From Where I sit.....

By Peter Campbell

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From Where I Sit New Year 2008

It’s been a little while since this speedway nutter put pen to paper and updated all the Litre Sprintcar faithful on the events of the past few months in QLD.  It’s been a busy festive season up here with plenty of meetings to get a fix from, with 3 rounds of the lucrative Westgate Essab Super Ten series the highlight for Litre Sprintcar fans.

 In case you have been on another planet recently, the weather up here has been pretty average – that is if you are a speedway enthusiast.  The propeller heads at the weather bureau don’t want to confirm that the drought has broken up here, but when several speedway meetings are cancelled or affected by rain the dirt track connoisseur has only one conclusion to reach…… it’s bloody wet up here!! 

Take for example the first meeting of the festive season on the 22^nd of December at Toowoomba.  The pits were packed with no less than 18 Litres, 30 odd sprintcars (Darren Pittman included), 20 or so midgets, and 15 compacts for what promised to be one of the best meetings of the summer.  But the farmers out there and their rain dance had different ideas sending a down pour before an engine was fired.  Great for the farmers - devastating for the racer and fan alike.  Alan woods (Toowomba promoter) to his credit offered to honor the tickets for another four shows.  That’s fine if you race a sprintcar or midget and were programmed within the next four shows, but pretty disapointing for the NSW and QLD Litre Sprintcar competitors who traveled long distances and paid $35 each for a wasted ticket because we race there again in another 5 shows!  The Toowoomba promotion had a very merry Christmas….

 The boxing day meeting at Lismore also promised plenty, but was threatened by rain all day.  To their credit and good fortune the meeting ran without a hitch on a superb track, with a  large crowd in attendance regardless of the surrounding weather.  The Litres put on a great show and were really fast around the tight confines of Lismore.  It’s a real shame that only 8 cars made the effort to attend.  When I first booked the meeting with Dave Lander there was no other racing for Litres within a couple of days of this meeting and with the holiday period in full swing the thought of traveling I figured wouldn’t be a problem.  WRONG!!  Seems like the Litre people like their holidays and R&R time.  In fact I’m finding that the attitudes of racers are changing as our lifestyles get busier with technology.  Gone are the days when you used to pinch a street sign or get an advance on your pay just to make sure you made the next speedway race. Nowadays if it’s too hard or too expensive it’s too bad!! “I’ll nominate just to make it seem like I’m making an effort or because I’d like to race but realistically it’s not going to happen because I’m too lazy or there’s another convenient excuse.”  The commitment for the sport is now carried by the minority not the majority.  This unfortunately is the way of the future and I can tell you honestly now there is more than one promoter in QLD who are nearly fed up with the Litres and other classes with the poor car counts.  Wheww!! That aside the racing was great at Lismore but the Litres would have kicked arse on that program had we have had more cars.  Bruce Ayers took a comfortable victory from Scott Doyle and young “B” grader Rhys Ryan who drove really well to claim third.  Other cars to impress were Alan Brosnan, Wade Pascoe and Peter Nankervis.  John Cariola showed true spirit by battling on with brake issues in the feature.  Everyone that went down there had a good fun night.  The facilities and hospitality were second to none.  Hope we get more meetings there!

 Rain, Rain and more rain.  That was the scenario for the next week or so as speedway meetings up and down the east coast were cancelled or postponed due to persistent showers.  Our 3^rd meeting within 2 weeks was scheduled for new years day with a healthier car count of 15 set to do battle, but the weather intervened and the meeting was postponed to the following day and then finally cancelled because of the rain.  It looked like we would lose another round of the series until John Kelly from BIS gave us a chance to catch up a meeting and programmed us with the final round of the World Series Sprintcars tour.  An excellent opportunity had been presented to showcase the class in front of T.V cameras and a packed house, and the Litres responded with a healthy car count of 18 and some awesome, close racing to keep the crowd entertained.  Scott Harth had heat one sewn up until he tagged the front stretch wall and tore up a whole pile of gear putting him out for the night.  That was the only stoppage all night I think for the Litres who finally showed that we can be a class to be watched and not just a support section.  Sid Whittaker won the first heat and was kind enough let me hop in for a skid in heat 2.  The last time I drove this car was the Australian Title at BIS 2 years ago and we claimed 5^th with a tired engine and little knowledge of the right set up for the car.  Since then Sid has spent a pretty penny in all the right areas and the car is markedly better.  It was a really nice easy car to drive with plenty of power but unfortunately I had to take it easy for Sid’s sake as there was still plenty more racing ahead in the night for him and tearing up his pride and joy would not have gone down well!  Sid has the car for sale currently and is reasonably priced to boot.  (Wish I could sell more sheds..)  Sid ran third that night in the feature just behind an epic battle between Bruce Ayers and Dave Fanning who staged a fight to the death for the win.  Both guys ran side by side and put on an amazing display of driving through traffic running wheel to wheel for the last segment of the race.  Fanno ultimately prevailed as the winner, marginally ahead of Bruce Ayers who now holds a commanding lead in the Super Ten Series sponsored by Westgate Essab.  Other great performances came from Alan Brosnan who claimed first “B” grade and Keith Blatch who stormed from the rear of the field and got tangled up on the infield at the start of the race to be half a lap down only to come back to the pointy end of the field by races end.  Peter Nankervis drove solidly to strengthen his position in the super ten series as did John Cariola and Wayne Iacono who was delighted with his first feature finish for the season!  Special commendation must go to Wade Pascoe who showed the true racing spirit by purchasing an engine from a wrecker and bolting it in to compete in the meeting and receive series points after his original engine locked up in the feature at Lismore.  Wade had clutch problems with the new engine this night but still made the effort which deserves a large amount of credit.  Also putting in a big effort was Terry James who drove the #89 car of Chris and Peter Harvey, lending a hand to try and get the car competitive.  Plenty of teething problems were over come, however engine inlet issues forced the early retirement of the team for the night.  In fact all teams that turned up on the night deserve full credit for their efforts.  I sound like a broken record but the drivers and teams are what keep this sport running.  Not money, not good people (although this helps) not track promoters – just drivers and crew who turn up, race and support their chosen sport.  Your car and sport are only worth as much as the effort that you put in.  Right now in QLD we are going through a growth phase and with the likelihood of Lightning Sprints becoming a national class on the horizon, our sport is going through a positive phase not seen in many years.  Keep up the good work PLEASE!

 The next meeting for QLD will be at Maryborough on the first of March with a good car count expected again as drivers attempt to get in enough shows to compete in the Australian Title this year.  The next meeting is the following week at Toowoomba which is the last chance to get a look at Toowoomba before the Title ( 2 weeks later at Easter).  At this stage the QLD Title which is 2 weeks after the Aus Title will NOT be held at Maryborough.  Word is the Maryborough promotion are not willing to run a title event on that weekend.  We are currently talking with a promoter to run the title at his venue on that weekend as an alternative.

 And finally ( yes finally)  any driver/ team thinking about attending the Australian Title or QLD Title and would like some free accommodation, they are welcome to contact me on 0419 715 636 to stay at our place in Ipswich for up to about 8 people.  Heaps of room to park trucks and trailers and there’s no problem washing/working on cars.  ( About 50 mins to T’wmba and 30 mins to BIS) Cheers!

 Peter Plucka Campbell

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From Where I Sit #3 – The final chapter..

With Mal Jocumsen set to pack up shop and move to Cairns, it was going to be a sad night for the owner of the #6 racer as it would be his last Litre Sprintcar race meeting for some time to come. I must admit I felt a little pressure, but not flustered, by all the activity during the week in the lead up to our inaugural series round for the Orrcon Tube And Steel Litre Sprintcar Challenge. Our car went well at the last meeting and was on the pace, but with 17 other cars in the pits tonight including Ashford, Fanning, Jim Gollagher, Harth and more it was going to be a tough ask to bring home a fairytale victory for Mal at his last meeting. Adding to the activity was the fact I moved into our brand new home on the same weekend with the usual amounts of stress associated with that being heaped on – naturally!! I don’t think that a lot of people understand the amount of effort that goes into preparing for a race meeting, and I’ve been lucky the last time I’ve raced because I don’t have to prepare a car!! I bring along the BBQ equipment to help raise money for our social club along with all the other paraphernalia like trophies, drinks, tables and chairs, money, chalk boards etc etc….

I arrived at the track early to try and be prepared for the onslaught of dealing with 18 cars but still found myself running around like a maniac helping people and preparing material for the meeting. Luckilly my crew for the night which consisted of Mal, his daughter Angela, my brother and crew chief Scott and my dad had things organized on the car side while I still had to deal with the promoter sorting out details of our series as we were pushing off for engine starts!! It’s a little hard to keep your mind on the job with so many things going on around you!!

On to the first heat and we were lucky to pull marble 3. We had some good cars in out heat like Harth and Blatch and with the track chopping up quickly from the earlier sedan heats it would be a case of holding your position and just finishing. We got held up at the start by the pole car and slipped back to fifth, but made up 3 spots on the next lap to be running second by half race distance. I ran a little wide on the next lap in 1 and 2 and Blatchy sped past with another car right on my hammer also. It was hard to find a smooth groove and I tried several different entries into the turns trying to avoid the ruts and get a good exit to the next turn. I have to admit I’m not really used to the short wheel base cars even though that’s what I started my racing days in, and Mal’s car reacts a lot quicker to my old car. We managed to finish 3rd with the crew commenting that I looked like I was going to tip it over a couple of times! I didn’t think we were going to roll it but it sure was opening my eyes and we were on the edge!

Heat 2 was a disaster. We started out of position 5 and were going forward until down the back straight there was a ping noise from between my legs and the car let out a big free rev. I grabbed the gear shift lever only to find the car was still locked in gear, blapped the throttle again with no response from the rear wheels. I rolled the car around to turn 4 and stopped just out of harms way on the fence hoping to try and rock the car back into gear and get going again. I did however suspect that the drive line had failed and wasn’t all that confident of completing the heat! The heat was declared and we were pushed off into the pits. My gut feeling was right. The taper on the end of the crank had snapped finishing our night and Mals aspirations of ending this meeting on a good note.

We sat on the hill for the feature. Fifteen cars met the green light and there were cars spread everywhere on the track. It was hard to know where to watch with cars going three wide at both ends of the track. It was a spectacular feature – one of the best I’ve seen for ages – but Fanno had it sewn up, lest he make a big mistake and drop backwards. Jim Gollagher drove really well making it into second with Blatchy showing that he has nearly sorted the handling of his new car to finish 3rd. It was disappointing not to be part of that race, but as they say that’s racing! As for me now…well it’s back to the retirement lounge for me….. unless someone else has a car out there without a driver..?? It’s hard to rid this speedway bug don’t you agree??

By Peter Campbell
 

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From Where I Sit #2

Two weeks had passed since our last QLD Litre Sprintcar race meeting at Maryborough and once again we were the support to our bigger cousins – Sprintcars. I was again privileged to drive the #6 racer of Mal Jocumsen in what was expected to be a vastly different environment from the Maryborough dust bowl. How wrong we were!! Forecast storms for the Brisbane area for Saturday didn’t eventuate, and the BIS curator had declined to water the track in fear of losing the meeting to a sudden down poor. Watching the sprintcars hot lap immediately pointed towards an inevitable outcome of a dry, black slick race track.

With 10 cars in the pits, it was a disappointing field lined up at the gate for engine starts, given that the season is now well and truly underway and a few of the more fancied competitors weren’t able to attend. Still though with blokes like Bruce Ayers, Scott Doyle, Keith Blatch and last start feature winner Sid Whittaker in the line up, tonights racing was not going to be a procession by any means!

My car was sounding sweet through engine starts, and we were lucky enough to draw the #1 marble for our first heat, and start off the front row for a change, unlike Maryborough where we ended up looking at the back of the field all night! Sid pulled the #2 marble and I knew I had to get the jump on him at the start and get to the bottom of the race track and find some moisture in heat one. The greens waved and the first goal was achieved, beating Sid to turn one and getting the jump on the field. The # 6 car was handling o.k but still a little lose especially if you got off the pole line. Unbeknownst to me I had built a handy lead after 4 laps only to get into turn one and feel something break on the front right of the car and bounce off my feet under the floor pan. Hmmmm!! Situation not good!! My initial thoughts were that a shock had fallen off the front right corner of the car. I have had this happen before, strangely enough in a simlar manner at BIS, leading a race by a margin so it was not unfamiliar territory. The plan now was to stand on the gas down the straight and tip toe through the corners trying to keep as much weight off the front right corner of the car as possible. You look over at the lap counter and see still 4 to go and think …shit I’m going to lose this race for shore!! We managed to stay on the bottom of the race track and cruise home to a lucky victory with still a few car lengths margin to spare over second placed Damien Emery. Keith Blatch finished 3rd.

Heat 2 and with the track now very slick and dusty and only a narrow groove on the bottom we had a tough job starting from the rear to try and get through the field. Points for the feature starting grid now come to mind, and with several changes including a new torsion arm placed on our car to try and keep up with the deteriorating track, the job at hand is to finish the race and go forward. We managed to get to fourth and nearly pipped Sid at the post for third. Blatchy won with bruce Ayers second.

The heat three format sees highest point scorers start from the rear, which meant we were starting out of position 7 with the two newcomers Wade Pascoe and Andrew Fanning starting behind us. More changes to our car, and a similar attitude to heat two, had us finishing 5th on a track which was now becoming extremely hard to pass on. Michael Gollagher, Alan Brosnan and Scott Doyle filled the podium.

With all the points from the heats now tallied, we managed to be top points for the night and were entitled to draw the marble for the inversion. We drew the #4 marble, inverting the highest 4 pointscorers. With Sid Whittaker and Michael Gollagher starting off the front row and Blatchy out with mechanical dramas we were confident of a podium position as we lined up for the feature. Going into turn one for the first time Scott Doyle hit the anchors with some first corner bunching leaving me with nowhere to go but straight into the side of the stricken #8 racer. I watched as my front right wheel rose up into his cockpit giving him a new American Racer tattoo on his left forearm. Luckily we were both able to restart but were banished to the rear which was going to make the job of winning near impossible. There were a couple of stoppages for spins early in the race and I watched the lap score clock winding down the amount of laps remaining as the curfew was drawing closer and the sprintcar feature was still to be run. Sid was out front followed by Bruce Ayers, Damien Emery, Doyle, Fanning, myself and then Al Brosnan. We managed to get past Fanning 3 laps from the finish but to their credit the guys up front were driving a clean mistake free race and there were no chances to pass. Sid went on to win his second feature in a row, a credit to his team and his driving skills, to hold out Bruce Ayers and Damo, who did a great job also.

Our next meeting is in 3 weeks time back at BIS for the first round of our Sunshine State Challenge series. A conservative estimate of our car count for the next show would be 15, but there’s every chance of 17 or 18 if my fellow banana benders can get their act together. Hope to see you there!

Peter Campbell
 

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From Where I Sit…..

For those of you who didn’t make it to Maryborough Speedway last weekend (14/10/2006) for the opening meeting of the QLD Litre Sprintcar season, here’s a bit of an insight as to what transpired throughout the event. Unfortunately though, it may not contain all the juicy information such as complete results and lap times etc. as to be very honest I haven’t had a chance to follow all that info up yet. You tend to put the blinkers on at a race meeting when you are trying to run your own race car and organize a meeting, BBQ, raffles and trophy presentations etc. All other sundry facts like heat winners become just noise in the background! I promise that the information and a complete race report will be forthcoming!!

I was invited to drive the Q6 car owned by Mal Jocumbsen and campaigned by his capable son for many seasons. Mal had burned the midnight oil all week preparing the car to help boost our poor car count. Mal only received the freshened engine in the wee hours of Thursday morning and eventually completed all the preparation by Saturday lunch time – an effort the club truly does appreciate as getting cars to the track up here is a weekly dilemma. My mission for the evening was to run the new engine in for the night and stay out of trouble, so poor Mal wouldn’t inherit more wrinkles for the next meeting at Archerfield in 2 weeks.

Engines starts and hot laps beckoned as the sweltering late afternoon sun beat down in the dusty pits making it very uncomfortable for drivers getting into their compulsory attire for the evening. My ride thankfully fired straight away and we cruised around getting heat into the engine and trying to bed the rings in a little at low revs. Hot lapping time and the track was extremely wet – particularly on the high line as Sid Whittaker found out. Coming into turn one for the second time the reds came on and as I slowed approaching the crash scene there’s Sid “upside down Miss Jane” on the turn 2 wall, with poor rookie Darcy Tweed backed in there as well in obvious attempt to avoid the stricken Whittaker.

Heat one approached and fortunately all 9 cars in attendance were ready for action again. All was going according to plan for my ride as we started from the rear hoping to settle the engine a little more. Up front the racing was on in earnest with cars going in every direction. Obviously some drivers were going to have to do their homework for the next heat. Unfortunately I had to pull the #6 racer infield with 2 laps to go as a result of dull yellow light appearing on the dash indicating low oil pressure, however the engine sounded fine and was pulling well.

All cars appeared at the gate for heat 2 and after a quick check on our car and an oil top up we were ready to blast away again. Starting from the rear again I had a good look at the field going into turn one and once again cars were going helter skelter. Still more homework to do for some…… The plan then was to stay out of trouble and go forward which we did with the heat going the distance green, white, checker. The yellow oil light appeared again on my dash as I greeted the white flag however this time I decided to finish the race and get some points on the board for feature time.

The final heat of the night started in spectacular fashion with Scott Harth performing a stunt off the back of a red car ( not sure who??), riding a right rear and heading towards the concrete at a rapid rate of knots. The brakes on Mals #6 work thank god! At the restart that pesky yellow light flashed on periodically reducing my confidence in the operating systems of the car, however throughout the race at speed it behaved and managed not to annoy me, allowing me to keep my mind on the job of working through the field from the rear yet again. Damien Emery went high and lose going into turn 3 and I decided to get past and get the hell out of there only to find Damo squeeze me on the exit of the turn and tap me into a spin. Racing incident – no harm done! I did however pack my dacks while waiting for the yellows to come on stranded on the racing line facing the wrong way watching Bruce Ayers bare down on me at full tilt, down the back straight and into 3 and four with pack chasing him hard. Good to see the corner stewards are doing their job. Maybe watch you corner next time – not the race.

Feature time, and we were down a racer, with Scott Harth unfortunately retiring with a broken lower shaft in the rear end. Possibly not helped by the Evil Knevil impersonation at the start of heat 3. Blatchy had sorted his car a little better and was looking fast as was Sid Whittaker and Bruce Ayers. Brad Hilder who had been driving a sprintcar all night was starting off the back with me and is never one to be denied especially at Maryborough which is like a home track to the “Ratchet Jaw”. The field blasted away in front, but I had decided to take a cautious approach to the race as the pack finally sorted themselves out into a racing order after a couple of laps. Brad was just up ahead dicing away with Bruce Ayers while at the front of the field Blatchy and Sid were neck and neck having a whale of a time at the front. I finally managed to dispose of Alan Brosnan and set after the leaders and put my head down for a few good laps to see what the car was really capable of. Just as I was starting to make some sort of impression on the gap, the final flags flew and the race was over, with a nail biting finish ensuing between Sid, Blatchy and Brad. Sid took his first feature win in Litres with a superb drive to pip Blatchy after he led every lap. Brad managed to get by Bruce for 3rd and was on the tail of the leaders at races end. Bruce of course finished 4th with yours truly 5th and Damien Emery 6th. Sid was understandably overjoyed with his win even if he did tear up some wings along the way. Many thanks to all those who made the effort to make the trip to Maryborough. It was a great night and a great way to start the season.

By Peter Campbell