Smith Wins On Emotion
23/02/2010 9:02:50 PM - Dennis Newlyn

In a night of high emotion, local Super Sedan driver Tania Smith took out the 50-lap Grenville Anderson East Coast National at Lismore Speedway on Saturday night.

Tania led Ian Brims and Wayne Brims to the chequered flag after she took over the race lead with 15 laps remaining. Despite some yellow light caution periods Tania, who started out of position three, had too much speed for her opposition.

The significance of the victory was underlined with the outpouring of emotion immediately after Smith took the chequered flag.

It was not only one of the biggest victories of Tania Smith's career, but a win that Tania rated as “more important than an Australian title.”

The late, great Grenville Anderson, who passed away in 2004 from injuries sustained in a Brisbane race crash in the 90s, was a legend of Lismore Speedway.

The story behind the win is what made this so heart warming.

Tania is a qualified nurse who cared for Grenville Anderson after he sustained injuries in a Brisbane race crash in the 90s.

Tania was one of the last speedway people who saw Grenville alive.

When she started her racing career over two decades earlier, Grenville Anderson was the driver she set as her role model, looked up to and admired the most on the track.

The fact she has now won the memorial race, named in his honour at her local Lismore Speedway where she competed against Grenville Anderson many times, carries deep emotion.

Among the first people to embrace Tania Smith following the win were members of Grenville's Anderson's family whom she has had a close affinity for many years.

“To have raced with the guy (Grenville Anderson), watched him drive, looked up to him and admired him as a driver, this is my Australian title,” Tania said in Victory Lane.

“To have also put my nursing skills into practice when he was doing rehab, I cared for him as a nurse and a friend – and close friend of the entire family," she explained.

Tania was there for wife Sue and Grenville in the last days of his life.

“I cannot find the words to describe the emotion I am experiencing. I know he was riding with me in the race,” Tania said in tears.

Meanwhile Tania later admitted earlier in the day she was almost ready to withdraw from the second night of competition due to the pain from a nagging leg complaint that has plagued her racing over the past five years. It was only a visit to her acupuncture specialist literally hours before the race that cleared her fit enough to compete that night.

Another aspect that made this win so memorable was that Tania drove a car out of the local Rocket Chassis Company owned and operated by her husband Danny. This was a home town victory for so many reasons that will be remembered for many years.

“Danny had my car set up perfectly and I knew I could win it with how the car handled,” Tania said.

The icing on the cake for the Rocket Chassis company was a one-two-three podium result.

Meanwhile other feature race winners on the night were, Bruce Hall (Wingless Sprints), Jordan Biviano (Junior Sedans), Scott Quirk (Street Stocks) and Michael English (Four Cylinder Sedans).

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