MADSON PROVES HE’S A CLASSIC CONTENDER

By Geoff Rounds

With a dominant win on night two, Ian Madsen has rocketed into contention for the 2017 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

Driving the Rob Watson Jnr owned W66 entry, Madsen showed he is one of the top drivers to beat as he led all 30 laps to take out the Australia-America Challenge Cup.

Last years Classic winner, Jamie Veal showed he is still a top contender with a a solid drive into second, while another previous Classic winner American Shane Stewart showed why he must be considered a contender again with a solid third place finish.

James McFadden carried good car speed in the early going before slipping to fourth before a very healthy audience who were earlier wowed by McFadden’s performance in the final heat of the night, as he continues to vie for the crown of crowd favourite and McFadden provided a string of highlights through out the night.

Earlier, in the second flight of time trials there was unusually slow qualifying times, with Luke Dillon, despite a late marble draw, finding a little patch of rubber to ensure he went quick time with a pass of 13.027 seconds.

He was followed by McFadden and Shane Stewart while evergreen Garry Brazier was fourth after starting from last place in time trials.

McFadden’s time was enough to have him finish as the night’s top points scorer while Brad Keller’s fifth place run also him in a strong position heading into the third and final night.

The top ten was then made up of Dominic Scelzi who advanced from 12th to 6th, Jason Johnson, Robbie Farr, Matt Egel and Luke Dillon who ran 10th.

Over two nights of the Classic on a track thats taken rubber early, the cars from the front row in heats have won while a similar story has been the case in the features.

It looks somewhat an open Classic but the winner looks likely from the first three rows which will benefit those high on points now including McFadden, Tatnell, Veal, both the Madsen brothers and Brad Keller, Grant Anderson and Robbie Farr look serious contenders.

Of the Americans Sweet and Stewart look the likely chances for Uncle Sam while Kyle Hirst, Dominic Scelzi and Brian Brown should all feature high late in the night’s racing.

It’s the toughest and again Australia’s most open sprintcar race and to those that make the final field is just a Herculean effort in itself.