Junior News
22nd/23rd March, 2008
It was an exciting weekend of junior racing at Charlton Raceway over Easter.
Saturday night.
Heat 1. Leisa Smith lead the way for most of the race until a hard charging Ash Volk
finally got past in the closing laps of the race. Leisa held on for second with young
Jesse Volk finishing third.
Heat 2. There was action a plenty in the second heat with cars going every which way and quite a bit of damage sustained. Hayden Byrne came through for the win with James Campbell second and Jesse Volk third.
Feature. As the juniors got away for their 15 lap feature it was the Volk cars of Ash, Jesse and Hayden Byrne with James Campbell who led the pack. It was one of closest most entertaining races we have seen from the juniors for some time. You could throw a blanket over the first four cars for most of the race until Ash Volk and James Campbell made a break from the other two. Ash pulled away slightly and James settled into second with a nice gap over Jesse and Hayden Byrne. Then James did a Nathan MacDonald and slowed down after the white flag thinking he had seen the chequered flag. The two cars of Jesse Volk and Hayden Byrne roared passed James in turn three to take second and third place while James had to settle for fourth.
Sunday night.
Heat 1. It was a very sloppy track with not a lot of drive but once again Ash Volk found
the fast way round to take the win. James Campbell carved his way through the field and
put on some spectacular driving with the tail out up against the fence on most corners.
James finished second with Mr Consistency, Hayden Byrne third.
Heat 2. It was a tightly packed field as the juniors took off for their second heat of the night. James Campbell tried a passing move on newcomer John Collier on lap two but just clipped the corner of Jayden Murphy's car which sent him into a spin and into the wall. A flat right rear put James out of the race and as the race continued it was all orange as the Toowoomba Jewellers cars of Jesse, Ash and Hayden drove very smoothly to finish one, two and three. Jesse only beat Ash by half a car length as the two closed up on the finish line.
Feature. Ash Volk and Hayden Byrne shared the front row for the feature. Leisa Smith started out of position three. Ash and Hayden quickly opened up a gap and then there was restart on lap one after Ryan Jannusch was turned around in turn four. Once again Ash and Hayden moved away while James Campbell and Leisa Smith diced relentlessly lap after lap. James eventually squeezed by Leisa in turn four and sent Leisa sliding up towards the fence. James then took off after Hayden Byrne and passed him as well. Ash crossed the line first, James second and Hayden Byrne third however James was demoted two places for a rough pass on Leisa which gave Hayden second place and Leisa third.
We look forward to seeing the juniors again on April 19th for their club championship.
Peter Campbell.