It was dramatic to say the least as a typically huge crowd showed up to see the gladiators of Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek walk the horsepower high-wire at Lara’s Avalon Raceway for the penultimate round of the series.
It was South Ryan Jones scoring his first 410ci main event win outside of his home state in the Murray Machining & Sheds Wright Motorsport Triple X.
Jones led home majority leader Cam Waters in second and handy domestic racer Grant Stansfield rounding out the podium.
Luke Dillon continued his run of consistency to bring the PFR #98 home in fourth ahead of Lockie McHugh (who came from the B-Main) in fifth, Daniel Pestka, Bobby Daly, Glen Sutherland (who won the B-Main) and Rusty Hickman 10th.
Randy Morgan came from the B-Main to finish 11th ahead of Brendan Quinn and Chris Solomon rounding out the 13 finishers from the 24 starters.
The 35-lap feature race was peppered with red light stoppages and cautions.
Waters led for most of the event and was blessed to have many of the restarts come at critical moments that cleared the dense lapped traffic he was about to encounter.
Behind him, it was a dogfight of epic proportions that had serious points implications for the series.
Avalon specialist Brett Milburn was the first to exit with a rollover in turn three-four on lap 15 whilst shock issues on the N47 saw Marcus Dumesny park up directly after.
With series leader Lockie McHugh mired deep in the back of the pack after having to come from the B-Main it looked like second place in the series Brock Hallett may be able to erode McHugh’s points lead.
Unfortunately Hallett and Jamie Veal came together coming out of turn four on lap 17 with Veal’s #35 Maxim somersaulting violently down the main straight and Hallett’s GW Racing Q5 wounded and backed into the turn one wall taking two potential feature winners out of the affair.
Veal had started on the front row alongside Waters and after being tight early he was starting to pick his way back forward as mid-race approached.
With restarts breeding restarts Jordyn Charge (who earlier set Quick Time in Flight Two) began his assault on race leader Waters but contact between the pair going into turn three on lap 18 saw Charge’s left front tyre deflate and him exit coming out of turn four.
At the same time coming out of turn two on to the back straight a multiple car incident saw cars spinning and wrecking in all directions involving Tate Frost, Peter Doukas, Jordan Rae, Jackson Delamont and Grant Anderson.
On lap 21 Michael Tancredi was out but then one lap later Queenslander Jy Corbet tagged the exit to turn four wall and flipped savagely down the main straight right over the Clay-Per-View wall cam near the flag stand.
Lockie McHugh had by this point begun battling with Daniel Pestka and the two made contact awkwardly late in the race with both rejoining their racing groove but not without lost real estate and momentum.
Stansfield had started 15th for the second night in a row and was evading all the trouble along with Luke Dillon as the two battled it out for the top five whilst Jones had seized his opportunity and made a break for second behind Waters.
On the final restart Waters tightened up to some degree and began running a wider arc on entry – a situation that presented Jones with an invitation he could not refuse blasting into the lead where he stayed until the chequers.
It was an historic moment for the South Aussie and for second placed Cam Waters another PB result with plenty of positive signs the first big win is getting closer.
Third placed Grant Stansfield recorded his second consecutive Avalon podium though this one was particularly satisfying in the company he was keeping for Speedweek.
McHugh salvaged fifth spot which would now put him in an even more commanding position going into the final round at Premier Speedway Warrnambool on January 1.
Bobby Daly’s impressive and consistent sixth place finish was a just reward for the Victorian gasser whilst Glen Sutherland salvaged some points coming from the B-Main win to eighth.
