Seven days on from the last meeting, racing crews, officials and the crowd reassembled at Darwin’s Northline Speedway for Meeting #3 for Season 2024. Under cloudless skies and temperatures more in tune with the Dry Season we witnessed another shootout from 6 sections including Solos, Street Stocks, Dirt Karts, AMCA Nationals and Junior Sedans and Wingless Sprintcars to battle out another round of 3 Heats and a Feature Race in each section.
Dirt Karts – Tony Brown was quick out of the blocks in Heat 1 and romped away to a healthy win to set the tone for the night in the Dirt Karts. Last Meeting’s Feature Race winner Brad Fichtner was not far away in second place with Josh Norman (returning to the division) home in third place. Michael Brown then made amends in Heat 2 to record the win ahead of Isaiah Strong and Tony Brown claiming third place. T Brown rose to the top again in Heat 3 to again show Fichtner the road home but only taking the lead on the last corner whilst Strong followed in third place. Tony Brown cleared away in the Feature race to take out his first Feature Race win for the year with Fichtner backing up his good form from the last meeting to take out second place with Josh Norman in for third.
AMCA Nationals – A pretty good field of AMCA Nationals was on hand for their battle. There is some good young talent coming through the ranks however it was the wiley veteran Mark Allcorn who dominated the field. Allcorn took the lead in Heat 1 a couple of laps in and set off into the distance whilst Deegan Sherwood and Jacobus Beets engaged in a tight tussle with Beets holding on for second ahead of Sherwood in third. Allcorn and Sherwood duelled it out for the first 3 laps in Heat 2 before Allcorn held sway to record his second Heat race win whilst Paul Carmody chimed in for third place. Jacobus Beets caught the front row napping in Heat 3 and jumped to an early lead in Heat 3. With 3 laps to go Erica Glazbrook brought on the yellows after a scrap with the wall on the main straight. Meanwhile out front Beets began to slow which allowed Allcorn and Sherwood through to fill the top placings with Beets holding on to third place. Allcorn dominated the Feature Race whilst again Beets and Sherwood slugged it out again. 12 laps to go and Reece Prior rotated and brought on the yellows. Beets then clouted the turn 4 wall with 9 laps to go which allowed Sherwood through into second place. Matthew Barker then spun with 8 laps to go and again with 4 laps left which sent him infield for causing two stoppages. Allcorn took out the Feature Race with Sherwood second and Beets holding on for third.
Junior Sedans – Harrison Turnbull enjoyed a return to form by taking out Heat 1 ahead of River Spitzbarth and Zackery Czoloszynski. Spitzbarth slowed almost to a halt on the last lap but still held second place after getting tangled in an on track incident not of his making. What the team didn’t realise was that this incident actually broke the locating lugs off the radiator but he also suffered a flat tyre which cost him the lead on the last lap. Spitzbarth was a no show for the second heat race due to sourcing another radiator, which saw Turnbull claim his second straight Heat Race win. There was a great battle going on between Kallen Hall, Czoloszynski and Caiden Weaver for the minor placings whilst Riley King spun causing a stoppage in turn 4 with 3 laps to go. Hall held on for second with Czoloszynski in third. Three from three for Harrison Turnbull in Heat 3. Kallen Hall encountered the wall in turn 3 on the last lap which opened the door for Czoloszynski to take second place and Spitzbarth in for third place. The gap tightened up on the last lap. The Feature race was led from early on by Zackery Czoloszynski and he held the momentum to finish first ahead of River Spitzbarth and Turnbull in third.
Solos – 3 of the two wheeled wonders took centre stage with Ryan Pope, Steven Hutchinson and veteran Wayne Lorymer flying under the tapes. Pope was the class of the field making it a clean sweep of the Heats and the Feature Race. Hutchinson claimed the sweep of second placings. After a classy stouch in Heat 1 between Pope and Hutchinson, Pope held on for the win. Same in Heat 2 and then in Heat 3 Wayne Lorymer took a tumble in turn 1 and did not finish the race. In the Feature Hutchinson nearly ran off the track coming out of turn 4 but held on and placed second behind Pope.
Wingless Sprintcars – Another massive turnout from the super performing Wingless Sprintcars with up to 19 cars arriving for hostilities. Zack Grimshaw back again in between Sprintcar duties to resume his edge of your seat duels with Jamie McInnes. Plus a host of other up and coming stars is making this section the one to watch. Heat 1A saw Grimshaw fire the first shot by claiming victory ahead of Matthew McLennan and Cameron Jaenke. Keelan Edwards was strong in Heat 1B and virtually led all the way to win ahead of Angus Campbell and Jamie McInnes. Matt Sealy reigned supreme in Heat 2A and also led all the way to record his first win for the night with Grimshaw second and McLennan in third. Heat 2B saw a great tussle between McInnes and Jarrod Goldoni. Edwards and Daniel Goldoni also engaged in a spirited battle before Goldoni suffered the gremlins again and pulled infield with 3 laps to go. So it was McInnes to greet the chequered flag first ahead of J. Goldoni and Edwards in third. Heat 3A belonged to Jamie McInnes who romped away with the win ahead of Grimshaw and Jarrod Goldoni. Heat 3B saw Edwards continue his stellar form for the night to win ahead of Matt Sealy and Angus Campbell. The Wingless Sprintcars formed up for a 30 lap feature race with Edwards jumping away to an early lead. The McInnes and Grimshaw expected duel lived up to it’s expectations again as the two foes slugged it out. With 19 laps to go McInnes slid underneath Edwards in turn 1 to assume the lead and then 14 laps to go Grimshaw gets past into second place again in turn 1. Disaster struck soon after for Keelan Edwards and he pulled infield, ruining an excellent night which saw him on track for a Feature Race win due to engine issues and it was Jamie McInnes who led the latter stage of the race on a brilliant race surface to win ahead of Grimshaw and Campbell.
Street Stocks – A much healthier field of Street Stocks competed for their Heats and Feature Race with seven cars arriving for the contest. Jake Koivumaki jumped away in Heat 1 to lead ahead of Kane Lloyd. With 4 laps to go it was James Ballantyne who rotated around bringing on the yellow lights. Koivumaki the win ahead of Lloyd and Megan Henderson home in third. Unfortunately Lachlan Vandergurg was unable to start in the #13 machine. Lloyd turned the tables in Heat 2 and was largely unchallenged to win Heat 2 ahead of Koivumaki and Jake Budd taking out third place. Heat 3 saw James Ballantyne reverse his bad fortunes to win the race ahead of Lloyd and Gill in third.
Next Meeting for Northline Speedway is Saturday night 22nd June with the Darwin Titles (ALL SECTIONS) seeing the return of the Sprintcars along with Wingless Sprints, AMCA Nationals, Street Stocks, Junior Sedans, Go Karts and Solos.