By Trevor Jackson
ANOTHER round of speedway has produced yet another podium finish for the Stark’s Sprintcar team out of Port MacDonnell.
With Daniel Pestka behind the wheel, the team managed a third place in the coveted Max’s Race at Warrnambool in a tough field.
Pestka finished behind winner James McFadden and second-placed Tate Frost, with Jamie Veal in fourth.
Once again Pestka was fast out of the box, with a second place in his opening heat, before fastest times in the bronze and silver pole shootouts.
In the gold shootout he was pipped by McFadden which placed him second on the grid for the A Main feature race.
Throughout the race Pestka was right at the pointy end, with few opportunities to pass McFadden.
However, a late caution saw him drop back to third on the restart where he eventually finished.
It is the fourth top-three finish for the Stark’s team from six races, with a win at Murray Bridge the highlight.
For crew chief James Stark this latest podium was an unexpected result against some tough opposition.
“It was pretty good to get a podium among some good calibre cars,” he said.
“It was the first night since the track had been resurfaced and our first podium at Warrnambool.
“We were first car out in qualifying so we were pioneers on the new surface and ended up third in qualifying.”
With the extra confidence which has come throughout the last two seasons together, Stark said it was all going well, especially leading up to Speedweek next week, then into the Classic week and the SRA Victorian series.
Stark said much of the success has come off a positive 2020-21 season.
“We have had a bit more time to work on a few little things in the off season,” he said.
“Daniel is getting more confident in himself now and I am getting more confident in what I am doing to benefit him.
“It seems to be every time we hit the track we are quick.
“Because we bounce confidence off each other, when everything is going good the confidence is right up between me and him.
“You are confident in the shots you are calling for him, he is confident in the shots you are making for him to drive the thing, so it all works hand in hand.
“It is the same in any team sport – when morale is up in the whole team, everything is good.”
It is that team aspect fans do not see but it is a major part of the success.
“Probably 90 per cent of it is won in the shed,” Stark said.
“There is a lot of preparation that goes on behind the scenes the general public don’t know about.
“I have probably lifted my game in the last couple of years which is showing.
“Previous to hooking up with Daniel I was down in the dumps a bit but now it has been the best decision ever.
“He was a bit the same to be honest, so it has worked out to be the best for both of us.”
With no aggregate points for the upcoming Speedweek series, Stark said the team intends to run the SRA Victorian series, which kicks off on Boxing Day at Avalon Speedway.
From there the team heads to Simpson Speedway, before the home track at the Borderline Speedway on December 28.
Then it is back to Avalon on December 29, before the Victorian Sprintcar title at Warrnambool on January 1.
“We do five nights in seven, so it is pretty well on the road all next week,” Stark said.
“We will try to race the whole SRA series for points and see how we end up.”
Stark said it was important to get a good start to the series to stay towards the pointy end of the field.
With the performances so far this season it appears that should not be an issue.
“I probably did not expect as many results as we have had this early in the season,” Stark said.
“The weekend at Warrnambool was a bit of a surprise but I have confidence we can do it now.
“Every time we rock up I put us top five.
“The other two races we have run we had a DNF and at Mount Gambier we had a drama in the heat race.
“Up until then we were in the hunt again, so we will see what happens from next week.
“Hopefully we can keep in the points in the Victorian series.”
