A COMBINATION of a new car and a new team took some time to settle into for Australian sprintcar legend Brooke Tatnell.
But Friday night it all came together, with a win on night one in the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Warrnambool.
Driving for the Scott Motorsports team out of Mount Gambier, Tatnell showed his true pace, but had to work hard out of position four on the grid, with Luke Dillon, Robbie Farr and Kerry Madsen filling the first three places from the green flag.
However, while in the lead at the half-way mark, Farr clipped a lapped car and rolled, leaving the door ajar for Tatnell after an open red on the track allowed teams to check their cars.
With the green light once again presented, Tatnell led the way and pushed hard from there to claim the chequered flag, despite other stoppages along the way.
Tatnell was on the pace all night, with a heat four win after starting out of second, plus a third place in heat 11 after a seventh place start.
Glen Sutherland made the A Main feature race in 17th place on the grid, with an impressive seventh-place finish, while Chad Ely drove the Starks Motorsports car to 10th place in the C Main after starting out of fifth.
From there Tatnell lined up on pole in Sunday’s feature race, with the hope to replicate Friday’s result.
However it was young Warrnambool driver Corey McCullagh who stole the show.
Tatnell led for much of the night, caught up in a dice with Carson Macedo and Peter Doukas.
But out of ninth place McCullagh was making his move on the low groove.
Steven Lines and Sutherland were working down the field out of sixth and 15th places respectively, but for Sutherland it would all go pear shaped, with an incident ending his night.
Lines kept pace with the likes of Australian champion Kerry Madsen, but up front Tatnell had his hands full.
After chasing the lead after a restart late in the race, McCullagh simply drove his car on the bottom line past Tatnell and continued on from there.
In the end Macedo managed to claim second place from Tatnell late in the race, with Madsen and Lines rounding out the top five.
It was an eventful night for many drivers, with Sutherland’s woes beginning on the opening lap where he came together with Luke Oldfield after a shunt from behind, but he continued on until a roll over brought his night to an abrupt halt.
Jake Tranter had a tough night, finishing 11th in the C Main Evens race.
From Thursday night’s King’s Challenge, through to night three of the Classic, the competition has been thick and fast, providing the perfect setting for the Australian Open Sprintcar title this week at the Borderline Speedway, which promises to be a spectacular three nights of racing.
