event.
Madsen is a master of the 40-lap Classic but he had to get past Dollansky.
Loudoun has been the find of the Classic. He’s well-known in Sydney sprintcar circles but he emerged over the weekend as a serious contender on any track.
The extensive track work meant that last night’s A main was never going to be finished by the scheduled 10.40pm but the fans would not have minded after almost perfect conditions prevailed following a scorching afternoon.
Premier Speedway last night scheduled five main finals with the top four in the E main, D main, C main and B main finals progressing through to the next main event.
Warrnambool’s Stephen Bell scorched around in the E main to push through to the D main with veteran Max Dumesny taking out the D main.
In the B main the first four progressed to the 24-car field with 2010 Classic winner Shane Stewart leading the field home from Queenslander Cameron Gressner, slick Grant Anderson and competitive Ian Madsen.
Terang’s V61 Ricky Barrand and US raider Jason Meyers were reserves for the feature.
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