(Article by Archerfield Speedway)
The finale of the Inksane Queensland Midget Championship also served up plenty of memorable moments before Reid Mackay emerged the victor, having taken over the lead in the aftermath of a clash between Kaidon Brown and Matt Jackson that put both out of contention. In finishing second, Darren Vine continued his run as the only driver to appear on the podium in every Archerfield Midget event so far this season, while Cal Whatmore snared third spot ahead of Chris Singleton, with Charlie Brown surging from the back of the field (twice) to finish fifth.
Despite starting from the outside of row four, Kaidon Brown was untroubled in winning the first of the Midget heats, romping home by a sizeable margin as Bodie Smith and Zac McDonald filled the minor placings.
Heat two saw Brad Dawson hold firm at the front to defeat Matt Jackson and Matt O’Neill, with Darren Vine downing Reid Mackay and Darren Dillon in heat three after Sean Dyson threw away what looked a likely win when he tipped over in turn four.
A front row start gifted Brown another win in heat four, this time over Scott Doyle and Dawson.
Jackson downed Reid Mackay and Jordan Mackay in heat five, the latter only securing his position in the wake of a moment late in the race that saw Vine tapped into a spin by O’Neill in turn three.
The final heat proved problematic when the cars of Darren Dillon and Rusty Whittaker became entangled in turn two on the opening lap. Glen Arnold then looked to have the race in his keeping, only to spin himself out the lead with three laps remaining, enabling Cal Whatmore to grab a win over Chris Singleton and Nathan Mathers.
Having endured a miserable night thus far, Whittaker looked to have the B Main win secured, only to somehow find himself upside down in turn two on lap seven. Having also endured a horror night to this point, Charlie Brown would inherit the lead, and the race, taking Brodie Tulloch, Andy Hassan and Nick McDowell into the feature race with him.
Despite a distinct lack of racing for the NSW-based Kaidon Brown and Jackson, these two proved far too quick for the locals and quickly distanced themselves from the locals. A moment exiting turn four on lap 12 saw Arnold slip to third momentarily and allowed Brown to skip clear out front before a restart was called on lap 15 when Charlie Brown, who had climbed into the top ten from 17th, found himself stranded on the edge of the track in the back straight. As the laps wound down, Brown found himself under increasing pressure from Jackson and it was on lap 28 when the latter launched his bid for the lead. Jackson got a great run out of turn two and drew alongside Brown along the back straight. However, Brown refused to yield and his efforts to block the pass resulted in contact between the two cars that left Brown in a spin and Jackson on the infield. With just two laps remaining, Mackay now found himself in the lead and was able to able to keep Vine at bay to score his first state championship win. Whatmore finished a couple of seconds further back in third ahead of Chris Singleton, with the other Brown surging through the field again to finish fifth ahead of Dawson and Cody O’Connell, who made a good fist of his Midget debut. Nathan Mathers, Kaidon Brown and Brodie Tulloch completed the top ten, with Dyson and Jordan Mackay the only others to go the distance.
The next event at Archerfield Speedway is on Boxing Night (December 26) featuring round five of the East Coast Logistics Sprintcar Track Championship, along with Monster Trucks, Fireworks, TFH Archerfield Midget Series, Modlites and Lightning Sprints.
