WSS: Adealide report

Close Racing, Crashes and a Career First

>From the World Series Sprintcars web-site - http://www.racefan.net.au/wss/

(Adelaide, SA - Dec 6, 1996)..... An action-packed night of eventful racing produced a career-first World Series Sprintcars A-Feature win for 26-year old local Adelaide driver Trevor Green who staved off the race-long pursuit by new point standings leader Skip Jackson at Speedway City's Round 4 of the 14-race national series. Green, who won pole position for the 30-lap event by capturing the Goodyear Eagle Dash, was beaten into the first turn by national champion Todd Wanless only for the Queenslander to slide wide and drop to ninth nearing the end of the opening lap.

Thereafter Green resisted all efforts from Jackson's Gibson Freight/Skilled-Gambler to score a four car-length, career first win which he described as, "the biggest win of my life, it is fantastic for us." Green's elder brother Darryl - crew member of the World of Outlaws team of Ohio star Jac Haudenschild - was equally pleased with the win in their BOC Gases/Green Welding/Road & Track Services-J&J. A former South Australian state speedcar champion, Trevor explained, "I knew Skip was there as I had to be 'on the tap' the whole way. It is a huge night but the track owed us this one after we broke last season leading the State title."

Auto Action Fast Time winner Jackson was complimentary about Green's winning drive ("He did a great job"), saying, "We didn't do anything special in the heats but changed the car for the Dash. We tightened it up but not enough as it was a little loose in the feature." Consistent American Danny Smith ran third ("We weren't fast enough to do anything about those ahead so rode around for points in third") while another local, Mark Reuter, held off the fast-finishing but frustrated Wanless for fourth. The remainder of the top ten were completed by Brad Heywood, B-Feature winner Nathan MacDonald, David Anderson, Bunbury's Darryl Krikke and first round winner and former point leader Max Dumesny.

The latter only made the 16-car field as a reserve due to the misfortune of Andrew Scheuerle (differential) while the first attempt at a start produced a crash which almost claimed Garry Rush and Brooke Tatnell who had to come to a standstill when Krikke spun in front of them. Rush eventually limped home 11th while reigning WSS champion Tatnell became an early retirement after dropping a cylinder when the tip of a spark plug broke off. Dash contestants Barry Lawrence (broken universal on the FAI-J&J) and Phil March (overturning the Les March Autos-Maxim) also were feature race retirements.

Heywood completed the entire event without brakes courtesy of a broken calliper while his younger (16-year old) team mate Joel Knott ran 12th in making his first WSS A-Feature. Several incidents enlivened the racing for the sizeable crowd who endured freezing weather to watch Tony Bartlett, Colin Bulmer, Kalgoorlie's Scott Milling and Scheuerle all crash heavily during the preliminary heat racing.

Straight after tonight's action the teams packed up and headed off on an overnight seven-hour drive from Adelaide to south-western Victoria where Warrnambool's Premier Speedway hosts Round 5 of the series tomorrow (Saturday, December 7).

1996/97 WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 4 Speedway City, Adelaide, SA - December 6, 1996

TIME TRIALS : 1. Skip Jackson (NSW #7) 14.023s, 2. Dave McFadden (NT #77) 14.043s, 3. Barry Lawrence (QLD #28) 14.076s, 4. Todd Wanless (AUS #1) 14.140s, 5. Trevor Green (SA #4) 14.199s, 6. Andrew Scheuerle (QLD #95) 14.272s, 7. Garry Rush (NSW #2) 14.300s, 8. Phil March (SA #3) 14.382s, 9. Joel Knott (NSW #44) 14.391s, 10. Alan Haynes (WA #66) 14.403s, 11. Nathan MacDonald (QLD #32) 14.450s, 12. Danny Smith (USA #88) 14.453s, 13. Peter Smith (SA #8) 14.478s, 14. Mark Reuter (SA #95) 14.521s, 15. Mark Gilbert (SA #5) 14.584s, 16. Brooke Tatnell (NSW #8) 14.593s, 17. Darryl Krikke (WA #95) 14.619s, 18. Mike Van Bremen (VIC #6) 14.637s, 19. Max Dumesny (VIC #5) 14.688s, 20. David Anderson (VIC #37) 14.733s, 21. Brett Squiers (SA #17) 14.764s, 22. Brad Heywood (NSW #12) 14.798s, 23. Darryl Downing (SA #97) 14.832s, 24. Marty Perovich (NSW #52) 14.995s, 25. Wayne Bunker (SA #2) 15.005s, 26. Scott Milling (WA #50) 15.038s, 27. Anthony Lambert (QLD #77) 15.087s, 28. Jamie Cobby (SA #16) 15.167s, 29. Colin Bulmer (VIC #23) 15.26s, 30. Tony Bartlett (SA #75) 15.326s, 31. Dennis Burford (SA #9) 15.353s

QUALIFYING HEAT RACES (10 laps):

HEAT 1 : 1. Brad Heywood, 2. Brooke Tatnell, 3. Dennis Burford, 4. Wayne Bunker, 5. Max Dumesny, 6. Todd Wanless, 7. Alan Haynes, 8. Jamie Cobby, 9. Garry Rush, 10. Peter Smith, 11. Skip Jackson

HEAT 2 : 1. Darryl Downing, 2. Phil March, 3. Mark Reuter, 4. David Anderson, 5. Darryl Krikke, 6. Trevor Green, 7. Nathan MacDonald, 8. Colin Bulmer

HEAT 3 : 1. Danny Smith, 2. Anthony Lambert, 3. Brett Squiers, 4. Barry Lawrence, 5. Mike Van Bremen, 6. Joel Knott, 7. Marty Perovich

HEAT 4 : 1. David Anderson, 2. Scott Milling, 3. Phil March, 4. Max Dumesny, 5. Skip Jackson, 6. Garry Rush, 7. Mark Reuter, 8. Wayne Bunker, 9. Peter Smith, 10. Dennis Burford

HEAT 5 : 1. Jamie Cobby, 2. Brooke Tatnell, 3. Brad Heywood, 4. Danny Smith, 5. Todd Wanless, 6. Mike Van Bremen, 7. Marty Perovich

HEAT 6 : 1. Darryl Krikke, 2. Trevor Green, 3. Anthony Lambert, 4. Darryl Downing, 5. Joel Knott, 6. Brett Squiers, 7. Nathan MacDonald

GOODYEAR EAGLE TROPHY DASH (6 laps) : 1. Trevor Green, 2. Todd Wanless, 3. Skip Jackson, 4. Danny Smith, 5. Barry Lawrence, 6. Phil March

B-FEATURE (12 laps) : 1. Nathan MacDonald, 2. Darryl Downing, 3. Max Dumesny, 4. Anthony Lambert, 5. Brett Squiers, 6. Jamie Cobby, 7. Peter Smith, 8. Mike Van Bremen, 9. Marty Perovich, 10. Wayne Bunker, 11. Dennis Burford

A-FEATURE (30 laps) : 1. Trevor Green, 2. Skip Jackson, 3. Danny Smith, 4. Mark Reuter, 5. Todd Wanless, 6. Brad Heywood, 7. Nathan MacDonald, 8. David Anderson, 9. Darryl Krikke, 10. Max Dumesny, 11. Garry Rush, 12. Joel Knott, 13. Darryl Downing, 14. Phil March, 15. Barry Lawrence, 16. Brooke Tatnell, 17. Andrew Scheuerle

LAP LEADER/S : Trevor Green (Laps 1-30)

-- Brian Hennings TEAM RACEFAN - http://www.racefan.net.au/racefan.html WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS - http://www.racefan.net.au/wss/ hennings@racefan.net.au