By Scott Templeton
Brooke Tatnell has taken out the opening qualifying night feature at the 46th Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway.
Fifty-five cars qualified on Night One, representing half of the 110 entries for this event.
Tatnell came from the second row to take the $10,000 payday in the Scott’s Transport No.55 machine, withstanding a strong challenge from Kerry Madsen who finished second. Luke Dillon from South Australia took the final place on the podium.
The hard luck story of the night was Queenslander Robbie Farr, who had led from the get-go in his Hi-Tec Oils Q7 and appeared to have the car speed to take a dominant victory. However, Farr’s infamous Warrnambool luck returned to bite him when a lapped car spun directly in his path and he unavoidably collected it. Farr was sent upside down and out of the race. Terry McCarl had been running in the top 4 before retiring from the race with an issue.
On a juiced-up track that remained fast and hooky all night, it was drivers who revel in ‘elbows-up’ racing that came to the fore. Tim Kaeding and emerging Victorian teenager Rusty Hickman were the two who put on the show, both coming from deep in the C-Main, all the way through the B and then into the A. Kaeding ultimately succumbed to a flat right rear, whilst Hickman impressively drove all the way to 5th in the A (from the C!) before catching the front straight wall and flipping spectacularly.
Fans now look forward to tomorrow morning’s Fan Appreciation Day. Look for more coverage on SprintCcarUnlimited.com tomorrow.
| Quick Results: Classic Night One at Warrnambool | |
| 1st | V55 Brooke Tatnell |
| 2nd | A1 Kerry Madsen |
| 3rd | S81 Luke Dillon |
| 4th | S63 Ryan Jones |
| 5th | V90 Corey McCullagh |
| 6th | V3 Shaun Dobson |
| Other Notable results: | |
| 10th | Q37 Geoff Ensign |
| 11th | W2 Jamie Veal |
| 20th | VA6 Tim Kaeding |
| 21st | Q7 Robbie Farr |
| 22nd | USA24 Terry McCarl |
| C-Main 8th | USA11 Buddy Kofoid |
Twitter: @scott_tempo