A WARRNAMBOOL motorsport competitor has shown he is the one to beat after completing a successful speedway season.
His maiden feature race win at Swan Hill’s Sonic Speedway last Saturday night is not his only impressive race with a string of placings over the years.
Jake Hose recently teamed up with the Mount Gambier-based Mansell Motorsport team in his third season with the class and could not have been happier to deliver the team a victory in only his third race meeting aboard the Jettco R6 powered SA #12 car, particularly with the Victorian Stampede Series round offering double points.
Heading into the feature race third highest on points, after finishing fourth and third in his two heat races on the night, Hose was elevated to the outside of the front row when highest point scorer Josh Buckingham chose to invert the top two rows.
Knowing the Mansell Motorsport car had the pace to get the jump off the starting line, that’s exactly what Hose did, seizing control of the lead and holding on to it for non-stop 15-lap distance to claim a comfortable win.
“I was absolutely rapt to come away with my very first feature-race win,” he said.
“Especially after all the Mansell Motorsport team have done for me, particularly with Darren and Jordan (Mansell) being at the track supporting me.
“I have to say a huge thanks to them for giving me the opportunity to race their car and then go on to claim my first podium finish and then later my first win.”
Having been involved with speedway from an early age, Hose began his racing career in go karts, where he spent three years enjoying a competitive run, before deciding to make the move into speedway for the 2015-16 season, running an RTS Chassis during his debut while coming to grips with the transition from asphalt to dirt.
Purchasing a Pace Chassis at the start of last season, the 28-year-old driver made a lot of gains throughout the year, with his focus being on the annual Speedweek Series over the Christmas to New Year period.
In this time he displayed good pace and gained a lot of valuable seat time.
Improving even further in this season’s Speedweek, Hose qualified for every feature race and was sitting 11th in points heading into the final round.
However, after transferring into the feature race from the back of the B main, his Speedweek campaign prematurely ended with a DNF and he ended up finishing 15th in the final overall point standings.
Recently selling his own race car due to family commitments, Hose was offered the opportunity to fill the driver’s seat in the Mansell Motorsport car, with his first hit-out resulting in a pleasing second-place finish at Ballarat’s Redline Raceway, which was his maiden podium result before last Saturday night’s win.
Off the back of this victory, Hose is currently sitting well within the top five in the Victorian Stampede Series point standings and he hopes to be able to continue this form and consolidate his position in the remaining two rounds.
These rounds will see a meeting at Laang Speedway on April 28, followed by Horsham’s Blue Ribbon Raceway on May 5.
Hose would like to give special thanks to Darren, Caryl and Jordan Mansell, his fiancee Amy, and his father-in-law Phil for supporting him on his journey.
To find out more about Hose and the Mansell Motorsport team, find them on Facebook by searching Mansell Motorsport.
