Modified Production
1/2 May, 2010 - Maryborough Speedway - Australian Open
9 Charlton Raceway Modified Production drivers made the journey to Maryborough Speedway to contest the Australian Open. With 71 nominations prior to the event, and 64 cars appearing, this was always going to be a sensational weekend. Along with the drivers, there were many other Toowoomba people in the crowd to support our local heros. Shane Macdonald took the win to the delight of the packed crowd. Shane & Nathan following up a successful Queensland title campaign the previous week taking 3rd & 2nd respectively at Gympie behind the new Qld #1 Aidan Raymont.
Nathan Macdonald qualified out of 7th for the A-main with Shane out of 5, Peter Gray out of 17 and Dennis Bullpitt out of 18. It was a great effort for them to all qualify straight into the A. Shane Langton and Darren Ciesiolka both ran into engine dramas during the 2nd night's heats which saw them both on the trailers early. Andrew Harper was out after the first night's heats with damage to the rear suspension that couldn't be repaired at the track. Rodney Pammenter started out of 4 in the B-main and Kerry Lack a bit further back. The B-main was full of carnage with a huge roll-over by Jeff Peacock followed by a roll by Shelford. Rodney was running in 2nd when he got a flat tyre and was out of the event. Kerry Lack had just made his way into 4th place, the final transfer spot, when the yellows came on for a stoppage and he had to go back into 5th for the re-start. With only 3 laps to run, he couldn't pull off the passing move again and unfortunately just missed out on transferring to the A-main.
Nathan & Shane were both moving forward in the A-main when Nathan got caught up with another car and was out of the race with a lot of damage to the front end of his car. Peter Gray retired with axle damage, leaving Shane and Dennis the remaining 2 Toowoomba drivers. Shane drove a fantastic race which had the crowd on the edge of their seats, and turn 1 Toowoomba crowd very vocally supporting his every lap. He didn't get it easily, he was under a lot of pressure from Brett Baxter who finished in 2nd, but Shane showed the champion that he was and never faultered under pressure to maintain his lead and take the win. Dennis also ran a fantastic race over the 50 lap distance and finished in 9th spot.
The comradery between the Charlton drivers was obvious over the hectic 2 night meeting with everyone pitching in and helping each other out between heats. It was also great to see other club members making the journey to Maryborough to support our club drivers. Great effort guys!