WSS: Skip Comes from Behind in Thriller
31 January 1998
(NEWCASTLE, NSW )........Skip Jackson underlined his superiority of the 1997/98 World Series Sprintcars Championship with a dramatic "come-from-behind" victory in the penultimate round of the 16-race Series at Wynns Newcastle Speedway tonight. Jackson and arch-rival Brooke Tatnell engaged in a race-long, 30-lap duel that ended with the defending champion defeating the former title holder by less than two-car lengths.The pair had dominated the entire proceedings with Jackson setting his fifth AUTO ACTION Fast Time award of the Series and subsequently topping preliminary qualifying. The Skilled Engineering/O'Brien Aluminium/Gibson Freight-Jackson then leapt past pole sitter Tatnell to win the Goodyear Eagle Trophy Dash to set up the climactic A-Feature.
Tatnell's Shell Helix-Schnee got the jump however and led the field whose order behind him was Jackson, Kerry Madsen, Brett Lacey, Brett Loadsman and Max Dumesny. While the duo up front sped away from their pursuers, a battle of similar intensity raged over fourth position. The race's sole caution occurred on lap seven when tail-enders Lynton Jeffrey and Trevor Shields became entangled from a spin.
In clean air at the restart, Tatnell continued to lead until the pair came upon the slower runners on lap 15. Brooke confessed, "It was driver error on my behalf in lapped traffic, I simply made a mistake and misread what a lapped car was going to do in Turn Three. I was trying to get that car between us. It kind of typifies my season as I was relatively happy knowing that we are fast enough but I just ran out of laps to repass Skip."
Once in front Jackson defended and protected his lead, knowing that he was slowing due to a blocked injector nozzle. "I was able to get Brooke in traffic," commented Skip, "but I slowed towards the end of the race. Brooke is a good guy to race against, he won't give you an inch but you respect and know it - he's a pleasure to race against and it puts on a good show for everyone."
Indeed the race between the two came down to the wire with Jackson fractionally ahead of Tatnell and Madsen a distant third. The race-long dice for fourth was resolved in Lacey's favour ahead of Dumesny and Loadsman. Lacey explained, "It was just like the old days racing side-by-side with Max without any trouble. Towards the end I got a little loose and he (Dumesny) was perhaps a little faster so I had to protect my line. You get a lot of satisfaction when you can race so close with someone like that. It doesn't happen that much these days."
Rounding out the top 10 behind Loadsman were Andrew Scheuerle, Trevor Green, young NSW driver Adrian Maher and Queensland's Nathan MacDonald whose Fraser Shores-Schnee established a new 10-lap track record during the preliminary heat races. Only one car - Jeffrey - retired from the event after the sole caution.
Tomorrow night (Sat, Jan 31) the Series Grand Final will be staged at Parramatta City Raceway with Jackson and Tatnell secure atop the points however a three-way battle exists over third position plus all other spots in the top 10. Following the Grand Final, the Series Presentation Dinner will be held at the Rydges, Parramatta from 7.00 pm where Jackson will be crowned in defending his title won last summer.
1997/98 WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND
15
Wynns Newcastle Speedway, Newcastle, NSW - Friday, January 30, 1998
AUTO ACTION FAST TIME : 1. Skip Jackson (NSW #7) 12.049 secs, 2. Brooke Tatnell (NSW #8) 12.243, 3. Kerry Madsen (NSW #29) 12.252, 4. Brett Loadsman (NSW #33) 12.357, 5. Max Dumesny (VIC #5) 12.373, 6. Dean McComb (QLD #36) 12.394, 7. Chas Calandro (SA #33) 12.443, 8. Andrew Scheuerle (QLD #95) 12.456, 9. Adrian Maher (NSW #80) 12.462, 10. Peter Attard (NSW #53) 12.482, 11. Trevor Green (SA #4) 12.490, 12. Robert Jackson (NSW #12) 12.514, 13. Brett Lacey (TAS #26) 12.526, 14. Bob Tunks (NSW #54) 12.537, 15. Lynton Jeffrey (NSW #99) 12.586, 16. Joel Knott (NSW #44) 12.600, 17. Brent Antill (USA #4) 12.602, 18. Pino Priolo (WA #8) 12.654, 19. Darren Jensen (QLD #75) 12.712, 20. Grant Tunks (NSW #55) 12.719, 21. Anthony Lambert (QLD #77) 12.731, 22. Nathan MacDonald (QLD #32) 12.748, 23. Peter Craft (NSW #86) 12.760, 24. Trevor Shields (NSW #17) 12.773
QUALIFYING HEAT RACES (10 laps) :
HEAT 1 : 1. Nathan MacDonald, 2. Brett Lacey, 3. Skip Jackson, 4. Brett Loadsman, 5. Chas Calandro, 6. Joel Knott, 7. Peter Attard
HEAT 2 : 1. Grant Tunks, 2. Trevor Green, 3. Brent Antill, 4. Max Dumesny, 5. Andrew Scheuerle, 6. Brooke Tatnell, 7. Bob Tunks
HEAT 3 : 1. Trevor Shields, 2. Anthony Lambert, 3. Lynton Jeffrey, 4. Robert Jackson, 5. Kerry Madsen, 6. Adrian Maher, 7. Dean McComb, 8. Pino Priolo
HEAT 4 : 1. Nathan MacDonald, 2. Andrew Scheuerle, 3. Brooke Tatnell, 4. Brett Loadsman
HEAT 5 : 1. Skip Jackson, 2. Brett Lacey, 3. Chas Calandro, 4. Robert Jackson, 5. Dean McComb, 6. Trevor Shields, 7. Pino Priolo
HEAT 6 : 1. Anthony Lambert, 2. Adrian Maher, 3. Brent Antill, 4. Max Dumesny, 5. Kerry Madsen, 6. Trevor Green, 7. Peter Craft, 8. Lynton Jeffrey
GOODYEAR EAGLE TROPHY DASH (6 laps) : 1. Skip Jackson, 2. Brooke Tatnell, 3. Kerry Madsen, 4. Brett Loadsman, 5. Brett Lacey, 6. Max Dumesny
B-FEATURE (12 laps) : 1. Lynton Jeffrey, 2. Grant Tunks, 3. Trevor Shields, 4. Robert Jackson, 5. Bob Tuns, 6. Pino Priolo, 7. Peter Attard, 8. Peter Craft
A-FEATURE (30 laps) : 1. Skip Jackson, 2. Brooke Tatnell, 3. Kerry Madsen, 4. Brett Lacey, 5. Max Dumesny, 6. Brett Loadsman, 7. Andrew Scheuerle, 8. Trevor Green, 9. Adrian Maher, 10. Nathan MacDonald, 11. Dean McComb, 12. Anthony Lambert, 13. Chas Calandro, 14. Grant Tunks, 15. Trevor Shields, 16. Lynton Jeffrey
LAP LEADER/S : Brooke Tatnell (laps 1-14), Skip Jackson (laps 15-30)