Steve Jordan scored an all-the-way win in the Super Sedan feature race at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway tonight, but not before surviving the boldest of challenges from Gary Pagel, whose charge into the runner-up position was a mighty effort. Having selected pole position in the Penrite Grid Draw, Jordan took full advantage of his good fortune to lead through myriad restarts and an early threat from Ian Brims before seeing off Pagel’s challenge through the latter stages of 35-lap event. When Brims banged the wall in the main straight with less than three laps to run, Mark O’Brien pounced to secure third spot in a race of high attrition.

Grant Shaw, who started alongside Jordan on the front row, finished in fourth place ahead of Paul Coleman, with Brims limping home sixth after spending all of the preceding laps locked in combat with Jordan and Pagel. Meanwhile, in his first race at home since winning his second Australian Championship, Matt Pascoe was the first casualty in the feature. Both Pascoe and Wayne Brims, who topped qualifying, accepted an offer from track promoter John Kelly to start from row five, only to find some of their rivals a little over-zealous in their efforts to keep them at bay. Making a bold outside swoop at the end of lap one, Pascoe found himself squeezed into the wall, with Brims joining him on the infield on lap six with a flat tyre.

Others who failed to go the distance included Sean Black, Jack Childs, Rodney Craft, Jon Taylor, Jason Campbell and Justin Randall.

The opening heat saw Pascoe settle in behind Black for a few laps before taking control and clearing away to win comfortably. Black remained in second spot, with Jordan finishing third.

Wayne Brims waited until the last possible moment before snatching victory in heat two, edging out Barry Craft by 0.042 seconds. Pagel finished in third spot.

Campbell won a stacked heat three, downing Wayne Brims, Ian Brims and Pascoe, with Jordan downing Pagel and Taylor in the final preliminary.

In the early laps of the feature race, Jordan was able to skip clear of the field, only to find his advantage negated at regular intervals by restarts. Further back aboard the only non-V8 in the field, Pagel was making headway towards the front at a rapid rate, charging around the outside to advance into third by lap 12. The following lap he rounded up Brims and looked set to sail into the lead, only to find Jordan counter the move by shifting up-track and finding the pace he needed to see off the challenge. Brims regained second on lap 17, only to succumb to Pagel once again on lap 23 following a final double row restart.

Matt Hardy seemed a certain winner of the AMCA Nationals feature event until he slowed suddenly on the final lap and handed the win to Tony Blanch. As Hardy backslid to finish seventh, Blanch pounced to secure his first feature win at Archerfield by a less than half a second over Northern Territory champion Nick Stubbs. Thomas Vickery finished third ahead of Jason Molle, Dean Ballard, Paul Reeves and the ailing Hardy, with Michael Mason, Stuart Hall and Luke Geraghty rounding out the top ten.

With his Australian Championship defence looming, Jamie McHugh served notice to those hoping to take the title from him, leading throughout to win the Modlite feature race. Terry Leerentveld finished in second spot ahead of Ben Walker, Shane Dorman and Anthony Stewart, with Tony Pascoe and Carlo Moiola the only other finishers. A family quinella looked likely through the first half of the race with Lachlan McHugh chasing his dad in second spot until contact between the pair saw Jamie spin and Lachlan ordered to the rear for the restart. Charging back through the field, Lachlan was unable to avoid the stricken Kevin Britten, the contact leaving both cars in a sorry state.

Other feature race winners on the night were Maddi McGee (Junior Sedans), Michael Taylor (Open Sedans), Dudley Ward (Stockcars) and Bernie Wright (Ford vs Holden vs Sigma sedans).

Sprintcars return to Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway next Saturday night for round 11 of the Supercheap Auto Track Championship, along with the Polar Ice Midget Series, Formula 500’s, Lightning Sprints, Wingless Sprints and Compact Speedcars.

Super Sedan feature race placegetters (l to r): Gary Pagel (2nd), Steve Jordan (1st), Mark O'Brien (3rd)