Darren Kane stormed to his third feature race win in as many nights at Toowoomba Speedway on New Year’s Eve (Saturday, December 31) when he took out round three of the inaugural Super Sedan Summer Slam. In a perfect end to the year, Kane led every circulation in the 40-lap feature and now has a chance to clean sweep all four tour events if he can also win the final round at Kingaroy Speedway.

There was a sense of familiarity amongst the first five placegetters, with Ryan Alexander continuing to improve his result in each round, securing second spot on this occasion. Likewise, Matthew Williams has improved with each outing and was able to climb onto the podium in this instance with a third-place finish. Having struggled to make much impression in the opening two rounds, Michael Nicola bounced back to annex fourth ahead of Matt Pascoe, whose fifth place finish follows runner-up results in the opening two shows.

A 28-car fronted for competition with the only change to the field from the previous evening coming via the inclusion of John Sheehan to replace Dempsie Pails. Each driver would contest three heat races, with the top eight qualifiers taking part in the Pole Shootout to determine the starters in the 40 lap feature race presented by Ian Boettcher Race Parts.

In his first race on the Toowoomba circuit in a Super Sedan, Alexander took out the opening heat, leading home Leigh Williams and Jason Campbell to get things underway.

Heat two saw Matt Williams first home ahead of Michael Nicola and hometown hope Sean Black, while it was fourth-placed Wayne Dick who cut the quickest lap of the race.

Kane cruised home to win heat three by a substantial margin, with Steve Jordan also untroubled in second spot. Brendan Doyle snared third place in a very close result over Mick Sauer.

Heat four saw SSA Development Series champion Bob McCosker find the fastest way to the chequer, winning in advance of Dick and Sauer.

Heat five produced another win for Kane, this time over Black and Alexander, while heat six went to Campbell from Pascoe and Matt Williams.

Campbell clinched another crucial win in heat seven, leading Lachlan Onley and Kane to the line.

Leigh Williams joined the winners list in the penultimate heat, prevailing over Robert Carrig and the consistent Sauer.

The final heat of the night saw Alexander annexe maximum points, outgunning Gavin Northfield and Pascoe.

The Rockhampton-based duo of Doyle and Glenn Boulter filled the top two spots respectively in the B Main, taking Mark Towers, Darren Anning and Justin Randall with them in transferring to the feature race while Jack Childs found himself just one spot shy of a feature race start for the second time in as many rounds.

As he did the previous night, Sauer advanced from the Bronze round of the Pole Shootout through to the Gold showdown, taking Pascoe with him as they downed Matt Williams, Black, Leigh Williams and Alexander to earn a shot at securing pole position against Kane and Campbell. It was Kane who proved too quick in the final showdown though, a reversal of the round three result putting Pascoe in second spot ahead of Sauer, who would subsequently take no part in the feature.

From the drop of the green to the unfurling of the chequer, Kane was not headed as he raced away to score a remarkable third feature race win in as many nights on three distinctly different race tracks. Alexander wasted no time in finding his way past Pascoe to secure second spot and, from that point, he remained firmly in possession of the runner-up trophy. With less than five laps completed, Pascoe had dropped to fourth as Matt Williams also moved ahead and cleared away to finish third. The only other change amongst the top five came when Nicola advanced to fourth with less more than 20 laps still to run. Pascoe had to settle for fifth ahead of Campbell and Onley, who was the biggest mover through the field after starting 13th. Steve Jordan finished eighth and McCosker nabbed ninth as the last car on the lead lap, with Leigh Williams, Randall, Carrig, Musch, Black and Dick the best of the rest. Completing the finishers were Doyle, Anning, Boulter and Towers, with Northfield the only retiree.

The 2016/2017 Super Sedan Summer Slam is proudly supported by:

Super Sedan Association
Ian Boettcher Race Parts
Ford Wreckers Redcliffe
Think Money
Tania’s T’s
Speedway Sedans Queensland
Speedway Sedans Australia
Speedway Australia