Victoria’s Jamie Veal prevailed in the 25-lap Preliminary A-Main at Archerfield Speedway on Friday night (June 2), the penultimate Sprintcar feature event to be staged at the Brisbane venue. Gifted a pole position start in the main event courtesy of two front row launches in his heat races, Veal led every lap of a rough and tumble affair in which a combination of form and good fortune carried Aaron Kelly to a second-place finish after qualifying through the B Main. Third home was Sydney’s Michael Stewart, with Robbie Farr fourth to the flag ahead of Tim Farrell, an ailing Luke Oldfield and GAC champion Brock Hallett, who was running in second spot through the early going before he sent Jock Goodyer crashing out and then resumed from the rear following a tyre change. Supercar gun Cameron Waters enjoyed a solid Archerfield debut to finish eighth, leaving SA’s Lachlan McDonough and another Sydneysider in Sam Walsh to round out the top ten.

Despite being the 52nd of 58 cars to hit the track for time trial qualifying, Luke Oldfield would not be denied and clocked a blistering best lap of 11.493 to top the timesheets. Tim Farrell (11.633) was second quickest overall, followed by Waters (11.648), Goodyer (11.691) and Taylor Prosser (11.722), with Jy Corbet, Hallett, Andrew Corbet, Veal and McDonough rounded out the top ten. However, with drivers seeded into their heat groups prior to taking on the clock and the fastest within each group to score maximum points, it would be Oldfield, Waters, Farrell, Prosser and Andrew Corbet heading into the heats as equal leaders.

Dan Murray led throughout the opening heat, holding on to win over a fast finishing Hallett, whose best lap was half a second better than anybody else in his surge from the fourth row, with Kye Jensen collecting third.

Harry Stewart looked on track to win heat two, only to falter exiting turn on lap eight and get swamped by the field, ultimately heading infield with a lap to run as Kelly grabbed the win over Kevin Titman and Goodyer.

Mark Pholi downed Charles Hunter and Ryan Newton to win three, while Ben Atkinson bested Farr and Randy Morgan in heat four, during which Kevin Britten became the first to get upside down when he wiped out in turn two.

When Tyler Stralow spun in turn four on the opening lap of heat five, Adam Butler found himself unable to avoid contact and with Stralow out and Butler banished to the back, Stewart found himself on pole beside Will Carroll with Veal, who was originally slated to start from row four, promoted to the pole slot when Stewart was deemed to have jumped the start. Obviously, Veal was untroubled from the front and led all the way to defeat Carroll and Kaydon Iverson, with Stewart falling to fourth.

Hallett chased down Waters to win heat six, with Caunt third, while heat seven went to Goodyer over Titman and Farrell.

A great scrap for the lead between Prosser and Newton in heat eight ended unhappily for both parties when, with neither youngster prepared to cede any territory, contact in turn three sent both cars upside down and handed the win to Walsh over Brent Kratzmann and Trent Vardy.

Andrew Corbet looked on track for a win in heat nine, only to lose his way over the final few laps and fall behind Farr and Randy Morgan.

Veal was on the front row again for the final heat but he was blown away by Oldfield, who would clear away to win comfortably. Veal remained second for the duration, with Stewart grabbing third.

Kelly was untroubled in leading throughout the preliminary B Main, with Caunt likewise untroubled in securing second spot. As is always the case, the action centred on the fight for the final spots on the feature race grid. Having again proven the best of the Formula 500 alumni to this point, Iverson threw away third spot when he hit the wall along the main straight, grinding to a halt and exiting the contest, elevating McDonough into third. Having advanced from row six, Jy Corbet looked to have the final transfer spot secured, only to find himself relegated on the final lap by Newton, who had come from even further back. Darren Jensen, Liam Williams, Pholi, Cody O’Connell and Hunter completed the top ten ahead of Atkinson and the rest.

Whilst the heats were relatively devoid of drama, the same could not be said for the 25-lap preliminary feature race, which would see Veal and Goodyer sharing the front row ahead of Hallet and Oldfield, with Farr and Titman on row three. Walsh and Farrell were next on the grid, followed by Waters, Kratzmann, Menz, Morgan, Stewart, Andrew Corbet and the B Main brigade. The first incident came before the field had even reached turn one with Waters spinning to a halt to regroup the field and consign himself to the back of the pack for the restart. Veal got the best of the start to lead Hallet, Goodyer and Oldfield, with this order unchanged when another restart was called on lap four to enable a stricken Titman to safely reach the infield. It was just three laps into the resumption when Hallet forgot to turn left into turn three, sending Goodyer on an end-for-end ride into retirement from the contest. Hallet would resume from the rear after changing a right-front tyre, with Oldfield now second behind Veal, with Kelly having already surged to seventh behind Farr, Kratzmann, Morgan and Farrell. A moment in turn two on lap nine involving Corbet and Newton saw the latter tip over for the second time and it was just one lap into the subsequent restart when Kratzmann nudged the main straight wall and rebounded into the path of Morgan, with both cars spearing to the infield and out of the race. At the restart, an aggressive move from Farr saw him snatch second spot when he forced Oldfield wide through turn two, with another interruption coming on the next lap courtesy of Corbet crashing out in turn three. Immediately after the restart, which was delayed momentarily when Caunt decided to park on the main straight, Oldfield reclaimed second from Farr, with Kelly now fourth ahead of Stewart and Farrell. Veal maintained the lead throughout the remaining laps as Oldfield struck trouble and dropped off the pace, enabling Kelly to move into second spot on lap 21, having rounded up Farr a couple of laps earlier in a terrific drive. Farr would fall another spot on the final lap with Stewart surging into third, with Farrell, Oldfield, Hallet, Waters and McDonough next in line ahead of the only other survivors in Walsh and Menz, both of whom finished a lap in arrears.

The Petzyo Development Sprintcars contested three heats with Noah Ball winning the opener ahead of Thomas Clarendon-Blair and Ron Hendrickson before Anthony Vanderreyden took the next two, the first of which saw him round up Jared Desmares in the final turn, with Libby Ellis third. The final heat saw Jason Rae and Hendrickson fill the minor placings.

The final round of the Shock Absorber Therapy AMCA Nationals Track Championship delivered another dose of the excellent racing that they have served up all season. Lee McKinnell certainly made the final ever Archerfield AMCA outing his own, winning both of his heats before also clinching the feature race.

The opening heat was a family affair with Lee McKinnell leading his father Shane to the chequer, with Tony Blanch home third.

Heat two saw Steve Price prevail in advance of Kevin Stow and Graeme Holland, with Lee McKinnell outpacing Steve Potts and Maverick Dack in heat three.

The final heat of the night and for all time went the way of Tomkins over Bruce Marshall, who had an otherwise miserable night, with Shane McKinnell third.

The 20-lap feature race was all Lee McKinnell as he led throughout to etch his name in the history books as the last ever AMCA Nationals feature winner. The race for the minor placings was a ripper with Price making every effort to keep Tomkins at bay. Running the outside where real racers reside, Tomkins rounded up Price to grab second with a lap to run, leaving Price third at the flag. A little further back were McKinnell Snr, Blanch and Potts, with Paul Reeves next best. Michael Denning, Holland and Scott Hitchcock completed the top ten ahead of Dack and Peter Greer.

As has been the case all season, the Thomsen brothers dominated the Wingless Sprint events with a heat win apiece before proving a class above the field in the 50-lap feature race. It was Brodie who emerged the superior sibling on this occasion, wresting the feature race lead from Mark Blyton on lap 10 and clearing away. Having moved into second spot on lap 24, Scott chased down his brother as the laps wound down and, whilst he was able to draw alongside on a couple of occasions, Brodie defended his position each time and held firm to take the race. Sydney’s Jason Bates finished in third spot ahead of New South Wales champion Jacob Jolley, who waited until lap 35 before breaking free of the pack and setting out after the leaders. With Jolley needing a restart to be any chance of pushing for a podium result, his teammate Jacob Waller duly obliged when he parked the steaming #36 in turn four with 16 laps remaining, which was ultimately to no avail though as Jolley was unable to usurp Bates. Tim Harris scored a heat win and would wind up fifth in the feature ahead of Michael Butcher and Tom Robertson, who was also a heat winner on the night. Blyton had backslid to eighth by races end and was followed home by Casey O’Connell, Chris Catchpole, Matt Gamble and Robert Mazzer

Wayne Kirkman faced no resistance in leading throughout to win the final Open Sedan A feature race, with Robin Bains and Colin Morris filling the minor placings as the only other finishers. The B division was a completely different story though, with Ben Harris somehow stealing victory in the final after looking an outside chance at best for a podium result heading into the final lap. Michael Cheeseman led the pack through the early laps before Matthew Hannigan moved ahead on lap nine. Cheeseman went back to the front on lap 12 and was still leading at the commencement of the last of 15 laps, with Neil Crawford now in second spot ahead of Hannigan and Harris. Through turn four for the final time, Hannigan rounded up Crawford and was looking to sweep into the lead, only for Cheeseman to shift up-track to block the pass. Crawford dived low and looked as though he was going to grab the win, only for Harris to squeeze between Cheeseman and Crawford for what seemed such an unlikely result just a lap earlier. Crawford finished second with Cheeseman third ahead of Ronnie Young and the luckless Hannigan. Next best were Chris Blackburn and George Twin, with Declan Brownsey, Kyle Rolands and Shane Wright the remainder of the top ten.

Racing continues tonight (June 3) at Archerfield Speedway for the last time ever with the remaining Sprintcar qualifying heats and the $15 000-to-win Last Race feature over 50 laps, presented by East Coast Logistics, plus the Midget 50-lapper and Modlites as well.