Goodyer wins special Adelaide speedway opener
Jock Goodyer drove into the history books as the winner of the first ever sprintcar race at the Adelaide 500 and drivers are lauded the temporary track.
The impressive makeshift speedway at a cricket ground called King Rodney Parkwas buzzing with a big crowd on hand to get a taste of sprintcars in unfamiliar territory and it was a success.
The track was a big unknown and it delivered, producing an exciting and fast race and encouraging drivers to make moves both up high and down low.
Goodyer made the most of it, blazing his way from third to first within the first 15 of 35 laps.
He survived a late caution to cruise home 2s ahead of charging American Chase Randall and Grant Anderson.
It was not without a scare however, with Goodyer being struck by a spinning Brock Hallett, but carrying on as the latter rotated from second to last out of Turn 2.
Most importantly, Speedway enthusiasts and newcomers alike were full of smiles as they walked into the Adelaide night having seen sprintcars at a Supercars meeting for the first time.
There was a lot of conjecture around the 342m oval constructed within a week by curator Michael Rimmer and the SA Speedway team, but according to the drivers it delivered.
“When Adam Currie called me I thought he was taking the piss, but here we are six months down the track and hats off to everyone. They have built one of the coolest race tracks I have raced on in a long time in just a week,” Goodyer said.
“It just proves that when you get the right people together and going in the right direction you can get results.
“This is just awesome for our sport and hopefully we have some new fans tonight and they all enjoyed the show.
“We have just got to get the people to witness our sport.
“It takes a bit of balls to drive these things, especially when it gets pretty rough like that.
“I am stoked with this result.”
Randall rose from seventh on the grid and was pleasantly surprised by the track.
“I was a bit sceptical when I first heard about it, but hats off to the track crew for giving us an awesome race track,” Randall said.
“I could not tell you how much fun that feature was. It was awesome.
“You could do these huge slide jobs at a really tight bullring no one has ever really seen before, so to put on an amazing weekend is great.”
Grant Anderson took pole in the A Dash by holding off Dayne Kingshott and Goodyer.
The V37 made the most of pole and initially shot clear of the field with Kingshott settling into second and Goodyer third.
Further back James McFadden got his elbows out and made a move on Scott Endrel on the grass below turn 2, providing an early glimpse into how easy drivers found overtaking.
Whilst Anderson controlled the field, it was Goodyer, who had pace to burn.
The #T22 flew around the outside of kingshott to steal second at Turn 2 on Lap 11 as the WA driver also slumped behind Hallett.
Just three laps later Goodyer completed his storm to the lead with a nice slide job down the inside at Turn 3.
Anderson offered some early resistance, clawing back the lead on the main straight, but ultimately also lost second to Hallett.
As Goodyer pulled away, Hallett and Anderson kept battling which led to the race-defining moment on Lap 15.
Hallett clipped Anderson as they battled through Turn 2 before the #Q5 then hit Goodyer.
The contact sent Hallett into a spin, seeing him fall from second to 17th before eventually recovering to 11th.
Goodyer was extremely lucky to survive the whack to his left rear and carried on, controlling the remainder of the race.
Each restart the #T22 shot out like a cannon, while Randall also had his foot down, picking off rivals and catching Anderson.
It did not take long for the American to swoop past Anderson and snatch second.
McFadden had fought his way up to the top five and hoped to do similar damage, but oil dramas saw the #D5 pull off to the infield.
The mega star was the third and final DNF.
Corey McCullagh was the first to retire with mechanical dramas and was soon followed by Alex Orr.
A late caution was created by synchronised spinning from Ryan Jones and Kingshott.
Jones down low made contact with Kingshott and the pair rotated together at Turn 3. This set-up a four-lap dash where Goodyer was too good.
The best part about it is they will do it all again Friday night, following the same schedule with the remainder of the $126,000 prize purse on the line.
After Wingless Sprints raced on opening night, Street Stocks will share the spotlight.
Pic: NetworkR/NAPA Motorsport
NAPA Speedway in the City Night 1 results
Speedway schedule
18.10-18.30 Sprintcars Flight 1 Hot Laps/Qualifying
18.40-19.00 Sprintcars Flight 2 Hot Laps/Qualifying
19.20-19.30 Street Stocks Heat 1
20.00-20.40 Sprintcars Heats
20.45-20.55 Street Stocks Heat 2
20.55-21.05 Sprintcars Dash
21.05-21.18 Sprintcars B Main 1
21.17-21.29 Sprintcars B Main 2
21.34-21.49 Street Stocks Feature
21.49-22.30 Sprintcars Feature A Main
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