By Trevor Jackson
AFTER a big weekend of racing, Queensland state champion Aidan Rigby was crowned the 2023 SSA National Junior Sedan Champion at the Borderline Speedway.
Rigby set the scene on Friday night, with an unbeaten run through the heats to show his real pace.
He continued that on Saturday in the heat night, after a scorching day, which was multiplied by the 77 competitors who nominated for the national title.
However, he did not have it all his own way, with an entertaining battle with Western Australian champion Beau Oldfield.
Not only that, engine troubles in his final heat saw Rigby needing an engine change before lining up on pole position for the A Main final.
Oldfield started alongside Rigby and claimed the lead from the start, as the final ran smoothly for the first half.
Rigby then claimed the lead and had to hold off Oldfield, with lapped traffic playing a major role and almost upsetting the Queenslander’s hopes of the national crown.
Oldfield pushed right to the final laps, but a late restart favoured Rigby and he went on to claim the national honours.
Rigby greeted the chequered flag half-a-second ahead of Oldfield and Western Australian Zach Munro.
Along the way Rigby also claimed the fastest lap, with a hot time of 16.761 seconds.
The event began in earnest on Friday night, after Thursday night’s practice runs.
Friday included the SA Speedcar Title, which provided plenty of fast and furious action between heats of the Junior Sedans.
Western Australian Tom Payet claimed the title, ahead of Victorians Travis Mills and Mick Parker.
However, it was the young sedan drivers everyone came to see and they did not disappoint.
The pace was hot across the weekend, with bumper-to-bumper racing showing the skills of the Juniors.
Restarts were common as drivers jockeyed for position, with panel damage building as the weekend unfolded.
The A Main certainly turned it on Saturday night, with a good display of skills worthy of a national title.
Street Stocks joined the Juniors on Saturday night to add to the weekend of racing.
National Junior Sedan Title results: Q28 Aidan Rigby, W84 Beau Oldfield, W138 Zach Munro, V48 Linken Paterson, Q11 Kurtis Peall, Q12 Brodie Hollyman, W29 Hunter Downs, V47 River Paterson, V18 Miller Throckmorton, V4 Jayden Lock, N23 Harry Fowler, Q27 Cooper Flynn, VA51 Kiarna Barton, S46 Lucas Warnett, N51 Jaiden Santin.
DNF: V10 Bree Simpson (22 laps), VA14 Cameron Smith (22), Q2 Billy Macdonald (20), Q7 Jayden Hancock (18), WA22 Zak Turner (18), V35 James Oliver (15), W3 Donny Davis (10).
Winning Margin: 0.510; Fastest Lap: 16.761s, Q28 Aidan Rigby.
