Hallett denies McHugh hat-trick

Lockie McHugh has finally been beaten in the Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek with Brock Hallett holding on in a Borderline nail-biter.

Hallett’s fast restarts in a significantly interrupted affair at Mount Gambier proved critical in his pursuit of victory in round 3.

Despite some tense moments negotiating lapped traffic in the final laps, the #Q5 held on by just three tenths.

In pursuit of a hat-trick from fifth, McHugh had to settle for second after winning the first two rounds, but still enjoyed an 80-point lead over Hallett.

Jamie Veal had red-hot pace, charging from 10th to third, while pole sitter Brendan Guerin was fourth.

Marcus Dumesny retained third in the standings after making his way into the top five, while Supercars star Cameron Waters was fighting for a podium before slipping to seventh in a solid performance as six failed to finish.

“Just did not know where to run. Thought the bottom went away so went to the top and Lockie stuck his nose in there,” Hallett said.

“I got lucky with cautions because I needed clear air to run away, but it is finally good to beat the #1!”

Off the pole Guerin got a flyer down low to shoot into the lead as Waters fought hard, but could not stop Hallett from also snatching second before an instant yellow due to a spun Garet Williamson.

This time it was Hallett, who made good use of the inside line to snatch the lead at the restart.

Again only one lap was possible due to 7 coming to a stop.

Once again there was a positional change at the restart with Waters shooting to second before Frost rotated after contact in Turn 3.

It was fourth time lucky as there was finally a solid period of green flag racing and Waters was swamped.

After Anderson slipped by on the inside, the #V6 was demoted to fifth by McHugh, who started to fly up high.

The Australian champion then performed the switch back to soar into second by picking off both Rae and Anderson with ease.

The green flag run was shut by a red flag with 12 to go due to local Glen Sutherland having an unfortunate end to his home race.

The “Glen 20” ran wide and careered hard into the Turn 1 wall, sending it into a roll right in front of the leaders.

Hallett and McHugh wrestled hard for the lead side by side for three laps at the restart, but the #Q5 sent it hard to cling on up high.

Guerin and Rae were also wheel to wheel for third before the latter’s race came to a heart breaking end with eight to go.

This saw the #7 drop out of contention, moments after Frost also found the Turn 3 fence.

Being under pressure from the Aussie champ, Hallett sensed his moment and nailed the critical restart to build an advantage.

Behind him Guerin lost third to Rae by running wide and bouncing through Turn 2 with just four to go.

Inside the final two laps Hallett had some nervous moments in traffic, but held on.

The Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek has a night off as teams cross the border to Avalon Raceway on Monday night, December 30.

Image: Corey Gibson Photography