MOUNT Gambier speedway driver Jason Duell took his street stock car from pole position on the grid to the Northern Territory Street Stock title on Saturday night, claiming his first championship win after a drama-filled race.
Held at the Arunga Park Speedway in Alice Springs, Duell was up against it from the start, lining up alongside fellow South Australian and national title holder Rhys Heinrich.
It was his first run of the season, after competing in only three events last season due to a work injury.
The race was riddled with stoppages, one of which included Penola’s Mark Gartner, whose wheel departed company with the car.
Heinrich led proceedings from the start and continued that after each restart, with Duell closing the margin in the second half of the race.
From there the pair battled for the ascendancy, with Heinrich finally succumbing to the pressure after suffering a flat tyre on the penultimate lap.
Duell went on to greet the chequered flag and claim the win in dramatic style.
As he crossed the finish line he suffered his own flat tyre, then a broken steering rack and slammed into the wall, with the car catching fire.
But he did enough to claim his first title and was pleased with that result.
“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time was win a title,” he said.
“I’ve had second and third in state and national titles before, but never won a title.
“To get that done was really good, especially travelling that far.”
Duell was on the pace from the outset, winning his first heat race, coming from last to finish second in his next one, then capping it off with another win to give him pole position for the feature.
With his lack of track time last season, Duell said he was not confident heading to the event, but that all changed once he was on the ground.
“Because of the work injury last year I couldn’t go to the Australian title and once I missed that I hadn’t really raced much, just concentrated on work,” he said.
“My dad was pretty keen to go up and get me away from work for a bit, so they drove the car up and I flew.
“I wasn’t real confident, but when we got there it all went pretty good from the start of the night.”
Duell said his plan in the feature was to simply push hard and apply pressure at the front, but that all had to wait for the track to come to him.
“The track was wet at the bottom – all night it was dry which suits my driving style better,” he said.
“When it was wet I just tried not to lose too many positions.
“I knew once it dried out I could really have a go and I didn’t want to spin out in the wet.
“Once it dried up I got back onto him (Heinrich) and then just thought the best thing to do was to apply as much pressure as I could so he would go hard and hopefully make a mistake so I could get through.”
That pressure helped in the end, despite some close calls along the way.
“I tried the outside and nearly got him, but I hit a rut and nearly hit the wall,” Duell said.
“He would have known then I was really keen to get up there.
“He seemed to be going really hard into the corners and I heard the tyre pop.
“It was a good lap before he really slowed down, then I went for the outside and got around him when the white flag came out for the last lap.
“I was right then.”
But of course the drama continued as Duell crossed the line.
“I went flat out into the corner and the steering locked up,” he said.
“I went straight into the wall and the car caught fire, so I couldn’t do a victory lap or anything.
“It was a pretty hard hit.”
Duell thanked his parents for transporting the car up to the Red Centre, which ultimately was rewarded with his first title.
Duell will now look to Adelaide in February to contest the Australian championships.
