Meyers Wins Night 1 Of The Classic

Reigning World of Outlaws champion Jason Meyers won the Oval Express Magazine backed Australia / America Challenge feature which doubled as night one of the 39th running of The Standard Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic. Meyers started outside of the front row with South Australian Steven Lines and worked for 13 laps to claim the lead from Lines before leading home fellow Outlaw Joey Saldana with Steven Lines in third at the conclusion of the 25 lap event.

“We just had to get out front and run the car,” beamed Meyers from victory lane.

“Any time there is a highline on a racetrack you know Joey is going to be there. I saw his nose there late in the race and I just had to step it up a bit.”

Runner up Saldana is renowned for his highline antics and found Warrnambool’s to be to his liking as he set about reeling in the race leader.

“I don’t know why but I have never been good at running the bottom,” said Saldana.

“I have to thank Kasey Kahne as this trip was all about getting Cody (Darrah) ready for the Outlaws and he said I better come along to try to win some races and we haven’t done that so far!”

“I made some mistakes tonight that I won’t make tomorrow so we will come back and see how we do.”

Lines set the pace early from pole position and looked as though he may have upstaged his American counterparts until he bumped the wall in the middle part of the race which broke the Jacob’s Ladder on the #7.

“I hit the wall pretty good so I knew something was wrong with the car,” lamented Lines.

“We held on for third so that’s still good. It puts us in a good spot right now and we can at least come out tomorrow night in good starting positions, up the front in the heats and hopefully we’ll get some more points and keep it up the front.”

Front row qualifiers Myers and Lines headed the world class field and from the moment the green dropped the racing came thick and fast. Eighth starting Ian Madsen suffered as the first casualty when front end damage ended his night. Madsen and Jason Johnson came in contact with each and the result saw Johnson sent to the rear while Madsen retired with front end damage.

Hard contact with the turn 3 and 4 wall ended Robbie Farr’s night prematurely while he was enjoying a strong run only four laps into the A-main.

Encountering traffic at lap 15, Lines had everyone on the edge of their seats as he came together with the wall while leading from Meyers, young Pennsylvania ace Cody Darrah, Saldana and local hero John Vogels. Meyers pounced on Lines and moved into the lead on lap 13.

Behind Meyers, Saldana was moving forward as he charged into second and set off after the leader. Saldana showed his nose two laps from the end yet Meyers was able to keep his composure to win ahead of Saldana, Lines in third ahead of Darrah in fourth.

Brooke Tatnell put in the drive of the night to finish fifth after coming all the way from the B-Main, and starting fifteenth in the main event. Garry Brazier was sixth ahead of Vogels, Grant Anderson, Ryan Jones and Craig Dollansky in tenth. Jason Johnson was able to charge back to eleventh ahead of Max Dumesny, Bryan Mann, Lucas Wolfe, Luke Dillon and Danny Reidy.

B main transferors Brooke Tatnell, Grant Anderson, Bryan Mann and Luke Dillon tacked onto the rear of the A main after finishing in the top four. James McFadden was just one place from making the transfer when he raced all the way from fourteen to fifth in a super impressive performance while other notables who missed the transfer included Stephen Bell, Jason Sides, Jonathon Allard and David Murcott.

The massive field were split into two groups for qualifying with Californian Jonathon Allard setting quick time in the first group while Max Dumesny was a popular winner of the Allan Pollard Memorial with a time of 11.524 seconds.

Heat 1 of the evening was won by South Australian Luke Dillon from the front row ahead of Darrah and David Murcott.

The second heat provided plenty of action when West Aussie Kris Coyle rolled the WA15 prior to Lucas Wolfe sealing victory. Fellow Americans Jason Johnson, Craig Dollansky and Shane Stewart rounded out the top four in an American whitewash.

Heat three went from green to chequer when Steven Lines led the field home ahead of Ricky Maiolo and Damian Abbott.

Jason Meyers took victory in heat four with Darren Mollenoyux, Brooke Tatnell and Brett Milburn following him across the finish line.

The non-stop action continued in heat five when ‘Quick Time’ man for the evening Max Dumesny took the valuable heat race win points with Jason Kendrick and Grant Anderson collecting second and third place respectively.

Heat six was won by Warrenne Ekins flag to flag with Danny Reidy, Joey Saldana and Tasmanian Jamie Bricknell rounding out the top four ahead of current Australian Champion James McFadden.

Robbie Farr led home Ryan Jones, Garry Brazier and local Johnny Vogels in heat seven before the final heat of the first round of races saw Bryan Mann claim heat eight ahead of Ian Madsen, Shaun Dobson and Trevor Green.

The second round of heats saw the fastest time trial qualifiers start from the rear of their heat races, resulting in some spectacular racing and more than a few tense moments.

Heat nine saw the Americans show they were quick from the back with Cody Darrah and Jason Johnson gaining second and third respectively yet neither were close enough to steal the win from Sydney’s Glenn Saville.

Cameron Gessner won heat ten ahead of Shane Stewart and Craig Dollansky while heat eleven went to Brooke Tatnell followed by Jason Myers and Mark House.

Heat twelve provided great entertainment when Ben Atkinson took the win from position 6 from Steven Lines who also started well back in the field from position 9. Simon VanGinneken and Brett Milburn rounded out the top four while Mitchell Dumsney’s night went from bad to worse when he suffered front end damage at the start of the race from the front row.

Heat thirteen race winner Mick Turner had it all going on behind him when Steven Bell and James McFadden put on an a great performance to round out the top three after both cutting through the field.

Heat race of the night went to heat fourteen and the performance Joey Saldana provided to the thousands of fans in attendance. Saldana started from position 10 and worked his way through the field around the top to take the win ahead of David Craft and Carl Ludeman.

The fifteenth heat of night was won by Jason Sides ahead of big movers Garry Brazier and Robbie Farr.

The final heat race of the evening was heat sixteen and saw Johnny Vogels also come from deep in the field followed by Ian Loudoun and Ryan Jones.

2011 GRAND ANNUAL SPRINTCAR CLASSIC POINTS

Jason Meyers 712
Steven Lines 710
Joey Saldana 692
Cody Darrah 690
Robbie Farr 676
John Vogels 674
Garry Brazier 668
Jason Johnson 668
Brooke Tatnell 658
Ryan Jones 654

Craig Dollansky 648
Max Dumesny 648
Ian Madsen 644
Lucas Wolfe 642
Danny Reidy 638
Bryan Mann 632
Grant Anderson 626
Luke Dillon 606
Darren Mollenoyux 602
Shane Stewart 592

Brett Milburn 588
Shaun Dobson 584
Stephen Bell 580
James McFadden 578
Ben Atkinson 576
Jonathan Allard 570
Jason Sides 566
Steve Caruso 564
David Murcott 562
Wayne Rowett 554

Cameron Gessner 546
Ian Loudoun 542
Damien Abbott 536
Ryan Davis 534
Glen Saville 532
Warrenne Ekins 530
Trevor Green 530
Ash Burke 520
Jamie Bricknell 514
Daniel Pestka 502

Matt Egel 500
Jamie Veal 498
Dylan Jenkin 488
Jason Loveday 486
Ash House 482
Jason Kendrick 478
Matt Young 476
Mick Turner 474
Kelly Linigen 464
Andrew Wright 458

Ricky Maiolo 458
Carl Ludeman 456
Nick Lacey 452
Simon Van Ginneken 450
Dennis Jones 450
Mal Lee 448
Domain Ramsay 448
Kerry Madsen 448
David Craft 444
Mitch Foster 442

Richard Morgan 438
Daniel Goldoni 436
Mark House 434
Peter Milnes 430
Glen Sutherland 426
Carl Dowling 426
Charles Hunter 424
Andrew Cox 416
Damien Thorne 412
Luke Rowell 410

Simon Amato 404
Jamie Stark 402
David Priolo 398
Anthony Orr 396
Troy David 390
Josh Fisher 386
Grant Tunks 372
Marty Perovich 364
Philip Down 358

Quentin Tanner 340
Eddie Lumbar 322
Mitchell Dumesny 302
Colin Barker 294
Tim Rankin 290
Kris Coyle 262
Darryl Campbell 260
Ron Dalton 236