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Pickens Through To A-Main |
Short story is he drove away from the field and with two laps of the 12 left he had a full straight lead on the second placed car. As he took the last corner he had caught a lapped car and it nearly cost him the race. Just managed to get it back on track and went on to win.
The next step was he then went into the Qualifiers Group off Grid 4. It is starting to get harder now, however there were still a number of cars around that could do something stupid. He went on to finish 3rd which placed him in the A main for the night off Grid 8. A number of the other top guys had had their share of drama, Darland had had a terrible run and had got hooked up in the average guys a couple of times. Bacon was not going anywhere, Bob East had had a better night and had ended up just behind Michael.
The A main was easy to follow, simply the top three finishers were going to transfer to the Main Event on Saturday. The race got underway and Michael spent less than 2 laps on the bottom and went to the top. He was in 5th place after 4 or so laps and then the top racing line started to work. He rounded up the field and with 10 laps to go he was in second. 5 to go and he took the lead, just as another car spun throwing the yellow. This had shown the car that Michael had just passed where he was running and on the re start he went to the top to cover his line. Two to go and Michael got by him and it was in the bag. Last corner and Michael's car hooked up and the other guy shot up the inside and the drag race to the line had Michael finish second by 2 or 3 feet. The crowd had really got in behind the KIWI team and they were cheering him on. Great race and a fantastic result.
So, we have one through to Saturday's main event and have a rest day for our team, Brad has his night coming up on Thursday. Great to have the opportunity to watch the track conditions change, the lines the guys run and the whole process as to what to do and what not to do: "Hard luck Award" goes to Jon Stanborough, he ended up in the same B Main as Darland off the back. He took all of the 14 laps to work his way to second spot, fantastic drive, coming off a yellow with one lap to go he took the green behind Darland, hit the cone on the start line and they immediately threw the yellow back on and he was sent to the rear for his sins. They don't muck about up here.
That's about it, will have more news for you soon.
Greg |
