Atkin Regains Qld Production Sedan Title at Kingaroy
04/04/16…Pam Franz – courtesy of Jason Crowe SSA Media
Former Australian Champion, Tim Atkin has provided a stunning drive to win the Queensland Production Sedan Title, for the third time in four years, after coming from the B Main, at Kingaroy Speedway on Saturday night.
Atkin had far from a perfect night, and had to qualify for the main event from the B Main, which he won.
Tim Smith and Brett Baxter would share the front row, with defending Champion Chris Pagel and former Australian Champion Andrew Corbet on row two.
Smith would get the best of the early exchanges, but Baxter took the lead on lap three.
Placings in the lead group would remain unchanged through the first half of the race, with Atkin moving his way through to eighth place after twenty laps.
Baxter continued to lead Smith, Corbet, Fawcett and Pagel in a great race, with Corbet retiring at this point, elevating Fawcett and Pagel to third and fourth respectively. A lap later Russell Cowley and Chris Pagel would be eliminated in what would be an incident riddled second half of the race.
On lap twenty two, Darryel Ash would join the growing band of retirees, but a lap later Brad Scherer on lap twenty three would be joined by Tim Smith who was in second place at the time.
With fifteen laps remaining, Baxter would lead Fawcett and Atkin, who had amazingly moved to third place, with Josh Arthur and Josh Harm moving to fourth and fifth.
Stuart Fawcett made his move ten laps from the end taking the lead from Baxter, as the trio looked destined to have a terrific race to the end, well clear of the rest of the field.
Baxter’s great run came to an end with four laps remaining, when he blew a radiator hose, moving Josh Arthur to third.
Fawcett was in sight of victory when he blew a tyre on the last lap, allowing Atkins to take a stunning last lap victory. Fawcett still managed to hold second place, with Josh Arthur finishing a quarter of a lap behind in third, with Harm finishing fourth, Andrew Beaton fifth, while Luke Edwards would be the sixth and final driver to finish on the lead lap.
For Atkin, it has been a great season, adding the Queensland Title to his third Victorian Title that he achieved earlier in the season. The win is his seventh State Title win across three States to go with his 2014 Australian Title win.
OFFICIAL RESULT
A Main – 40 Laps: 1. G15 Tim Atkin, 2. L65 Stuart Fawcett, 3. SB85 Josh Arthur, 4. SB11 Josh Harm, 5. BB7 Andrew Beaton, 6. G6 Luke Edwards, 7. L58 Trent Nicolia (39 laps), 8. GL15 Richard Cook (39), 9. SC61 Jim Cowley (38), 10. L83 Chris Besseling (38), 11. B15 Brett Baxter (36), 12. SC36 Sarah Franz (32), 13. SB36 Tim Smith (23), 14. BB30 Brad Scherer (23), 15. SB3 Darryel Ash (22), 16. Q1 Chris Pagel (21), 17. SC10 Russell Cowley (21), 18. G8 Andrew Corbet (20), 19. SB41 Kerry Lack (16), 20. SC23 Adrian Stott (4). Time: No Time, Winning Margin: 1.354, Fastest Lap: 17.483 SB36 Tim Smith