DARREN Mollenoyux hopes to ride a wave of confidence from his Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic podium finish into his Sydney debut.
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The experienced Warrnambool driver produced a career-best result at his home track’s world-class event on Sunday, finishing second to fellow south-west competitor James McFadden.
Mollenoyux labelled the classic podium finish his “best by a long shot”.
He started in fourth in the 40-lap 24-car A-Main and put the pressure on three-time champion Brooke Tatnell before sneaking into second with five laps to run.
“I am not sure what our best placing before that was, probably somewhere around 10 or 11,” Mollenoyux said.
“It was definitely a good result for us. I was happy to make the show and everything fell our way and we started from four.
“I was reasonably confident I could hold my own but it was a bit of a surprise to finish second.
“The car felt good and we had plenty of speed but it is racing and anything can happen.”
Mollenoyux rated his Grand Annual a mixed bag, having struggled in qualifying and then storming from eighth to produce a stunning heat win on Saturday night.
“After qualifying night I never dreamed of running second,” he said.
“I’ve got all my family and friends here and friends from America visiting and staying with us. It was almost perfect.”
Mollenoyux, who will bypass the Australian titles in Parramatta this week, plans to race in New South Wales soon.
“I’ll have a couple of weeks off and may head to Sydney and do a couple of weeks up there,” he said.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and if I don’t do it now, I might never do it, so we’ll go up and see what it’s about.
“It’s one of the toughest tracks in Australia with high car counts and a tough format. We’ll go for the experience of it.”
Premier Speedway general manager David Mills was rapt with the event – run across three nights for just the fourth time in its 45-year history – with crowd figures up on the 2016 edition.
“All nights were slightly up on last year,” he said.
“We had a tick over 7000 on Friday, 8300 on Saturday and 10,2000 last night.
“With a three-night classic one key focus is to make it more achievable to finish earlier and we’ve been able to do that so far.”
Mills, who was pleased with crowd behaviour, said volunteers played a major role in the classic’s success.
“With the man-hours they put in, it’s rewarding for club members and volunteers to see what we can achieve,” he said.
The Australian title, also run over three days, starts in Sydney on Thursday.