GO YA BARSTED MOTORSPORTS

LINCOLN THE MARATHON MAN: 100 LAP DERBY WINNER

Mark Lincoln the current Australian Champion in AMCA racing can now add another win to his belt that he was hoping to achieve after winning the annual Alexandra & District Speedway Club ‘Dog Leg 100 Lap Derby’ in a V8 Super Sedan.

Over two days 80 competitors in all makes and varieties of speedway sedans competed in five heats each before 40 starters greeted the green flag in the finale. Lincoln managed to finish ahead of Luke Fallon who was last year’s winner driving his Sports Sedan whilst Dave Erickson another former winner in a 3 Litre Cortina was third. Lenny Bates Jnr from the Crash N Bash organisation was fourth with former Australian 360ci Sprintcar Champion Tony Moule fifth in his home made 1200cc Datsun powered miniature Super Sedan.

Across thirty heat races before locking in forty starters for the 100 lap final Modified Production sedan competitor and former event winner Russell Hill won four of his five heats and finished second in the last to be top qualifier with 172 points from Mark Lincoln on 164 and Erickson on 141 with Colin Lincoln and Bill Burton rounding out the top five with Mark Lincoln clocking the fastest one lap time prior to the feature of 34.225 seconds in front of Hill 34.386 and Colin Lincoln 34.421 and Colin Lincoln won the fastest heat of the weekend over 6 laps taking 3 minutes 30.258 to complete.

Heat wins went too Colin Lincoln x 3, Russell Hill x 4, Bill Burton x 2, Dave Erickson x 2, Alan McKinnon x 2, Austin Corcoran, John Cole, Len Bates Jnr x 3, Mark Lincoln x 3, Darren Forrest, Dean ‘Turbo Bullfrog’ Pictor, Matt Ridd, Paul Turnbull x 2, Andrew Katz x 2, Tony Moule & Steve Lincoln.

The final feature starting list was: Russell Hill, Mark Lincoln, Erickson, Colin Lincoln, Burton, Bates Jnr, McKinnon, Peter Cox, Turnbull, Corcoran, Sparrow, Forrest, Fallon, Steve Ellis, Katz, Troy Neilson, Steve Lincoln, Daryl Atkinson, Cole, Joel Brinsley, Kellie Atkins, Mick Burke, Moule, Nick Hill, Ridd, Michael Knight, Gordon Angus, Pictor, Rob Tatterson, Dave Nicholls, Dave Mackenzie, Daniel Simpson, Sam Williams, Dale Smith, Gary Stanley, Kim Montague, Ray Gould, Brett Petrou, Jason Holt & Hans Lovski. Ray Gould didn’t take his place in the final and Jaedn Alberni as forty first qualifier made the start.

Amongst the starters were Modified Production Sedans, Super Sedans, Street Stocks, 3 Litre Sedans, Crash N Bash Cars, VSC Sedans including Division 2 Hot Rods and a FJ Holden (Corcoran) and Sport Sedans and 253ci Modifieds such as Hans Lovski.

Well known competitors such as Mark Lincoln from the AMCA division, Troy Neilson from Street Stocks, Moule from the Sprintcar scene and Dave Mackenzie who travelled with the National Super Sedan circuit this past season all took part in the big race.

When the green flag dropped for the start of what was going to be more than an hour’s racing Mark Lincoln seized the lead with Hill behind him and Colin Lincoln in third. These three quickly established a gap between them and the field whilst Atkinson (gearbox) and Burke retired without logging a lap on the sheets.

Lap eight what had been a sweet weekend for Hill all turned sour when passing back markers he got collected and suffered damage to his front end and he made a hasty exit off the track. Burton broke a steering rack a lap later and then there was a gap of 16 laps before the next retirement.

Meanwhile Mark Lincoln was threading his way through the pack in his v8 with Erickson on the chase and Fallon and Moule back in the pack on the move.

Forrest and Atkins came together and both restarted whilst Hill soon lost gears and retired to the pits. Ridd retired with fuel pump issues before some time later the next big incident was Forrest and Lovski coming together and with Forrest’s front end smashed he was no longer able to continue.

On lap 79 with Mark Lincoln leading, Fallon, Erickson, Bates Jnr, Moule and Steve Ellis all on the lead lap McKinnon and Corcoran came together and slammed the front straight wall and the red light was switched on to signal all drivers to stop. Having hit the wall at over 100kmph McKinnon suffered some trauma requiring crash crews to extricate him from his race vehicle with the help of the jaws of life so that he could be placed safely without further pain onto a backboard and into a waiting ambulance.

The incident and the care required to remove McKinnon took well over an hour and the race was declared with results as per order on lap 79 with Corcoran disqualified from results as primary cause of the accident  with McKinnon. With Mark Lincoln confirmed the winner from Fallon, Erickson, Bates Jnr, Moule, Ellis, Simpson, Tatterson, Knight, Nicholls, Atkins, Petrou, Holt, Pictor, McKinnon, Katz, Lovski, Cox, Smith and Stanley still circulating .

Lincoln set the fastest time of 34.122 in the final for a one lap circuit and at the time of the red flag was leading Fallon by just over 3 seconds. Simpson who started in thirty second place was delighted with his efforts in reaching seventh spot and Moule was pleased with the result considering had the race gone on he was going to need a pit stop having copped a flat right rear on lap 79.

After the race a delighted Lincoln spoke. “This is a fantastic feeling up there with winning an Australian Championship especially with my families’ long history with the Alexandra Speedway. I wish Alan McKinnon a quick recovery and certainly will think of him tonight as we celebrate our good fortune. Thanks to all the GYB Motorsports crew and well done to the other finishers tonight. See you all again next year.”

As of 24 hours after the accident involving McKinnon he was being cared for in Melbourne in a trauma unit but was known to be sitting up in bed waiting for x-ray results.

In Junior Sedan racing Corey Lincoln in his first meeting out in his new Junior Sedan took the feature win in the 1200cc Junior Sedan category from Lachie Reeves, Donald Young, Shane Younger and Brock Atkins whilst in Standard Saloon Juniors Matt Nelson was able to defeat Anthony Brennan, Brodie Montague, Andrew Miles and Patrick Farry.

Standard Saloon Open racing held a feature on both nights with Chris Stewart winning the ‘Thirsty Camel Alexandra’ Cup and Leigh Gooding winning the second nights King of the Valley feature with the second nights racing the closest whilst Stewart was dominate on night one.

On night one over nine heats we had eight different winners. Shane Stewart, Mick Chrystie, Wayne Nelson x 2, Leigh Gooding, Matt Magor, Chris Stewart, Jason Leonard and Gordon Russell whilst Victorian champion David Cull blew an engine and was unable to feature all weekend with Chrystie having the best heat win starting sixth before winning heat two and Tim Buckley from the event’s sponsor Alexandra Thirsty Camel going along as a passenger with Rod Meakins the club President.

The top six qualifiers for the ‘Camel Cup’ lined up as Chris Stewart, Wayne Nelson, Russell, Chrystie, Shane Stewart and Rod Meakins and after leading from start to finish Chris Stewart was a popular winner with Rosedale Speedway supporters defeating Chrystie and Meakins, Russell, Shane Stewart, Magor, Gooding, Jason Leonard, Jacob Vuillerman and Terry Bullard.
On night two Sarah Meakins started the night strong winning heat one with Shane Stewart, Dale Morrison, Mark Miles, Chris Stewart and Mal Brennan making it six different winners from six heats once again showing how close the category is. Mark Miles began on pole position with Morrison alongside, the Stewart brothers Chris and Shane then Sarah Meakins and Nelson for the top six. Gooding who had qualified in the top ten changed cars and was relegated to a last place start in the feature.

The green dropped and Morrison soon got the better of Miles and had Chris Stewart clipping at his heels for some time before he departed the race track affected by mechanical issues. Next to step up was Shane Stewart whilst Rod Meakins got the better of Nelson and Brennan in the chase. Sarah Meakins got past her father in law Rod and Gooding had worked his way up to fifth at this point.

A couple of yellow flags helped but at the last yellow flag Gooding got past Shane Stewart and Sarah Meakins and was soon on Morrison’s bumper looking for a way past. After twenty laps it all came to the last turn where Gooding had the most speed up high out of turn four and was able to pip Morrison at the past to take a popular feature win. Shane Stewart was third from Sarah and then Rod Meakins with Gooding being crowned ‘King of the Valley’.

Alexandra Club Sponsors include:
Thirsty Camel Alexandra
Morris Finance Ltd
Metro Tow
Inaction Photos
Northern Auto Recyclers
Aarons Car Removals
Rumbles Children’s Playhouse
Fallon’s Bus Services
Eastern Suburbs Locksmiths
Bursons Auto Parts Lilydale
Murrindindi Kitchens
Alan T Hall Plumbing
Cit Demolitions
Coates Hire
Waverley Exhaust & Brake Centre

Written by
Dean Thompson
Alexandra Speedway Media Representative