Johnson Wins Usa V Australia Showdown

Phil Michell – The Haynes Racing Team only decided to nominate for the USA V Australia Sprintcar Shootout on Tuesday and that decision proved to be a good one as Jason Johnson drove away with the $5,000 on offer defeating Ryan Farrell and Brooke Tatnell in one of the best main events at Speedway City this season. In what was a great lead up event to this weekends Fuchs Australian Sprintcar Championship the track curators produced a racey, multi grooved race track that allowed the top class field to showcase their talents with both the B and A main events producing outstanding racing.

The format for the event was a little different to anything ever seen at Speedway City with an Outlaw style event with Time Trials in hot laps, an inverted top six in the heats, an automatic transfer into the A-main with a top 4 heat result and the A, B and C main event starting line ups were determined from the Time Trial results. The format may have caught out many of the spectators on hand but it produced some exciting heat racing and in my opinion it was a great success.

After starting on the outside of the front row Johnson led the entire 30 lap race distance but the battle for the remaining podium spots was intense with Farrell, Tatnell, Murcott, Pestka and Lines trading places regularly.

“I tell you we let a race win go on Boxing day, we led that race and I didn’t want to make another mistake and let another race win go. Full credit must go to this race team, they have worked hard and they deserved another win” added Johnson following his win.

Second across the line was Ryan Farrell who seemed pleased with his result. “That was busy out there, the lapped cars were pandemonium and I loved it. Guys like Johnson don’t make a mistake but I must thank my guys they gave me a great car and we have a good base to build on”.

After starting from position three Tatnell held on to claim third but he didn’t appear to be happy with the result. This was Tatnell’s third podium result for the season at Speedway City. “They got a lead on me early and I couldn’t run them down. Full credit to the guys who finished in front of us. The positive is we are confident of what we have. We weren’t going to run tonight but the guys put a brand new car together so we wanted to see what we had going into the weekend”.

Fourth across the line was David Mucott with Robbie Farr, Steven Lines, Kerry Madsen, who was last after lap one, Daniel Pestka, Jamie Veal and Grant Anderson rounding out the top ten.

Earlier in the night Farrell set the quickest time in Time Trials, while Shane Stewart, Daniel Pestka, David Murcott and Robbie Farr all secured heat wins. After Farrell inverted the top six for the dash North Queensland’s Brent Aprile took full advantage to win the dash with Shaun Bradford and Jamie Veal winning the C and B mains respectively.

The 50th Anniversary Fuchs Australian Sprintcar Championship will begin on Friday night with two rounds of heats with a Preliminary Main Event with a further two rounds of heats on Saturday along with the 40 lap Australian Sprintcar Championship Final decider.

Results