Having upgraded to a later model Troyer V8 Dirt Modified during the off season, Joshua Rose’s NSW # 43 Motortorque Automotive supported car recently carried him to what is his best result yet: a feature-race victory in the second and final Mr Modified Series round.
While he had experienced feature-race success in recent seasons with a pair of wins at his home track Grafton Speedway, the 20-year-old racer hadn’t yet bee
n able to prove himself in a major event, and what better way to realise that achievement than by doing so at Lismore Speedway, which is considered one of the hotbeds for V8 Dirt Modified racing.
Following a consistent run throughout qualifying in the hotly-contested final Mr Modified Series round, his fifth race meeting of the season, Rose was sitting fifth highest in points; however, due to a top-eight grid inversion, he started the 40-lap feature race from position four.
Although the track was hooky in the early stages, Rose and his team’s decision to opt for a slick setup quickly paid off, with the track conditions changing dramatically by lap 10, which was when Rose was able to make his move for the lead. From there, he was never headed, going on to collect the first major victory of his career.
“We’ve had a couple of wins before, but this one was by far the biggest for us because of the talented company we were in,” said the Grafton, NSW-based driver, who ended up fifth overall in the final Mr Modified Series point standings.
“The difference this season has definitely been upgrading our car. Not only have I felt a lot more comfortable in it, we’ve been able to work on setup a lot more and make changes to suit the track conditions better, which played a massive part in this big win.”
Achieving such a significant victory will no doubt to a world of good for Rose’s confidence, particularly heading into the Australian Championship, which will take place at Toowoomba’s Hi-Tec Oils Speedway in Queensland on January 18 and 19. Having enjoyed an encouraging outing at Hi-Tec Oils Speedway back in November, Rose is hoping to be a top-five contender.
For the remainder of the season, Rose plans to contest as many of the remaining 5 Star Dirt Series rounds as possible, as well as local race meetings at Lismore Speedway and Grafton Speedway tracks.
Rose would like to thank the following 2018-19 season sponsors for their continued support: Motortorque Automotive, Burson Auto Parts – Grafton, TNT Towing, Snap-On Tools – Grafton, and Eagle Ignition Leads. He would also like to thank his mum and dad (Lisa and Geff), along with his pit crew Adam Reid, Simon Blandford, Nathan Diews and Wayne Killduff (Killer), and his girlfriend Kate Dunn.
To find out more about Rose, LIKE him on Facebook by searching Motortorque Racing.
