Daniel Scott Racing has found his feet in Dirt Modified's this summer and a recent win at Simpson Speedway combined with the win of the 'Garden State Shield' over two nights including Simpson and Avalon Raceway has showed us all that Victoria has another driver that is equal to the national quality drivers that hope to challenge Peter Britten & Mark Robinson at the top of the tree in coming seasons.

In recent weeks Scott has raced at Rolling Thunder Raceway, Redline Raceway, Simpson and Avalon and results were consistent right the way through.

Beginning at RTR after finding a rag in the race car fuel tank causing fuel pressure issues during heat racing it finished with Scott beginning the # 91 in fourth place in the feature and finishing runner up to Daryl Hickson at the drop of the final flag. Using moisture on the bottom of the track Scott passed Aaron Trotter into turn one on the start and a couple laps later worked over Dave May and got past him up the inside onto the back straight.

A big wet patch in turn three and four and moisture on the pole all the way around the complete track whilst everything above that had slickened off caused drivers to think about their driving style as Scott explained. "You had to start to ease of half way down the straight to be careful not to gain too much speed because if you couldn’t turn it on the bottom the wall came up real quick. We went with a hard compound tyre for the final which was our down fall not having much for Hickson who just as we where catching him a yellow light was pulled. My tyre had just started to work and his was going away, in the end from a bad start to the night to second in feature was good result."

Next stop was Redline Raceway where three cars qualified equal pole position for the feature race including Scott after two real tough rear of the field starts in heat races.

Heat one was a very satisfying start for Scott as he past the faster guys in Victoria such as Steve Milthorpe, Daryl Hickson and Dave May to finish third before winning the next heat before having another awesome run in the final heat of the night passing five good cars from tenth position to finish fifth.

Scott finished third in the feature after making some pre-final changes that didn’t work for the team however taught them much about set ups.

Next up for Scott was the two night 'Garden State Shield' event at Simpson & Avalon Speedways.

The event began at Simpson first with DSR missing the set up in the first heat. Whilst Scott wasn’t happy with the car handling Scott admitted he got lucky and powered forward from tenth to fourth whilst others crashed out in front of him or made mistakes that let him move forward.

The Simpson venue is always tricky and when it is hooky at the tight end and slick at the flowing end all you could do was drive the wheels of your race machine because set up didn’t matter. Starting from outside pole Scott made the most of the draw and took a win and a new ten lap Dirt Modified track record at Simpson.

Starting fifth in his third heat Scott snaffled a second place result in a track that had slickened off much more around the venue with Sprintcars also running at the track the same night. Trevor Perry won this heat with Steve Milthorpe and Dave May tailing behind Scott. The result qualified Scott on pole for the final with Perry alongside, Scott Ellis next, Aaron Trotter, Millthorpe & May.

The # 91 race car felt awesome for Scott who was driving at about ninety percent and pulling away with a length of the straight lead before a yellow light halted his charge. Having chose a soft tyre compound Scott needed to be careful not to fry the rubber so he chose his track position carefully running through the middle of the tight 3 and 4 turn which allowed Perry a look in underneath for a possible dash to the lead that he just couldn’t make and Scott eventually pulled away to win his first feature in Dirt Modified racing.
Following up the win the team then raced the next night at Avalon again with the Sprintcars on the same program again.

With only two heats and a final at Avalon Scott began the race meeting two loose in the first heat and missed the set up in the final. Scott puts this down to amongst other things missing a valuable crew member for the night. "Lacking the extra crew member in the old man (Greg) was what made all the difference as I wasn’t able to watch the track and missed the setup in the final." shared Scott.

Scott started eleventh in the first heat and finished fourth and then run second in the in second heat qualifying third for the final. Perry, Mick Kiraly, Scott, Milthorpe, Trotter and Lloyd Hobson were the first six in order.

In the final Perry had a rough entry into turn one and with Scott trying to avoid him, the race car washed up towards the wall losing two spots. The car was way to tight however around the half way point running fourth the car came on before a fuel blockage caused the car to run out of fuel at the end of straights just as Scott was about to pull out he noticed Perry with flat tyre so Scott decided to continue knowing if he beat Perry he was in with chance of winning the two night event.

Scott was left wishing he had nailed the set up for the race track as it was super fast and going fast is what the sport is all about however he finished fourth after slowing to make sure the car got across the line.
Scott would like to thank especially Milthorpe Interstate Haulage for helping him out with an engine and Justin Drew, Chris Bradley and Greg Scott for helping during the weekend.

Next up was the Queensland Championship at Kingaroy where Scott time trialled down in 15th spot as he got used to the track and the right set up at the venue by the time of the heats he was right on the money. Starting 5th in his first heat he finished fourth behind Jai Stephenson the winner some 3.7 seconds back however setting the second fastest lap time of the heat.

Heat two and Scott finished second to Paul Booker from New South Wales once again setting the second fastest one lap time in the heat and only missing out on a win by .185 of a second after starting in third whilst a sixth place in the last heat where Scott set the fastest one lap time of the ten laps put Scott back in a 13th place start for the feature.

Thirty laps were run for the feature with Scott moving from 8th place on lap ten to 7th by lap nineteen and then fourth by lap twenty nine where he finished. Kevin Britten won from Andrew Pezzutti and Paul Booker with Scott wrapped with his fourth place against stiff competition. “We have never been here, we learnt quickly about the track, learnt more for set ups at tracks back home like Swan Hill. Thanks to all my crew and the support we got from the Queenslanders upon coming up here for the race. I look forward to doing at again.”

Daniel Scott Racings supporters Include:
Northern Solar Systems
Global Contracting
Wallan Self Serve Storage
Laffans Accident Repair Centre
Bomb Disposals Kilsyth
Lincoln Family Funerals
Pitman Trucks
Kouda Signs

Written by
Dean Thompson
Media Rep for Dan Scott Racing