AJ Lawrence’s 2019-20 season campaign took a pleasing turn for the better during last Saturday night’s Paige McCarthy-Beard Memorial at Mildura’s Timmis Speedway following his triumphant debut with a newly acquired VF Holden Commodore.
After battling a range of mechanical issues aboard his VY Holden Commodore for much of the season so far, the 17-year-old racer and his team decided to upgrade their equipment, which saw them debut this new car on the weekend and make a near 10-hour drive to Timmis Speedway.
From the opening heat race, Lawrence and his team’s efforts were rewarded with their night getting off to a winning start. After that, he finished second in his second heat race and then backed it up with another win in the third and final heat race.
By virtue of those three strong heat-race performances, Lawrence headed into the Pole Shuffle as the second highest point scorer behind Morris Ahearn, but he was defeated by Ahearn and started the 30-lap feature race from the outside of the front row.
In the Paige McCarthy-Beard Memorial feature race, which saw 15 laps run clockwise and then the final 15 laps go anti-clockwise, Lawrence, from Traralgon in the Gippsland region of Victoria, proved too strong for his rivals throughout both of the 15-lap events and went on to score a commanding win.
For Lawrence, he couldn’t have been happier with how his debut night of the VF Holden Commodore transpired.
“My new Holden Commodore was on the pace from the beginning of the night through to the end of the feature race, and, to be honest, I pretty much couldn’t have asked for a better night,” expressed Lawrence.
“So far this season I’ve struggled to put a whole night together, due to a range of mechanical issues with the previous car, and it was a great relief to be able to do that on the weekend and hopefully that can continue for the rest of the season.”
The next event for Lawrence is going to be the NSW Street Stocks Title on the Saturday night of March 14 at Moama’s Heartland Raceway on the NSW-Victoria boarder. Following this event, he will contest the Victorian Title at Hamilton’s Western Speedway on March 27 and 28, and then the National Title at Latrobe Speedway in Tasmania on April 9, 10 and 11. After this major events, Lawrence plans to run the remaining two rounds of the Victorian Street Stock Series, where he sits fourth in the current point standings, at Swan Hill’s Sonic Speedway on April 25 and then Alexandra Speedway on May 9.
Lawrence would like to thank his 2019-20 season sponsors:
Ramsdale Wreckers & Mechanical
Gippsland Race & Street
Arrow Line Marking
LV Core & Saw
Drouin Tyre & Battery Service
Special thanks go to his mum and dad: Kerry and Darron, pit crew member Shane, and the rest of his family and friends.
To find out more about Lawrence and his team, LIKE them on Facebook by searching Lawrence Family Racing.
