THE Australian Sprintcar Open at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway was dominated by American driver Donny Schatz last week.
The driver donning the USA15 powered his way to a second place on the opening night – behind Australian title holder Kerry Madsen – before winning the second 50-lap feature.
The two solid nights of driving handed him the overall win, ahead of Madsen who finished with a third on night two.
Due to the high calibre of drivers, reaching the A-Main on both nights proved to be a success in itself.
With that in mind, it was a difficult event for Mount Gambier drivers Steven Lines and Glen Sutherland.
There were positives to take out of the two-night event.
Both drivers made the feature race on one occasion each.
Lines had a solid opening night, advancing through to the A-Main and finishing in 14th after starting out of position 13.
However, a seventh in the B-Main on night two ended the NQ3 car’s chances at contesting the Australian Open feature race.
It was a different story for Sutherland.
On Friday night he went from fifth back to sixth in his first heat, before going from sixth to 10 in his second.
This saw the S20 car line up in position 14 in the B-Main.
He finished where he started and as a result did not transfer through to the feature race.
Disappointing with the opening night, Sutherland stepped things up a notch on Saturday.
He advanced from fourth to win his first heat of the day, before both starting and finished third in his second.
As a result Sutherland started out of position three in the B-Main and finished fourth to advance through to the A-Main.
Sutherland powered his way around the Archerfield circuit with some of the best in the business to finish a respectable 19th in the 50-lap feature race.
