Reigning NSW Champion Nathan Smee stormed to victory lane on Saturday to capture the 40 lap SSS Masters event at Charlton Raceway ahead of series leaders Mark Brown and Troy Jenkins!

Qualifying from the front row alongside Smee, pole sitter Mark Brown grabbed the lead at the drop of the green, followed by Smee, Troy Jenkins, Queensland’s Kelvin Hamilton, New Zealand’s Jimi Quin and West Aussie Dene McAllan.

Brown shot away from the pack leaving the swarm of mighty Midgets to battle it out behind him; McAllan making his way through the talented pack into 4th by 4 laps down. By ten laps in the top five cars had streaked away with a full straightaway gap back to 6th position.

Lapped traffic came onto the scene ten laps in; with Brown and Smee weaving their magic through the pack as Jenkins held off tough challenges from McAllan and Hamilton.

Smee meanwhile had used his smooth run through traffic to regain the lost distance on race leader Brown; the duo nose to tail for some laps before Smee shot to the low line of both Brown and a lapped car to grab the lead entering turn one! Smee took the lapped car to his advantage; the car providing an effective buffer as he screamed away to a 6 car length lead!

With fifteen laps remaining Smee, Brown and Jenkins had made a steady advance away from the field and continued to lap traffic ahead of them on the difficult race-hardened Charlton surface; Smee now with a main straightaway lead.

But the road to glory is never easy as with only 5 laps remaining, Smee again approached lapped traffic (the 6th & 7th running cars) allowing Brown to make up some serious lost ground! Tagging on the back of the lapped car separating him from Smee in the lead, Brown shot to the low line through turns three and four with two laps remaining, but the available space was limited; seeing the Browndog balked up on the to the edge of the infield!

One lap later Smee took the $3,000 SSS Masters prizemoney cheque, claiming the 40 lap flag to flag win from Brown, Jenkins, McAllan, Hamilton, NSW’s Jason Gates (from the B main!), QLD’s Ken Stanaway and Jeremy Hassell, NSW’s Peter Bourke (also from the B), with Victoria’s Peter Ghent Jnr rounding out the top ten placings.

Kiwi Midget star Jimi Quin claimed The Speedway Shop Quicktime Award with a 14.382 second lap, whilst Mark Brown was victorious in the always spectacular Pole Shuffles.


TIME TRIALS:

1 - q12 - Jimi Quin - 14.382
2 - w21 - Dene McAllan - 14.409
3 - q81 - Darren Jenkins - 14.454
4 - n11 - Mark Brown - 14.514
5 - q48 - Kelvin Hamilton - 14.63
6 - q8 - Sean Burrows - 14.722
7 - q2 - Jeremy Hassell - 14.775
8 - q39 - Shane Heathcote - 14.922
9 - v3 - Peter Ghent Jnr - 14.946
10 - n70 - Ben Wiese - 14.959
11 - q29 - Ken Stanaway - 14.978
12 - n6 - Nathan Smee - 15.029
13 - q14 - Mick Harders - 15.056
14 - n69 - Jason Gates - 15.165
15 - n78 - Troy Jenkins - 15.189
16 - q16 - Mark George - 15.199
17 - n27 - Peter Bourke - 15.204
18 - q51 - Darren Dillon - 15.221
19 - q75 - Barrie Valentino - 15.281
20 - n75 - Troy Jordan - 15.309
21 - q67 - Grant Draney - 15.324
22 - n98 - Glenn Revell - 15.522
23 - q41 - Brendan Palmer - 15.621
24 - s46 - John McKay - 15.621
25 - q99 - Brock Dean - 15.65
26 - q49 - Murray Robinson - 16.183
27 - q79 - Rob Mackay - 16.295
28 - q76 - Neale Tobin - 16.397
29 - n26 - Tony Abson - NO TIME
30 - n67 - Matt Young - NO TIME
31 - q21 - Bill Foreman - NO TIME
32 - q47 - John McLaughlin - NO TIME

HEAT 1:
1. Troy Jenkins, 2. Nathan Smee, 3. John McKay, 4. Grant Draney, 5. Sean Burrows, 6. Darren Jenkins, 7. Matt Young, 8. Peter Ghent Jnr, 9. Neale Tobin, 10. Darren Dillon

HEAT 2:
1. Kelvin Hamilton, 2. Dene McAllan, 3. Brendan Palmer, 4. Tony Abson, 5. Ken Stanaway, 6. Murray Robinson, 7. Troy Jordan, 8. Shane Heathcote DNS Peter Bourke & Jason Gates

HEAT 3:
1. Mark Brown, 2. Glenn Revell, 3. Brock Dean, 4. Mick Harders, 5. Jeremy Hassell, 6. Jimi Quin, 7. Barrie Valentino, 8. Mark George, 9. Ben Wiese, 10. Rob Mackay, 11. Bill Foreman

HEAT 4:
1. Brendan Palmer, 2. Grant Draney, 3. Troy Jenkins, 4. Ken Stanaway, 5. Matt Young, 6. Peter Bourke, 7. Kelvin Hamilton, 8. Peter Ghent, 9. Neale Tobin. DNF Darren Jenkins

HEAT 5:
1. Nathan Smee, 2. Brock Dean, 3. Darren Dillon, 4. Mick Harders, 5. Jeremy Hassell, 6. Jimi Quin, 7. Barrie Valentino, 8. John McKay, 9. Rob Mackay. DNF Sean Burrows

HEAT 6:
1. Mark Brown, 2. Glenn Revell, 3. Mark George, 4. Dene McAllan, 5. Jason Gates, 6. Tony Abson, 7. Ben Wiese, 8. Shane Heathcote, 9. Murray Robinson, 10. Barrie Valentino, 11. Bill Foreman.

POLE SHUFFLE:

JIMI QUIN VS TROY JENKINS = TROY JENKINS
TROY JENKINS VS NATHAN SMEE = NATHAN SMEE
NATHAN SMEE VS KELVIN HAMILTON = NATHAN SMEE
NATHAN SMEE VS MARK BROWN = MARK BROWN

POLE SHUFFLE WINNER: MARK BROWN

NOTE: Track closed gates on Jeremy Hassell, Sean Burrows and Dene McAllan due to not being on the grid on time.

B MAIN:
1. Jason Gates, 2. Brock Dean, 3. Peter Bourke, 4. Mark George, 5. John McKay, 6. Troy Jordan, 7. Tony Abson, 8. Barrie Valentino, 9. Neale Tobin, 10. Matt Young, 11. Murray Robinson, 12. Rob Mackay.

A MAIN RESULTS:

1 - n6 - Nathan Smee
2 - n11 - Mark Brown
3 - n78 - Troy Jenkins
4 - w21 - Dene McAllan
5 - q48 - Kelvin Hamilton
6 - n69 - Jason Gates
7 - q29 - Ken Stanaway
8 - q2 - Jeremy Hassell
9 - n27 - Peter Bourke
10 - v3 - Peter Ghent Jnr
11 - q41 - Brendan Palmer
12 - q39 - Shane Heathcote
13 - q67 - Grant Draney
14 - q14 - Mick Harders
15 - q99 - Brock Dean
16 - n98 - Glenn Revell
17 - q16 - Mark George
18 - n70 - Ben Wiese
19 - q12 - Jimi Quin
20 - q8 - Sean Burrows