VOSBERGEN STEALS ROUND ONE

With one of the biggest crowds ever seen at Makit Hardware Narrogin Speedway the Dirt Late Model show powered into town for Round 1 of their Southern Nationals series, and brought with them a night to remember.

“The Rocket Man” Craig Vosbergen took the honors in round one of the DJ Pools/New Style Homes Dirt Late Model Southern Nationals in a spectacular thirty lap final that ran the entire race distance without a stoppage.

Vosbergen driving the Worldwide Machinery/AA Race Engines/Hoosier/Rocket started the night out the same way he finished, racing away to the first heat win in front of “The Throttle Stomper” Warren Oldfield and “The Offshore Flyer” Mark Mathews.

Heat number two saw “The Black Knight” Ryan Halliday stepped up the pace to defeat Nationals Champion “The Dark Horse” Brad Ludlow with “The 0 Show” Brad Blake finishing up in third.

Again in heat three Vosbergen blew the doors off the opposition now driving the Doug Drown #12 Rocket that Team Vosbergen campaigned while Doug was visiting Australia downing “Young Gun” Jay Cardy and local driver Glenbrae Haytrans pilot Matt “The Missile” Noakes making it two wins from two starts

The fourth and final heat had Brad Ludlow skip away to an early lead posting the fast lap for the night on his way, a 15.78 second lap around the Narrogin circuit to beat Blake in second and “Shorty” Ben Ludlow in third.

The top six point scorers were matched in a dash to decide start positions for the final with the unbeaten Vosbergen starting from pole with Brad Ludlow out of position two. Vosbergen and Ludlow raced into turn one side by side with Ludlow grabbing the advantage into the back straight to inflict the first defeat of the night on Vosbergen, Brad Blake took advantage of a stoppage to claw his way forward to finish third with Oldfield rounding out the top four on the start grid.

The final, scheduled for thirty laps was soon under caution with Ray Hale spinning his car across the start finish line, without a lap completed a full restart was called with Vosbergen and Ludlow once again side by side into the first corner, Vosbergen speared his car into the race lead as drivers moved onto the back straight for the first time with Ludlow tracking his every move. With just six laps completed Vosbergen started to come across lapped traffic, as Ludlow diced with slower cars and tried to keep the race leader in sight, Blake seized the opportunity as Ludlow was checked by a slower car and grabbed second.

As Vosbergen continued to lap traffic Blake closed to within a couple of car lengths of the race leader, and with only four cars left on the lead lap Vosbergen, Blake and Ludlow found themselves all together with just a few laps to run and despite some pressure from Blake in the closing stages of the final lap Vosbergen withstood the challenge to take the win from Blake in second with the National Title Holder Ludlow finishing third, Warren Oldfield finished in fourth.

Round two of the DJ Pools/New Style Homes Southern Nationals moves to Bunbury City Speedway in front of one of the biggest crowds they will encounter in 2008 as they support the 11th annual Krikke Boys Race on Saturday Night march 1st.

For more on WA Dirt Late Models visit www.latemodelracingaustralia.com

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