AMERICAN drivers showed no sentiment on Australia Day, dominating last night’s World Series Sprintcars Championship round at Allansford’s Premier Speedway.
In front of about 3500 fans, Americans filled the first four spots with Terry McCarl finishing first, Wayne Johnson second, Danville’s Danny Smith third and Louisiana’s Jason Johnson fourth.
Brisbane-based James McFadden was fifth and series leader Brooke Tatnell stormed to sixth after starting from the back row. Allard claimed pole position after working from seventh in the top-eight shootout.
He was joined on the front row by Johnson while fast-time winner Terry McCarl, WSS round eight winner at the track Craig Dollansky and veteran Danny Smith rounded out the top five. Brisbane-based James McFadden was the only Australian in the first three rows (sixth).
Series leader Brooke Tatnell and second-placed rival Robbie Farr had to earn a spot in the final after qualifying through the star-studded B main, won by Mount Gambier’s Steve Lines.
Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic winner Shane Stewart snuck into the final after finishing fourth. Three-time Classic winner Kerry Madsen, six-time national champ Garry Brazier (eighth in the B main) and American Jason Sides (fifth in the B main) were among the high-profile casualties to miss out on qualifying for the A main, with Madsen rolling down the main straight with three laps left while running fifth.
The C main contained considerable carnage, with New South Wales driver Glen Saville and hard-charger Danny Reidy both spectacularly rolling coming out of turn four. Warrnambool’s Tim Morse won the C main to earn a spot in the B main.
The crashes were upstaged by wingless sprints driver Troy Small, who flipped six times in a horror roll in the category’s 20-lap final.
Tatnell was a high-profile casualty in the first heat, kissing the wall in turn three, suffering front-end damage which put a dent in his chances of qualifying at the front of the field.
Farrell and hard-charger Grant Anderson engaged in the closest racing in the heats, twice coming together as Farrell tried to find a way around on the high-side. In a thrilling lap, Farrell eventually got to the front and won the first heat.
“I thought we would both be going synchronised spinning,” Farrell said of the contact.
Simpson’s Tim Rankin, who produced a stunning effort in the Classic last weekend finishing 14th in just his third race of the season, had to pull infield with a sticking throttle in the same heat.
“The throttle stuck on the floor,” he said.
“I just couldn’t hang on to the brake any longer.”
He revealed he had only been able to contest the round after his sister Jess and speedway fan Tam Lumsden chipped in to buy him a right-rear tyre required by all drivers under WSS rules.
Young Sydney driver Mitchell Dumesny showed two long days building a new car after a bone-jarring crash on Saturday were worth it, when he won the second heat.
“I was flat out today and flat out yesterday, a different way to spend your Australia Day,” he said.
Veteran Smith turned back the clock to his barnstorming days of the 1980s, producing a brilliant display to run down Stewart in heat four.
“I was on it,” Smith said.
“This little 10-year-old motor runs pretty good.”
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