36th Australian Sprintcar Championship: Taking it to the Max
2 March 1998
(BUNBURY, WA - ) .. In front of the biggest crowd in the 25- year history of Bunbury City & Regional Raceway, Max Dumesny won an eventful and entertaining 35-lap championship final to duplicate his previous Australian title- winning effort of 1991. Dumesny's Valvoline/No Fear-J&J held off a last gasp effort by veteran 10-times national champion Garry Rush (Castrol-Maxim) to win by less than two car-lengths.Dumesny and local icon Ron Krikke had earlier brought the vocal crowd to its feet when they fought out a thrilling two-lap Pole Shuffle side-by-side with the former dual champion narrowly winning the right to start the feature from pole position. Krikke however became one of the many victims of the numerous incidents and accidents which accounted for more than half the original 18-car field.
WA state champion Mark Wells became the first casualty when he flipped having rode the left rear wheel of Kerry Madsen's Grizzly around the opening lap then Shane Krikke exited in similar fashion. Once more the field got underway with Dumesny again using the high line to grab the start only to have Queensland qualifiers Dean McComb and Andrew Scheuerle execute tandem somersaults in Turn One. The fourth occasion saw a controversial collision between second row occupants Trevor Green and Brooke Tatnell which eliminated the latter's Shell Helix/Phantom Comics- Schnee.
An angry Tatnell later opined, "The guy is doing a wheelstand down the back straight so I get beside him then, when we get to the corner, he wants to turn into me. That is the last time I'll be diplomatic - screw him!" Green managed to restart the event from the rear joining Madsen and fifth qualifier Robert Farr, both of whom had been forced to change tyres from all the chaos.
Dumesny said afterwards, "All those attempts to start the race were quite stressing! I had some great starts and the car felt fantastic but each time the track was getting looser." Eventually he led Krikke at the green ahead of Gavin Migro, Rush, Pino Priolo, Shane Murphy, John Krikke, Shane Marden, Scott Milling, Phil March, Madsen and 14-th starting Skip Jackson. The dual WSS champ cut a swathe through the mid-field in the early laps, rising to sixth within five laps with March shadowing his every move.
Dumesny continued to control the race until lap 13 at which time Madsen smote the Turn One wall when his front suspension broke, the resulting incident seeing second and third placed Krikke and Migro crash in avoidance. Migro's machine burst into flames when it was pushed onto its wheels although its occupant fortunately emerged unscathed. Madsen meanwhile was pinned beneath his Grizzly when a recovery vehicle towed the car away while he was reaching inside the cockpit!
Once underway again Dumesny now had opposition from Rush, Jackson and March. This quartet ran in close proximity until lap 28 at which time Peter Attard created a caution when his right rear tyre exploded. Dumesny managed to reel off the final laps with Rush creeping ever closer to stage a last-gasp unsuccessful challenge.
An elated winner performed a "Polish" victory lap then a "wing dance" atop the car once he alighted. "The motor was going off early in the race as it was getting very hot but I was trying to be kind to it," Dumesny remarked. "I expected somebody (Rush) to be behind me near the finish but I was covering my tracks making sure I had the right line off the corners."
"A lot of people said I shouldn't have deserved my other win in Tasmania in 1991 but we definitely deserved to win this against the best field in the country by leading every lap." His equally excited wife Melinda said, "I nearly walked away after the fifth restart as it was too nerve wracking. Now that it is all over it is I think it is wonderful!
Rush was magnanimous in his praise of the winner, saying, "When you get beaten by a great driver like Max you don't mind as much. I don't like running second but he's a hell of a competitor. If he'd just leave those stock cars (NASCARs) alone he'd make a hell of a sprintcar driver! We had it on him for speed towards the end but those stoppages helped him."
Jackson persevered for third, explaining, "All credit to Max and Garry, they did a great job. We just pulled up a little short tonight, but we gave it our best shot. If I was fast enough I should have been able to beat them."
36th Australian Sprintcar Championship
Sunday, March 1, 1998
Preliminary Qualifying Heats (12 laps) cont'd :
Heat 13 : 1. Kerry Madsen (NSW #29), 2. Jamie Maiolo (WA #99), 3. Garry Rush (NSW #2), 4. Shane Marden (WA #10), 5. Trevor Green (SA #4), 6. John Krikke (WA #46), 7. Adrian Maher (NSW #80), 8. Paul Stubber (WA #31), 9. Eddy Gobby (WA #32)
Heat 14 : 1. Max Dumesny (VIC #5), 2. Andrew Scheuerle (QLD #95), 3. Shane Murphy (WA #11), 4. Skip Jackson (NSW #7), 5. Alan Haynes (WA #66), 6. Brad Blake (WA #70), 7. Lynton Jeffrey (NSW #99), 8. Peter Knight (VIC #14), 9. Garry Sartori (WA #41), 10. Gavin Migro (WA #7)
Heat 15 : 1. Peter Attard (NSW #53), 2. Dean McComb (QLD #36), 3. Mark Wells (WA #92), 4. Brooke Tatnell (NSW #8), 5. Phil March (SA #3), 6. Robert Farr (NSW #42), 7. Geoff West (WA #24), 8. Ant Kinley (WA #45), 9. Sharon Marriott (WA #75)
Heat 16 : 1. Ron Krikke (WA #95), 2. Terry Cutts (WA #16), 3. David Anderson (VIC #37), 4. Ryan Farrell (WA #29), 5. Shane Krikke (WA #2), 6. Pino Priolo (WA #8), 7. Steve Knight (VIC #24), 8. Kelly Linigen (NSW #25)
Pole Shuffle : 1. Ron Krikke, 2. Max Dumesny, 3. Trevor Green, 4. Brooke Tatnell, 5. Robert Farr, 6. Gavin Migro, 7. Garry Rush, 8. Shane Murphy
C-Feature (10 laps) : 1. Kelly Linigen, 2. Adrian Winterswyk (WA #37), 3. Sharon Marriott, 4. Steve Knight, 5. Paul Stubber, 6. Geoff West
B-Feature (20 laps) : 1. Dean McComb, 2. Shane Krikke, 3. Scott Milling, 4. Peter Attard, 5. Jamie Maiolo, 6. David Anderson, 7. Ryan Farrell, 8. Lynton Jeffrey, 9. Terry Cutts, 10. Alan Haynes, 11. Brad Blake, 12. Eddy Gobby, 13. Adrian Winterswyk, 14. Adrian Maher, 15. Kelly Linigen
36th Australian Sprintcar Championship (35 laps) : 1. Max Dumesny, 2. Garry Rush, 3. Skip Jackson, 4. Phil March, 5. Shane Murphy, 6. Robert Farr, 7. Trevor Green, 8. John Krikke, 9. Scott Milling, 10. Shane Marden, 11. Ron Krikke, 12. Peter Attard, 13. Gavin Migro, 14. Kerry Madsen, 15. Pino Priolo, 16. Brooke Tatnell, 17. Andrew Scheuerle, 18. Dean McComb, 19. Shane Krikke, 20. Mark Wells
Lap leader/s : Max Dumesny (laps 1-35)
For further information please contact Mr. Jon Evans c/o SCCA E-Mail : JonEvans@compuserve.com Mobile : 0412 994400
