WITH the death of a loved one playing on his mind, Tim Rankin rose above a horror fortnight to emerge with a flying flight two qualifying triumph.
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The Simpson-based driver lost his uncle – Echuca resident Bruce Rankin – to a brain tumour after a 21-month battle two weeks ago.
Rankin produced devastating form to hold off a host of top-calibre drivers to qualify with the second-fastest time of the South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic’s Friday night showcase.
“We’ve had a horrid couple of weeks. We’ve had a few personal things with my uncle passing away a couple of weeks ago and it’s been playing on our minds a bit,” Rankin said.
“It’s good to finally come racing, not only for us but for him because he was a big part of my life and a big part of my Dad’s life.
“It’s going to be good just to do this and to get this week out of the way. It’s more about us getting out there. To come out and do what we did tonight was actually pretty good.”
Despite his flying 11.14-second effort, Rankin said it was too early to take confidence out of the feat.
“It actually felt quite slow – but we’re happy. We just have to get going. Friday was about getting as many points as we could,” Rankin said.
“On the final night, if we can go straight through to the (A-main), that’ll be the goal for us as a team. We’d be happy with that.”
Warnambool driver Corey McCullagh, driving in flight one, was the overall quicktime winner – clocking 11.08 – while Rankin came in second overall.
Major crashes were scattered through the opening night, with South Australian Chad Ely coming off worse for wear in a collision with Ben Anderson.
“It’s disappointing because we’d just got going. We wanted to finish the heat off and hopefully put on a bit of a show,” Ely said after the smash.
“Unfortunately (David) Murcott was higher and Benny (Anderson) was on the bottom and I tried to stick in the middle and got caught.”
American star Tim Kaeding was also caught in a brutal prang with Rusty Hickman in the 10th heat of the night, flipping several times and damaging the outer wall on the final turn.
The Californian limped from the crash.
Warrnambool’s Jamie Veal showed strong form to take out the sixth Friday night heat, while American-based Sydneysider Brooke Tatnell stamped himself as the heat four victor. Terry McCarl triumphed in the first heat, while South Australian Ryan Jones emerged in the second.
Daniel Harding, Robbie Farr, Luke Dillon, Andrew Hughes, David Murcott, Tim Hutchins, Keke Falland and Jessie Attard also saluted.
