THE Mount Gambier wingless sprint pairing of Mitchell Broome and Kirby Hillyer have again impressed, with first and third places respectively at Simpson Speedway on Saturday night.
The two drivers competed in round three of the Victorian Super Series, with a tough night of racing and some luck along the way.
In the end it was the first Super Series win for Broome and his first victory at Simpson, while it was Kirby’s first podium at the track.
The results should push the two up to first and second respectively in the series once the official standings are released, showing how competitive the two are this season.
The pair set the pace early in the night, with a win in heat one to Hillyer, while Broome went from seventh up to second in heat two.
Hillyer’s next heat saw a fourth-placed finish, while Broome claimed a win to set up their run in the A Main feature race.
Broome started out of second place, while Hillyer was back in sixth, with several drivers on the same points after their heats were completed and fast laps used to decide the starting order.
A big slide at the end of the opening lap saw Broome drop back a few positions, but an early caution bunched the traffic back up.
He moved up to third off the restart and pushed on from there, while Hillyer had claimed fifth spot and was in a tough dice with two other drivers.
Broome eventually worked his way up to second place and began to close the gap on race leader Travis Millar.
As lapped traffic became a factor Millar was caught up in a spin and out of the race, handing Broome the front position for the restart.
However, a hard-charging Todd Hobson was right on his tail and did not give an inch.
Meanwhile Hillyer had moved up to fourth and inherited the final podium position after a mechanical drama ahead of him.
As the laps wound down Broome and Hobson swapped positions briefly as the latter chose to run underneath.
But Broome stuck to the high line which had served him well throughout the night and claimed the win after an exciting final few laps.
Kirby drove a smart race and greeted the chequered flag third.
Broome said it was pleasing to claim his first Super Series win at Simpson Speedway and was happy with the performance of the car overall.
However, he said he was lucky to remain at the front of the field after a near-spin early in the race.
“At the end of the first lap I tried to chuck a slider and hit the slick and it spun me around,” Broome said.
“I was lucky I even saved it.”
Once Millar had crashed out of contention, Broome said he was focused on remaining in front without any mistakes, despite a big challenge from Hobson.
“After the caution I led the next six laps without seeing Hobson,” he said.
“Then the last few laps he chucked a massive slide job on me and got past, but I was able to stay underneath and got back past him.
“I should have gone down and defended my line, but I kept into it and stayed at the top.
“I had only gone low a couple of times in the race and I did not want to spin it on the last lap because I decided to go low.”
Broome said it was pleasing to finally claim a win at Simpson Speedway, after previous podium finishes.
“I have come second there a couple of times, so it was good to go one better ,” he said.
But the result almost failed to come, with a structural issue forcing Broome to find a quick fix to make the feature race.
“We had trouble with the chassis tags and no one had a welder to fix it,” he said.
“Dad managed to fix it and we went out.
“We were in a mad rush before the race and only had a few minutes to set the car up.”
For Kirby it was also a pleasing result, but he certainly had to earn his position.
“At one stage there were three of us dicing for fourth place,” he said.
“There were people attacking me and I was trying to attack the person in front of me.
“There was a lot going on.”
Once Millar crashed out it provided a good chance to move up to third place, which came unexpectedly.
“The guy who was running third had engine troubles and pulled in so I moved up to third,” Kirby said.
“I was hoping for another caution to bunch back up to Mitch and Todd, but I just drove smart and knew I could hold on for third.
“I was running at the bottom in turn one for most of the race, but I went up high and the car was better, so I stayed up there and held on.”
The pair will now head to Warrnambool Saturday night to support the sprintcars and both hope to again return to the podium.
