Eureka Series Top Three Left to Right - 2nd Grant Anderson - 1st Jamie Veal - 3rd Nick Lacey Photo by Dean Miller Photography
Veal Wins again at Heartland Raceway in Eureka Series R8
Author : Ian Vale
Jamie Veal takes another win in the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series at Heartland Raceway last night and takes over the Eureka Series points lead, a fast finishing Grant Anderson who fought his way through the field and had to battle with both Brett Milburn and Nick Lacey to get through into second place to try and catch Veal before taking a well deserved second place ahead of Nick Lacey who was in form all night long while Brett Milburn finished in fourth place less than a second from Lacey.
What a night it was at Heartland Raceway with mother nature throwing everything it had at the venue, heat, wind and rain but that did not stop a top night of racing right from the start to the finish with the rain arriving during the B main that worked in the favour of the A Main. Most of the A Main drivers would race up against the Heartland Raceway wall in a thrilling race and maybe our new infield interviewer the local chaplain Darryl Clarke brought us that little bit of luck for the night as well.
With plenty of good racing throughout the heats and finals it was a to be good night except for two drivers that were early casualties of the race meeting, the First driver to hit trouble was the current Eureka Garages and Sheds Series points leader Daniel Pestka who suffered an engine failure during hot laps. So it was back to the pits to change engines in the hope of making his first heat race, as the cars in Daniels heat formed the news came through the he was on his way after the engine change and ready to take his place at the front of the field. Daniel won the start in the V88 only for another engine failure to take him out for the night after leading the first lap, this was a major blow to the team and Daniel’s Eureka Series championship point lead.
Rod Matthews was next to exit the night after heavy contact with the turn one wall, while the drivers raced in a tight group for position going into turn one in Rods first heat race on lap one a few cars made contact sending Rod into the wall and out for the night.
The heat races were taken out by six different winners, heat five had many people’s attention when on the slick track young rookie driver Brayden Parr took his 360 powered machine to the lead and was looking good for a maiden win when Grant Anderson caught Parr three laps in, the pair race hard for two laps when a touch between the two drivers saw Anderson with a flat left fount tyre allowing Parr to hold the race lead for another three laps before a small mistake had the V71 spinning to a halt in turn four. Corey McCullagh would go on to win the heat from Grant Anderson who would accumulate enough points to be the top points score after all the heats races were completed.
The top six shootout was next event on the card and once again there were some major changes in the top six starting order that would see Grant Anderson fail to post a good time sending him from P1 to P6 starting place in the Eureka Garages and Sheds A Main event. Jamie Veal moved from position four to take P1 for the main event, so the top six order was set with Jamie Veal in P1, Nick Lacey P2, Dennis Jones P3, Ian Loudoun P4, Brett Milburn who also dropped back in the order from P5 and Grant Anderson now in P6. The next six qualifiers that would line up in the A main were Corey McCullagh, Peter Milnes, Michael Cunningham, Luke Walker, Jye Okeeffe, and Jamie Hennessy.
The mail had come through that rain was on its way so quick change to the program was made to try and get the B Main and A Main events in before the rain arrived.
The B main drivers quickly assemble and the race was underway, Tim Hutchins won the start only to drift high a couple of laps later which allowed Ashley Scott to take over the lead ahead of Eddie Lumber while Hutchins regained control of his machine to settle back into third place. With a couple of spins the drivers finally settled down only for the rain to hit as the drive completed lap eight. In an effort to try to prepare the A Main cars and have them ready when the rain stopped the B main was declared, Ashley Scott, Eddie Lumbar, Tim Hutchins, David McKay, Kristy Ellis and Adam King would transfer to the back of the A Main.
With the rain stopped and a short track preparation the SDAV Hot Rods came out to bring the track back into race condition with some wheel packing and then their feature race and they did great job to give the sprintcar drivers one of the best racing surfaces seen at Heartland Raceway.
Without wasting time with more rain possibly on is way the sprintcars were ready to go for the round eight Eureka Garages and Sheds Series A Main event. Jamie Veal won the start from Nick Lacey with Ian Loudoun slotting into third place but that would only last one lap when Loudoun slide into the turn three wall and rolled the V3 Essendon Ford machine to put him out of the race.
Back under way and Veal was gone, two laps later and he was starting to lap the tail end drivers while Nick Lacey had settled into a comfortable second place and Brett Milburn was now in third. Grant Anderson was working on Denies Jones lap after lap trying to take fourth place before eventually moving into fourth on lap ten.
Just over one third distance and Veal had lapped five drivers before the caution lights came on, Luke Walker was out with a mechanical issue. Assembled once again and the race was now on in earnest, the drivers were running the wall at Heartland and were still able to pass on the bottom if needed but the interest was now on the fast Grant Anderson who racing Milburn hard for third place over the next ten laps before taking the spot then setting his sights on Nick Lacey. Further back Corey McCullagh was trying to stay in touch with the leaders as well. Dennis Jones, Peter Milnes, Jye Okeeffe, Jamie Hennessy, and Micheal Cunningham were mixing up for the minor placing’s.
The real interest was back up front as Anderson was showing good speed but still had to deal with Nick Lacey for second place and a shot to try to run down Veal. With four to go Anderson was through to second but Veal was gone and had the lapped cars of McKay and Jones between himself and Anderson as the chequered flag flew for Jamie Veal to take the win and the lead in the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series. Grant Anderson took second ahead of Nick Lacey and Brett Milburn home in fourth, both these drivers were having their best run in the series for a while. Corey McCullagh had done a fine job to finish on the lead lap, rounding out the finisher were Dennis Jones, Peter Milnes, Jye Okeeffe, Jamie Hennessy who put a good performance on the night, this track has not been kind to Jamie in the past so a ninth place finish was a good result for him. Following Hennessy home was Michael Cunningham, Tim Hutchins, Eddie Lumbar, David Mckay and Kristy Ellis. A good night was had by all with some of the best racing seen at Heartland Raceway.
Rounds 9 & 10 the $5000 to win double header of the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series this weekend, the long weekend will see the Eureka Series action at Simpson Speedway Simpson on Saturday the 7th of March (R9) and the next night Sunday the 8th of March for round R10 at Premier Speedway Warrnambool.
Heat race wins on the night went to :) V17 Dennis Jones, V26 Nick Lacey, V37 Grant Anderson, V35 Jamie Veal, V90 Corey McCullagh, V68 Brett Milburn
Eureka Garages and Sheds Series nightly contingency awards: ELF RACING FUELS top point scorer – V37 Grant Anderson HOOSIER TIRE AUSTRALIA random draw between position 6th and 18th – 9th place – V21 Jamie Hennessy D&F RACING PRODUCTS hard luck of the night – V9 Rod Matthews CASCADE NATIONAL P/L 1st competitor not to transfer from B to A-Main – V71 Brayden Parr
End of Series awards: Eureka Garages & Sheds major sponsor of the Series overall prize money Poole. KTM Top Ten Motorbike award – Random draw at the Presentation Dinner. Camden Neon Signs – sponsors of the Series Prize Poole. Hoosier Tire Australia – sponsors of the Series Prize Poole. Essendon Ford Trip to Port Douglas award - for drivers finishing between 11th and 20th place in the Series. Random draw at the Presentation Dinner. METRIC MEN End of Series most heat wins – Overall (5wins each) V35 Jamie Veal ESSENDON MITSUBISHI most cars passed in A-Main on the night, (V37 Grant Anderson & T7 Tim Hutchins) (End of series award) cars passed Overall –V88 Daniel Pestka (18 cars) PARR MOTORSPORTS –Drivers Driver award as voted on by the drivers in the Series.
Eureka Garages and Sheds Series – KTM Top 10: 1st – Jamie Veal - 2401 2nd – Brett Milburn - 2237 3rd – Daniel Pestka - 2220 4th – Glen Sutherland - 1977 5th – Nick Lacey - 1949 6th – Rod Matthews - 1836 7th – Jye Okeeffe - 1809 8th – Eddie Lumbar – 1644 9th – Corey McCullagh - 1608 10th – David McKay - 1498
Essendon Ford – Trip to Port Douglas (End of Series random draw between 11th & 20th place) 11th – Jamie Hennessy - 1493 12th – Ashley Scott - 1468 13th – Michael Cunningham - 1448 14th – Adam King - 1435 15th – Luke Walker - 1432 16th – John Vogels - 1358 17th – Dennis Jones -1353 18th – Andy Caruana - 1345 19th – Steven Lines - 1325 20th – Kristy Ellis - 1316
The Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria thank the following Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series sponsors: EUREKA GARAGES & SHEDS, KTM AUSTRALIA, ESSENDON FORD, MD MOTORSPORT, HOOSIER TIRE AUSTRALIA, CAMDEN NEON SIGNS, PARR MOTORSPORTS, ESSENDON MITSUBISHI, CASCADE NATIONAL Pty Ltd, THE METRIC MEN, D&F RACING PRODUCTS, ELF RACING FUELS, COREY GIBSON PHOTOGRAPHY, MAXAM PRINTING, SPRINTCARWORLD.
Eureka Garages & Sheds www.eurekagarages.com.au KTM Australia www.ktm.com.au Essendon Ford www.essendonford.com.au Hoosier Tires Australia www.mdmotorsport.com.au Camden Neon Signs www.camdenneon.com.au Essendon Mitsubishi www.essendonmitsubishi.com.au Metric Men www.themetricmen.com.au Parr Motorsports www.parrmotorsports.com Elf Racing Methanol www.racefuels.com.au Corey Gibson Photography www.gibsonphotography.com.au Sprintcarworld www.sprintcarworld.com.au
.JPG)
