FOR Luke Oldfield, Castrol Lismore Speedway has always been a happy hunting ground for him throughout his speedway career, and his successful run there continued following an impressive victory in last night’s $10,000 to win Lil Aussie Open.
Up against a quality field of 410 Sprintcar racers, which included Australian hotshots in current Australian Champion Jock Goodyer and the Tullboro Racing team guest driver Lachlan McHugh along with Americans Aaron Reutzel and Chase Randall, Oldfield came out on top in the Lil Aussie Open deciding feature race and claimed the $10,000 winner’s cheque.
After he had started from position three in the feature race, Oldfield didn’t get off to the best of starts to the 30-lap event, but he started to charge his way forward after the opening 10 laps, when he moved into second on lap 13. Sitting in second, he then went about chasing after front-row starter and long-time leader McHugh, and he managed to do that, and he took control of the lead on lap 21. Once out in front, Oldfield, who had to contend with a late caution period that bunched up the field, controlled the remaining nine laps and went on to score a convincing win.
Despite his best efforts, Goodyer was amongst the podium contenders throughout the feature race, but he had to settle for second on the podium behind Oldfield. One of this country’s form 410 Sprintcar drivers dropped back to outside the podium to fourth during the middle stages, but he fought his way back to collect a second-place finish.
One of the surprise packets of the night was North Queensland-based youngster Brodie Davis aboard the Leigh Holman-owned NQ # 51 LS powered Sprintcar, who rounded out the podium in third. The third generation racer was making his first visit to Castrol Lismore Speedway, and he adapted quickly to the showground track layout. Starting out of position five for the feature race, the 21-year-old from Cairns was running within the top-five runners for majority of the race, and during the closing stages, he had moved up into third place and was able to hold out many of his 410 powered rivals to snare the final spot on the podium in what was one of the performances of the night.
Sydney’s Sammy Walsh finished just off the podium in fourth ahead of Lachlan Caunt (NSW), Brett Hobson (NSW), Peter Campbell (Qld) who had started from the back of the field out of position 20, newcomer Bradi Owen (Qld) and the final finisher in local and current Australian V8 Dirt Modified Champion Mitchell Randall.
There were a number of hard-luck stories to come out of the feature race, which included McHugh, who was involved in a lapped competitor’s incident on lap 24 that ended his night while sitting in second behind Oldfield, along with Americans Chase Randall and Aaron Reutzel. Randall crashed heavily into the wall on lap 20 as he was working his way through lapped traffic, while Reutzel, who had qualified on pole position, was an early casualty, after he clashed with another rival as they fought for a podium spot on lap four and it brought the Saller Motorsport team driver’s run to a premature end. Other retirements in the feature race were the father-and-son duo of Tony and Daniel Bridge, rookie Ashton Mineeff, Mitch Gowland (Qld) and Jai Stephenson. Unfortunately, the NSW-based trio of Michael Saller (mechanical), Zac Pacchiarotta (driveline) and last start 410 Sprintcar feature-race winner at Castrol Lismore Speedway Jessie Attard (damage from an earlier heat-race crash) were unable to take their places in the feature-race field.
Earlier in the night, the 410 Sprintcar heat-race wins were shared between Goodyer, Reutzel, Chase Randall and McHugh.
Another highlight to come out of last night’s action occurred in the Pro Sprintcar class, when one of the sport’s most popular drivers Libby Vanderreyden claimed the feature-race spoils. In what was a career-best drive, the Brisbane, Queensland-based racer showed her rivals up by taking out her maiden feature race win by defeating Brad Claridge and Thomas Button in second and third place respectively.
The other support class feature-race wins went to Mitchell Haynes (Wingless Sprints), Joel Berkley (Production Sedans) and Charlie Bowen (Junior Formula 500s). In the Wingless Sprints, Haynes defeated current NSW Champion and local Jacob Jolley in second and Victorian Luke Weel in third, Queensland Champion Berkely proved too strong for his rivals in the Production Sedans and outpaced Madison Harkin and Nathan Gordon to the chequered flag, while Bowen was the standout in the Junior Formula 500s and scored the feature-race honours ahead of Daisy Smith in second and Cooper Norman in third.
The next race meeting at Castrol Lismore Speedway is this Saturday night (January 13) with the headlining acts being the Hot Wheels Stunt Show and the $10,000 to win Modified Sedans Hot Pursuit, along with AMCA Nationals, RSA Sedans and Junior Sedans as the support classes.
For more information about Castrol Lismore Speedway, visit www.lismorespeedway.com.au or follow their social media channels on Facebook and Instagram by searching Lismore Speedway.