Britten defends NSW title crown
It certainly wasn’t easy, but five-time and current Australian V8 Dirt Modified Champion Kevin Britten last Saturday night at Hession’s Auto Parts Grafton Speedway managed to successfully defend his NSW V8 Dirt Modified Title.
After winning last season’s NSW Title at Grafton Speedway, the 440-metre track is becoming quite a happy hunting ground for the Brisbane, Queensland-based Britten. However, despite last Saturday night’s impressive win, he had to fend off various challenges throughout the 30-lap event by arch rival and Lismore racer Mark Robinson, which made the win all the more satisfying after the pair had shared the front row of the feature race together.
Despite his best efforts, Robinson had to once again play second fiddle to Britten, after the former NSW Title holder finished second to Britten in last season’s NSW Title and ran second to him in the Queensland Title earlier this season.
Former Australian Champion Scott Cannon, from Maitland in NSW, put in his best performance of the season to round out the podium finishers in third place behind winner Britten and runner-up Robinson.
Andrew Firth flew the flag high for the locals by finishing just off the podium in fourth place, but despite missing out on a spot on the podium he was rapt with his performance up against the country’s best V8 Dirt Modified racers.
Another local in Joshua Rose managed to charge from position 12 to greet the chequered flag in fifth place ahead of youngster Zak Blanch, Chris Corbett, Luke Dunn, 2009 NSW Champion Phil McNamara and local Christopher Polsen in 10th. Corbett was very impressive throughout the early stages of the feature race by running right up there with the top-five runners up until he spun out. Forced to restart at the rear of the field, the defending 5 Star Dirt Series Champion worked his way back to finish up in seventh.
The remaining NSW Title finishers were Brent Hall, Colin O’Toole and Scott Quirk.
When it came to the hard-luck stories of the NSW Title, front runners David Clark, Andrew Pezzutti and Mitchell Randall were unable to bring home a solid result due to misfortune during the feature race. Other premature exits in the feature race included Trent Scofield, Marley Weller and Darren Tindal.
Earlier in the night, the heat-race action resulted in wins being shared between Chris Corbett, Kevin Britten, Andrew Firth, Zak Blanch, Mitchell Randall, Luke Dunn, Mark Robinson, Scott Cannon and David Clark.
The NSW Title, which doubled as the second round of the 5 Star Dirt Series, put on a spectacular display of racing in front of what was an impressive crowd that gathered at Grafton Speedway.
In the support class action, the feature races saw wins claimed by Jacob Jolley (Wingless Sprints), Luke Grey (RSA Street Stockers), Madison Harkin (Production Sedans), Brock Armstrong (RSA Four Cylinder Sedans), Justin Burr (Stock Rods) and Connor Reeves (RSA Junior Sedans).
The next race meeting on the 2020-21 season calendar at Grafton Speedway is going to be the Easter Spectacular over the Easter Long Weekend, which will see two nights of action on the Friday and Saturday nights of April 2 and 3.
Grafton Speedway would like to thank Hession’s Auto Parts for their support throughout the 2020-21 season. Based in Grafton, along with their new store location in nearby Coffs Harbour, Hession’s Auto Parts stock a wide range of parts and accessories at competitive prices.
For more information, please contact Grafton Speedway promoter You can also visit their website or LIKE them on Facebook by searching Grafton Speedway.