Pictures: SNAPPERIFIC PHOTOGRAPHY
IT could not have been scripted any better for Brooke Tatnell driving the Scott Motorsport sprintcar at Borderline Speedway on Saturday night.
Competing in round two of the World Series Sprintcar season, Tatnell was on the pace all night to win the A Main event and bounce back from a rocky start to his 2019-20 campaign, which started in Murray Bridge over two nights for round one.
After qualifying 14th out of the field of 39, Tatnell started heat two from sixth, but worked his way up to second before the race was out.
He was followed by Mount Gambier’s Steven Lines, who started out of fourth for a third-place finish.
A sixth-place result in heat four dampened the momentum somewhat for Tatnell, but he made up positions in the shootout.
He won the bronze dash and finished second in the silver, before a fourth in the gold shootout booked a place on the second row of the grid.
As is often the case, the feature race had its share of drama and an incident on turn three between Mount Gambier’s Glen Sutherland, Ricky Maiolo and Jye O’Keeffe reduced the field to 17 after one lap.
Jock Goodyer was on the pace early in the 35-lap feature and he quickly built a gap from the field on the restart, while Tatnell jumped James McFadden and Kerry Madsen to hold second.
However, Goodyer’s attempt for a maiden WSS win was brought to a swift end, as he was faced with a wall of three cars which crashed at the back of the field on lap three, putting him out of the race.
That left Tatnell in the box seat and after resisting McFadden’s attempts to steal the lead, he eventually stormed home for his sixth career WSS win at Mount Gambier.
Lines finished his night with a fifth place in the B Main.
At Murray Bridge in the opening round of WSS and the first two nights of Speedweek, Tatnell placed 14th in the preliminary night feature on Boxing Day, after he ran over debris and sustained tire damage which ended his race early.
It was a disappointing outcome after strong results in heat one and two, where he finished first and fourth respectively.
Backing up at the venue on Friday, Tatnell appeared in a good place in his heats, with first and second place finishes.
He then won the bronze pole shootout, but ran wide in the silver shootout and tagged the wall, flipping the car in the process.
That left him to a sixth-place start in the A Main and after a frantic effort to repair the car, Tatnell took to the grid and held his position to pass the chequered flag in sixth.
Lines started the A Main on the second row of the grid in third, but dropped two places throughout the feature race to finish just ahead of Tatnell in fifth and replicate his result from night one in a consistent performance.
South Australian Luke Dillon claimed the preliminary A Main win at Murray Bridge, while Brock Hallett was an emphatic winner on night two, taking home the $20,000 cash prize in his maiden WSS victory.
Heading into round three at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway on Sunday, Tatnell sat third in the WSS standings, while Lines was also inside the top 10 in eighth.
But it was far from the ideal event for both drivers, with a roll in qualifying from Tatnell requiring more swift repairs, but he was able to return to the track.
Lines was not so lucky and his night was brought to an end in the first heat.
Fellow South Australian Jake Tranter touched the wall and tangled with last season’s champion, which saw Lines roll and left his car out of action for the remainder of the night.
Tatnell’s incident put him on the backfoot early and he had to fight his way through the C Main, which he won, before settling for an 11th-place finish in the B Main.
That dropped him to fifth in the championship, while Lines suffered a heavy drop in position to reside in 14th after the round.
McFaden claimed the A Main honours on Sunday, with Madsen in second, which sees the latter lead the season standings over the former, while Cory Eliason – who finished third on Sunday – rounded out the top-three drivers heading into last night’s fourth round.
The WSS headed to Avalon Raceway last night for day five of Speedweek, while drivers compete at Geelong tonight.
The final Speedweek event will be held tomorrow back at Warrnambool.
