Anthony Beare has successfully defended his King of the Mount crown, after winning the event on Sunday night at the Redline Raceway, Ballarat.

In a spectacular race, at the venue which hosted the biggest ever Speedway event in 2016, the drivers continually ran three wide in the unique race, which sees the race halted at the half way mark, to be re-started in the opposite direction.

The first stanza of the race went without a stoppage, with Anthony Beare leading Mark Jennings and Brad McClure. Daryl Atkinson was fourth for the first nine laps before being passed by Darren Giacometti. Daniel Drewett, who qualified via the B Main, also made great progress before the stoppage, moving to tenth place.

The second half of the race would see Brad McClure get a horror start, dropping back to seventh place as Jennings started to really apply the pressure to the un-flappable Beare. The margin for five consecutive laps never was greater than 0.183, as the two National Champions put on a classic race.

With thirteen laps to go, a stoppage occurred for Brad McClure and two laps later as Darren Giacometti retired. Lenny Bates who was fourth at the stoppage was sent to the rear of the field, as the battle continued for the lead. Daryl Atkinson remained third, while Corey Sandow had moved to fourth, with Daniel Drewett continuing his amazing run through the field, moving to fifth.

In the concluding stages, Beare opened a lead over Jennings, driving his way to back to back King of the Mountain crowns. Jennings would ultimately be second for all forty laps, finishing ahead of Atkinson, Sandow and Drewett.

For Beare, his last three outings have secured him a National Title, State Title and the King of the Mount, his seventh Feature win of the season.

RESULT
A Main, 40 Laps: 1. S46 Anthony Beare, 2. S21 Mark Jennings, 3. RDL37 Daryl Atkinson, 4. MDA22 Corey Sandow, 5. L11 Daniel Drewett, 6. B23 Shaun Henry, 7. B61 Dale Blomeley, 8. AX74 Lenny Bates, 9. S67 Corey Knox, 10. AX14 Megan Forrest, 11. C83 David Barrie (39 laps), 12. RDL13 Andrew Burgoyne (39), 13. RDL12 Darren Giacometti (29), 14. RDL27 Jason Degoldi (28), 15. AX81 Dylan Campton (28), 16. RDL24 Brad McClure, 17. B48 Mick Clark (27), 18. AX41 Darren Forrest (27), 19. RDL38 Scott Purdie (25), 20. AX89 Andrew Jordan (21), 21. RDL63 Jayden Edwards (15), 22. GV82 Shane Roycroft (6). Time: No Time, Winning Margin: 3.225, Fastest Lap: 16.979 S46 Anthony Beare

Photo courtesy of Linda Savage