2023 Season 3 Round 10 Thunder Results
Thunder Series Review
Wednesday night saw a small field head to Homestead Miami Speedway for Round 10 of Series 3. Barry Neale would claim back-to-back pole positions ahead of Josh Michelmore, Jason Martin, Shaun Doecke and Brad Fenly.
Trouble would strike early for Doecke, losing the rear exiting turn 4 on lap 1, with heavy contact ending Hamish Gallagher’s night before it even begun. Despite this, the track strayed green with Neale and Michelmore opening an early margin over Martin in third.
After being glued to Neale’s bumper from the start, Michelmore made his move into the lead on lap 31, with Martin also reducing the gap to the leading pair with Ruben Phelps in fourth, a further 4 seconds behind.
Lap 39, and Karl Withey headed to the lane for service and try a 2 stop strategy, whilst Martin would be the first of the leaders to head to the pits on lap 53. Michelmore pitted from the lead at the end of lap 56 whilst Michael Campbell stayed out for an extra couple of laps to snag a bonus point for leading a lap.
Lap 59, and Withey held a 2 second lead over Michelmore, but he still needed to make his second stop, with Neale, Martin and Phelps rounding out the top 5.
Once out in clean air, there were a pair of battles; Michelmore and Neale for the lead, whilst Martin had Phelps pushing hard for P3. As the race progressed, it looked as though Martin was doing the better job of looking after his tyres, as he had started to gap Phelps, whilst also making ground on Neale.
Lap 88, and with fresh tyres Withey made the move past the battle for P2 involving Neale and Martin. Martin was able to use this as his shot to get on the inside of Neale, where the pair would run side-by-side for several laps, before Martin would finally be able to clear Neale and move into P2. Michelmore would go onto win with a comfortable 4 second margin over Martin, with Neale, Phelps and Norman Clark rounding out the top 5.
Race Summary:
105 Laps
0 Cautions for 0 Laps
4 Leaders
4 Lead Change
1st - #31 Josh Michelmore
2nd - #21 Jason Martin
3rd - #22 Barry Neale
4th - #06 Ruben Phelps
5th - #09 Norman Clark
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Nil
Restarts:
Nil
Protests:
Nil
Other:
Nil
Series 3 standings:
Josh Michelmore extends his lead in the series to 21 points over Jason Martin with 2 races remaining. Matthew Raymond is a further 11 points behind in third, with Norman Clark and Shaun Doecke completing the top 5. Next week the series heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway for a 160 lap event, which is also the final round of the short track championship, which has Jason Martin holding a 2 point lead over Josh Michelmore. 2023 overall standings:
The battle for overall honours is heating up, with Jason Martin’s narrow points lead in the series over Josh Michelmore reduced further, now down to just 5 points. Matthew Raymond holds a very comfortable position in third, ahead of Ruben Phelps and Norman Clark.
Wednesday night saw a small field head to Homestead Miami Speedway for Round 10 of Series 3. Barry Neale would claim back-to-back pole positions ahead of Josh Michelmore, Jason Martin, Shaun Doecke and Brad Fenly.
Trouble would strike early for Doecke, losing the rear exiting turn 4 on lap 1, with heavy contact ending Hamish Gallagher’s night before it even begun. Despite this, the track strayed green with Neale and Michelmore opening an early margin over Martin in third.
After being glued to Neale’s bumper from the start, Michelmore made his move into the lead on lap 31, with Martin also reducing the gap to the leading pair with Ruben Phelps in fourth, a further 4 seconds behind.
Lap 39, and Karl Withey headed to the lane for service and try a 2 stop strategy, whilst Martin would be the first of the leaders to head to the pits on lap 53. Michelmore pitted from the lead at the end of lap 56 whilst Michael Campbell stayed out for an extra couple of laps to snag a bonus point for leading a lap.
Lap 59, and Withey held a 2 second lead over Michelmore, but he still needed to make his second stop, with Neale, Martin and Phelps rounding out the top 5.
Once out in clean air, there were a pair of battles; Michelmore and Neale for the lead, whilst Martin had Phelps pushing hard for P3. As the race progressed, it looked as though Martin was doing the better job of looking after his tyres, as he had started to gap Phelps, whilst also making ground on Neale.
Lap 88, and with fresh tyres Withey made the move past the battle for P2 involving Neale and Martin. Martin was able to use this as his shot to get on the inside of Neale, where the pair would run side-by-side for several laps, before Martin would finally be able to clear Neale and move into P2. Michelmore would go onto win with a comfortable 4 second margin over Martin, with Neale, Phelps and Norman Clark rounding out the top 5.
Race Summary:
105 Laps
0 Cautions for 0 Laps
4 Leaders
4 Lead Change
1st - #31 Josh Michelmore
2nd - #21 Jason Martin
3rd - #22 Barry Neale
4th - #06 Ruben Phelps
5th - #09 Norman Clark
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Nil
Restarts:
Nil
Protests:
Nil
Other:
Nil
Series 3 standings:
Josh Michelmore extends his lead in the series to 21 points over Jason Martin with 2 races remaining. Matthew Raymond is a further 11 points behind in third, with Norman Clark and Shaun Doecke completing the top 5. Next week the series heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway for a 160 lap event, which is also the final round of the short track championship, which has Jason Martin holding a 2 point lead over Josh Michelmore. 2023 overall standings:
The battle for overall honours is heating up, with Jason Martin’s narrow points lead in the series over Josh Michelmore reduced further, now down to just 5 points. Matthew Raymond holds a very comfortable position in third, ahead of Ruben Phelps and Norman Clark.
