2023 Season 1 Round 9 Thunder Results
Williams rises to the top to claim Talladega victory
They say “Everything is bigger in Texas”. Not so if you live in Alabama, an in particular the 2.66mi Talladega Superspeedway, the biggest venue on the NASCAR circuit. Wednesday night saw 34 brave souls take on the high banks for some plate racing.
Qualifying saw some news names on the front row, with Andy Barber take his first ANZCAR Pole Position and Brad Fenly claiming his first ever front row start. Steven Williams, Jaie Schultz and Jamie Nankervis would round out the top 5. It was a challenging qualifying for the championship top 3, with Jason Martin starting from P17, Josh Michelmore from P12 and Darren Mckenzie in P11.
At the drop of the green flag, the majority of the field kept together in side by side lines but some drivers did elect to drop to the back, the highest placed of these was Williams.
Lots of aggressive pushing, especially on the high line, allowed multiple lead changes in quick succession. Lap 9, and the Mitch Motorsport duo of Michelmore and Martin attempted to get a third line going with the assistance of Dave Douglas. However, this meant that the top 2 lines would thin out and gradually lose momentum to keep up with the low line, eventfully merging back into a single high line.
Things remained relatively calm until lap 24, with drivers coming together through the tri-oval with several cars getting substantial damage.
The restart saw Ryan Jones and Carroll-Walden move quickly back to the front of the field, leading the low line whilst a trio of Southern Stars drivers, headed by Barber, took control of the high line. Whilst a few cars dropped off the back due to damage, largely the field maintained 2 solid lines.
As the race headed towards to its conclusion, drivers became more aggressive with their positioning as they all tried to time their run to the finish. With 12 laps to go, things started to really get interesting when Mark Johansson and Lachlan Urquijo (battling for 12th spot), got together exiting turn 2. Due to the cars being well off the racing surface, the caution wasn’t called but this did cause the field to splinter. Things escalated just a lap later with a big wreck exiting turn 4 when Barber bounced off the outside wall and down into the field.
7 laps to go, and Jones once again got a great restart, getting a strong push from Jaie Schultz whilst 2 high lines tried to form. Only a lap later, and the 2 high lines got organised with Carroll-Walden leading the middle line whilst Garry Wellman had the lead of the high line. Another wreck occurred with 4 laps to go, this time contact between Malone and Luke Georgeson in turn 3, but again the caution never came.
Coming out of turn 4 and heading to the white flag and a big wreck between Wesley Clohsey and Ruben Phelps triggers the caution flag, with Jones just a few hundreds metres from getting to the line and being able to claim the win.
This would set up a green white chequered finish. Jones would lead with Jaie Schultz on the outside of the front row, with Carroll-Walden and Williams on row 2. Jones got a great jump, and quickly moving up in an attempt to block the high line, but Jaie Schultz and Williams had too big of a run. This caused a slight check up on the bottom line and contact occurring between Norman Clark and Phelps in turn 2, again no caution!
White flag, and contact between Carroll-Walden and Jones heading into turn 1 fires Jones of the racing surface and out of the lead, with further contact then occurring between Carroll-Walden and Jaie Schultz. From the clouds, Mirko Dautanac inherits the lead but doesn’t have a drafting partner, which allows Williams and Michael Campbell to draft on past. Dautanac tried to tuck in behind Campbell, but heavy contact with Fenly in turn 3 quickly dashed the hopes of those drivers winning the race.
As the dust settled, Williams and Campbell had their eyes glued to the mirrors as Paul Drady got a big draft exiting turn 4. But it wasn’t quite enough, with Williams taking the win, with Campbell holding out Drady for second by 0.016s.
Race Summary:
68 Laps
3 Cautions for 9 Laps
6 leaders
13 Lead Changes
Results:
1st - #98 Steven Williams
2nd - #619 Michael Campbell
3rd - #129 Paul Drady
4th - #408 Kye Turner
5th - #08 Maxie Marshall
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Lap 24 - #75 Wesley Clohsey
Lap 54 - #194 Andy Barber
Lap 63 - #75 Wesley Clohsey
Start Procedure Penalties:
Lap 27 - #194 Andy Barber
Lap 57 - #080 Koby Jordan
Lap 57 - #212 Christopher Tomlin
Lap 66 - #02 Darren Mckenzie
Lap 66 - #212 Christopher Tomlin
Protests:
Nil
Other:
#43 Luke Trahair ROF next week (wasn’t present at Talladega to observe penalty)
Series 1 Championship:
Despite not having a front running night, Martin continues to extend his Series 1 points lead, which is now up to 33 points over Michelmore, with Darren Mckenzie a further 16 points adrift. Next week sees the series head to the concrete and the challenging 1 mile oval at Dover Motor Speedway.
Superspeedway Title:
After Round 2, Carroll-Walden takes a 5 point lead over Round 1 leader Mckenzie and Martin, with Phelps and Jaie Schultz tied for fourth a further 4 points back. Superspeedway racing takes a break for awhile, with Round 3 to be held at Pocono Raceway on the 5th of July.
Full race results: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_race.php...
Full driver standings: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_standings.php...
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on Facebook.
They say “Everything is bigger in Texas”. Not so if you live in Alabama, an in particular the 2.66mi Talladega Superspeedway, the biggest venue on the NASCAR circuit. Wednesday night saw 34 brave souls take on the high banks for some plate racing.
Qualifying saw some news names on the front row, with Andy Barber take his first ANZCAR Pole Position and Brad Fenly claiming his first ever front row start. Steven Williams, Jaie Schultz and Jamie Nankervis would round out the top 5. It was a challenging qualifying for the championship top 3, with Jason Martin starting from P17, Josh Michelmore from P12 and Darren Mckenzie in P11.
At the drop of the green flag, the majority of the field kept together in side by side lines but some drivers did elect to drop to the back, the highest placed of these was Williams.
Lots of aggressive pushing, especially on the high line, allowed multiple lead changes in quick succession. Lap 9, and the Mitch Motorsport duo of Michelmore and Martin attempted to get a third line going with the assistance of Dave Douglas. However, this meant that the top 2 lines would thin out and gradually lose momentum to keep up with the low line, eventfully merging back into a single high line.
Things remained relatively calm until lap 24, with drivers coming together through the tri-oval with several cars getting substantial damage.
The restart saw Ryan Jones and Carroll-Walden move quickly back to the front of the field, leading the low line whilst a trio of Southern Stars drivers, headed by Barber, took control of the high line. Whilst a few cars dropped off the back due to damage, largely the field maintained 2 solid lines.
As the race headed towards to its conclusion, drivers became more aggressive with their positioning as they all tried to time their run to the finish. With 12 laps to go, things started to really get interesting when Mark Johansson and Lachlan Urquijo (battling for 12th spot), got together exiting turn 2. Due to the cars being well off the racing surface, the caution wasn’t called but this did cause the field to splinter. Things escalated just a lap later with a big wreck exiting turn 4 when Barber bounced off the outside wall and down into the field.
7 laps to go, and Jones once again got a great restart, getting a strong push from Jaie Schultz whilst 2 high lines tried to form. Only a lap later, and the 2 high lines got organised with Carroll-Walden leading the middle line whilst Garry Wellman had the lead of the high line. Another wreck occurred with 4 laps to go, this time contact between Malone and Luke Georgeson in turn 3, but again the caution never came.
Coming out of turn 4 and heading to the white flag and a big wreck between Wesley Clohsey and Ruben Phelps triggers the caution flag, with Jones just a few hundreds metres from getting to the line and being able to claim the win.
This would set up a green white chequered finish. Jones would lead with Jaie Schultz on the outside of the front row, with Carroll-Walden and Williams on row 2. Jones got a great jump, and quickly moving up in an attempt to block the high line, but Jaie Schultz and Williams had too big of a run. This caused a slight check up on the bottom line and contact occurring between Norman Clark and Phelps in turn 2, again no caution!
White flag, and contact between Carroll-Walden and Jones heading into turn 1 fires Jones of the racing surface and out of the lead, with further contact then occurring between Carroll-Walden and Jaie Schultz. From the clouds, Mirko Dautanac inherits the lead but doesn’t have a drafting partner, which allows Williams and Michael Campbell to draft on past. Dautanac tried to tuck in behind Campbell, but heavy contact with Fenly in turn 3 quickly dashed the hopes of those drivers winning the race.
As the dust settled, Williams and Campbell had their eyes glued to the mirrors as Paul Drady got a big draft exiting turn 4. But it wasn’t quite enough, with Williams taking the win, with Campbell holding out Drady for second by 0.016s.
Race Summary:
68 Laps
3 Cautions for 9 Laps
6 leaders
13 Lead Changes
Results:
1st - #98 Steven Williams
2nd - #619 Michael Campbell
3rd - #129 Paul Drady
4th - #408 Kye Turner
5th - #08 Maxie Marshall
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Lap 24 - #75 Wesley Clohsey
Lap 54 - #194 Andy Barber
Lap 63 - #75 Wesley Clohsey
Start Procedure Penalties:
Lap 27 - #194 Andy Barber
Lap 57 - #080 Koby Jordan
Lap 57 - #212 Christopher Tomlin
Lap 66 - #02 Darren Mckenzie
Lap 66 - #212 Christopher Tomlin
Protests:
Nil
Other:
#43 Luke Trahair ROF next week (wasn’t present at Talladega to observe penalty)
Series 1 Championship:
Despite not having a front running night, Martin continues to extend his Series 1 points lead, which is now up to 33 points over Michelmore, with Darren Mckenzie a further 16 points adrift. Next week sees the series head to the concrete and the challenging 1 mile oval at Dover Motor Speedway.
Superspeedway Title:
After Round 2, Carroll-Walden takes a 5 point lead over Round 1 leader Mckenzie and Martin, with Phelps and Jaie Schultz tied for fourth a further 4 points back. Superspeedway racing takes a break for awhile, with Round 3 to be held at Pocono Raceway on the 5th of July.
Full race results: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_race.php...
Full driver standings: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_standings.php...
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on Facebook.
