After being sidelined by mechanical failure seven days earlier whilst in a winning position, there was no stopping James McFadden at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway last night (April 18) as he raced to victory in the first completed round of the East Coast Logistics Crispy Memorial Series. Starting from the outside front row, McFadden led every lap of the 30-lap feature event in an emphatic display.

Bouncing back from his spectacular crash last weekend, Andrew Scheuerle was his usual solid self in advancing from position six to finish in second spot ahead of North Queensland young gun Brent Aprile. Bryan Mann filled fourth ahead of Brent Krtazmann, who was no doubt pleased to finish inside the top five after a recent run of bad luck, but was perhaps hoping for an even better result given his efforts in qualifying. Kevin Titman was solid in sixth without making much impression on the leaders, with Jamie Bricknell, Mitchell Gee, Darren Jensen and Paul Morris rounding out the top ten.

Australian champion Dave Murcott crashed out early in the feature event on a night when several others made spectacular exits, none more so Dave Fanning’s wild ride through turn one from which he somehow emerged unscathed. Others to strike trouble over the course of the night included Mick Sauer, Richard Morgan, Ben Hilder and Jason Bottin.

Thirty cars fronted for competition and it was Kratzmann who topped time trials with a sensational lap of 12.043 seconds on a heavy track. Peter Lack was next quickest ahead of Steve Rowell and Bricknell, with Consol Racing teammates Mitchell Gee and Brandon Rawlings completing the top six in advance of Bottin, Morgan, Jensen and McFadden.

The opening heat of the night saw Aprile lead Melissa Boyes and an impressive Bottin to the chequer, with Scheuerle snaring heat two in advance of Titman and Morgan.

Mann outpaced McFadden in Jensen in heat three and then backed up to win heat four over Morgan and Murcott.

McFadden downed Aprile and Andrew Liebke in heat five before Titman wrapped up qualifying with a win over Dan Moes and Bricknell in the final heat.

For the Lucas Oils Dash, which brought together each of the heat winners and the next top pointscorers overall, top qualifier Kratzmann inverted the first six positions, bumping Aprile up to pole position for the 6-lap sprint. Taking full advantage of his good fortune, Aprile raced away to defeat McFadden, Mann, Kratzmann, Morgan, Scheuerle, Titman and Bricknell.

The East Coast Logistics B Main was an incident-packed affair that saw Murcott prevail by more than four seconds over Gee, while Boyes and Morris grabbed the final transfer berths.

The first attempt to get the feature underway saw Aprile’s launch into a wheelstand which allowed McFadden to zoom clear, only for a restart to halt proceedings before a lap was completed. Whilst Aprile was much sharper away at the second attempt and led momentarily, McFadden charged around the outside through turn two to grab the lead and set forth on his drive to victory. Aprile stayed in contact for a while but ultimately succumbed to Scheuerle as the laps wound down. Retirements aside, the order remained fairly static throughout, despite the best efforts of Jensen in his determination to move forward on the highline, a tactic that paid off initially before he lost several spots in the latter stages of the event. Murcott exited on lap 2 and with Rawlings, Rowell, Morgan and Moes also failing to go the distance, Lack, Liebke and Boyes completed the finishers.

In the Polar Ice Midget Series, Troy Ware put in sensational drive to win the 20-lap feature race after a very spirited scrap for the lead with series leader Michael Harders and defending series champion Michael Kendall. In finishing second, Harders extended his series points advantage, while Kendall had to work hard in securing third spot, having been shuffled back to fifth at one stage as Ken Stanaway and Brock Dean made their bid for a place on the podium. Both Dean and Stanaway dropped off the pace as the laps wound down, the latter bringing the race to a premature end when he tipped over in turn one with just two laps left to run. Scott Wilson finished fourth ahead of Mark George and Brett Foreman, with Dean the final finisher.

Heat winners were Kendall, Dean, Stanaway and Matt Hefford.

Charlie Brown outgunned the field in a scrappy Tyrepower Formula 500 feature race, leading home Scott Farmer, Bryn Upshall, Broke Wanless and new Queensland champ Kaydon Iverson. Rookie Ryan McNamara and Adrian Farrell were the only others still circulating at the chequer, with series leader Kristin Brown amongst those on the infield.

Wayne Corbett was excellent in the Compact Speedcar feature race, chasing down Australian champ Darren Vine on his way to a good win. Vine held on to second spot in front of Rob Stewart, Dave Collins and Dave Swan.

The Wingless Sprint feature went to Adam Butler over Brant Chandler, Mitch Gowland, Neil Howard and Jeff Peacock.

Next Saturday night (April 25) Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway is dishing up a sedan-flavoured menu of speedway action with Super Sedans, Late Models, Open Sedans and Junior Sedans on the program. 360 Sprintcars will also feature, along with Ford versus Holden versus Sigma sedans.