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The First Weekend in Australia |
 The plan was to go to Australia, run the Parramatta and Toowoomba shows and fly home with a great result. That was not the case for a variety of reasons.
I had gone early to Sydney to work on the 29 car which was the car Brad is to drive in these events over the next month or so. The both cars were at Barry Graham's Workshop which is about an hour south of Sydney. Having a couple of days working on the car gave me the opportunity to get it serviced and set for the race meetings over there.
I picked up the drivers and the team from Jack Berry Racing on the Friday night and we headed off to Parramatta to settle in.
Saturday all went to plan with the Race Truck heading up to the track and we met them there. We worked on he cars over the afternoon in preparation for the meeting there, knowing that immediately after it finished we had to load the gear and cars back into the truck as it was leaving to drive through the night to Toowoomba which was a 15-16 hour drive without stopping.
The weather forecast was a 90% chance of rain, and it was right. After a fairly heavy shower we got the cars out onto the track to wheel pack it. I have not seen a Midget car return from a wheel pack with as much mud on it as these were. We spent an hour getting the cars back ready to run and down the rain came again. This was the end of this meeting, so we loaded up with everything wet and covered in mud to head to Toowoomba.
We flew into Brisbane early Sunday and drove out to Toowoomba to meet the truck and clean the cars. The weather was good and the spirits were high.
The boys were pretty keen to get some racing under their belts so we setup ready to go. Good to catch up with both Jimmy Quinn and Michael Kendall.
Brad was in the first heat and started off the back, I missed the gear set so he struggled home in 7th place. Michael was next up and he flipped his car on about lap 3. This is when the work load started to wind up. Brad went out for his second heat whilst the team repaired Michaels car. Brad almost missed three cars in a crash, he ended up bending the front axle on the right hand side and limped home in 7th place again. We started working on replacing the front end in his car, Michael headed out for his heat and he went over again trying to miss a crash and bent everything in the rear.
So, while they replaced bits in his car we prepared for the Feature. Brad was to start off the back as his transponder hadn't worked and they don't manually lap score there so as far as they were concerned he hadn't completed a lap. Minutes before we dropped the car onto the ground the brakes decided they wouldn't work, when 15 minutes earlier they did. I quickly disconnected the front brake line to give him a brake pedal and out they both went. Brads front brake built pressure in the line and jammed the front brakes on, his front left wheel was glowing orange before the race even started. He did manage to get passed 6 cars in two laps howevereventually decided he couldn't hold it any longer as the brake was jammed and was pulling the car left.
With Brad out all attentions went to Michael who was still stiing further back, on about lap 6 he sailed into a big pile up in Turn 2 and he went in square on. The result was this car sustained considerable damage including the frame.
The good news was Kendall went on to win the Feature which was great for the Kiwi showing.
We now have a massive amount of work to do prior to next weekend which has the first meeting on the Friday night and then straight into Saturday night for the 50 Lapper.
The team is all good, plenty of energy and looking forward to a great weekends racing in Sydney. |
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 This was turning into a huge event, we have a huge crowd turn up on the Friday Night at Waikaraka park for the Driver's Marble Draw and the Calcutta. Great to see so many people come along to support this event.
On Saturday Night you could feel the anticipation in the Midget Pit Area. 34 Midgets had come along to contest this title. There were the 14 National Midget Car Series drivers, they were working through the points table in their minds to see if they could improve their positions, and on the other hand they also were racing for the $10,000 1st place prize. Then there were the Ted Tracey Group, there were 20 of them and only 6 were going to qualify into the top 20 spots.
One of things I like about the NMCS events is that you must go to the rear of the field if you stop for any reason. Even if you were not prime cause, you go to the back, so there is none of the hundreds of laps done while drivers try and go back to a spot. It helps keep the racing moving and it also sheds an air of caution with the drivers, push hard but don't get hooked up in a crash.
There were several things that stood out for me last night. To begin with, seeing drivers like Calvin Worthington and Simon Wi drive like they did was fantastic. Calvin led the A main for nearly half the race and was a full corner ahead of the field at one point. I saw Mark Mullins drive around the outside of Shayne Alach in one of the heats. Some of these guys grew another arm and it was great to see this.Shayne was however the stand out in his group through the heats, he passed cars in both heats and I believe was the top qualifier in this group.
Brad told me on the way to the track that he wanted the 55" LCD Television which was to be awarded to the top qualifier of the NMCS Barry Butterworth Group. He won his first heat and then went on to finish 2nd in his second heat to win the TV.
Lance Beale took a big tumble in Turn One and climbed up the fence, he was OK but the car was pretty average. Nathan Smee had his own show going with flames pouring out from underneath his car, the drive line caused that so they had plenty to do to fix it.
Then we had the drivers out onto the infield in front of the crowd to organise the starting positions for the feature. Michael Pickens chose Brad to start on the back row and then Shayne was next.
As part of the pre race warm up the drivers were bought onto the track on Harley Davidson Motorbikes which they all seemed to enjoy,they were individually introduced and interviewed and then we got underway. All was going to plan until we got hooked up in the Pickens/Clarkson crash and all three were unfortunatly out. A couple of laps later I witnessed the wheel stand of the year. Hickman was on the right rear only and he didn't lift his foot. This car was standing almost upright. Then Shayne Allach had his throttle jam on the back straight. This had him enter Turn 3 wide open, he rode a wheel and he went clean over the fence into the Pits. You could have heard a pin drop. Luckily he had not hit anyone, and he was OK. This was just a miracle and thank goodness no one was hurt.
So back to the racing, Michael Kendall took the lead with around 23 laps to go and he went onto win this ahead of both Carl Worboys and Michael Brunt.
A geat way to wrap the season up, we now move to getting the car prepared to head to its new home in Australia as we have sold it.
Greg
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The Balance of the Season |
 Normally we would be wrapping the season up at this time of year, however we still have a couple of race meetings on the Schedule. These include the meeting this weekend at Waikaraka Park and four meetings in Australia.
This Saturday Night is both the Barry Butterworth Classic along with it also being the final round of the National Midget Car Series. The event has had huge support form Midget competitors from both there and in Australia. Both Nathan Smee and Mark Brown have entered this event. They will be part of a group of 16+ drivers all trying to qualify for the main race. The balance of the field are National Midget Car Series competitors and there is 16 of them so all up we have over 30 cars turning up. Whilst it will be a great spectacle with the Feature Format being 'fastest off the back', we are mindful of where Brad sits in this Series. We are a clear second at the moment and would have to DNF to loose that spot, and we are also focused on Michael Pickens as he leads the Series and he would need to DNF for us to catch and pass him for the Title. Above all else, the Feature has a separate 1st place prize of $10,000 so all in all, a pretty important race.
Then Brad and Michael head to Parramatta, Sydney to run the 50 Lapper. There are 6 Kiwis taking their own cars over to run, whilst we run one of the Jack Berry - Polar Ice cars. Should be a great show again with the level of competition. Brad finished on the Podium with fellow Kiwi's Shaun Insley and Michael Pickens last year. Not sure the Aussies liked te Kiwi 1, 2 and 3 effort.
We immediately leave Sydney and fly to Brisbane and then drive out to Toowoomba to run the Sunday Night Show there. Bit of a drive for the truck to get there in time, however we should pull it off if we don't do too much damage at Parramatta.
The following weekend we all go back to run the same thing, yes another 50 Lapper at Parramatta. We have the following weekend off ready to return to Archerfield, Brisbane on the 15th May.
So as you can see, a bit left to deal with and really looking forward to the racing action.
The 2010/2011 Season has us returning to Western Springs in a new car. Great to have confirmed our association with both Big Ben and Citizen already, their support is key to our plans for next season.
I will update the meetings as we go through them to keep you all up to date with how it all unfolds.
Greg
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This is the #13 Car Brad drove this season. The package includes:
Aggressor Chassis built September 2009.
This is complete roller and the car has all the latest modifications.
Complete Front End with Red Devil Brakes and spindles.
Radiator with housing.
Bumpers and Nerfs.
Oil Tank, 1/2 Steering Box, Winters Diff, Birdcages, Jacobs, several Torsion Bars, rear arms.
Brand new set of Panels unpainted.
3 x Right rear beadlock rims, 3 x Left rear beadlock rims, 3 x Front rims.
Simpson Harness belts 6 months old.
Four in car adjustable shocks.
Stanton Mopar Engine:
This engine ran 2 meetings after refreshen, has been independantly checked.
Headers and spare set, muffler.
MSD Ignition unit, Coil, Leads, Air Filter, Powersteering Pump, Fuel Pump, New pick ups.
Battery, Fully plumbed, ready to race.
The spares include a a number of parts required to run this car.
This car is ideal for someone wanting to take the step up to an A Grade Car.
All enquiries to Greg Mosen on 0274 961 666 or
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