Everyone loves an underdog, and last Saturday night at Toowoomba’s Hi-Tec Oils Speedway, youngster Jayden Peacock demonstrated why, surprising even himself by driving to his maiden feature-race victory ahead of some stout competition in the third Ultimate Sprintcar Championship Queensland round.
When competing as a small team on a tight budget, it’s understandably difficult to remain consistently competitive when going up against some of the country’s most talented Sprintcar drivers, such as Robbie Farr. However, for Peacock and his team, competitive was an understatement over the weekend in what was only their second outing of the 2018-19 season.
Proving that anything is possible with hard work and determination, the 22-year-old racer carried solid pace throughout the event aboard his Qld # 77 Speedy Race Industries supported Cool car, not only coming away with his maiden feature-race spoils, but also being the only driver to break into the 11-second bracket while doing so.
“When you are up against much larger and more experienced teams on a regular basis, I often thought we’d have to be pretty lucky to win a feature race, but to do it through pure speed is an incredible achievement,” commented Peacock, who ran sixth in his first appearance of the season the previous weekend at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway.
“Our team might have started the season late but we have shown speed straight away, so goal is to continue to build on this form throughout the rest of the season and stay up the front.”
It was clear from the get-go that the Redcliffe, Qld-based racer and his team would be a force to be reckoned with during last Saturday night’s race meeting, following two hard-charging performances in his heat races which saw him come from position six in both to place second and first respectively.
Securing pole position for the 30-lap feature race after coming out on top in the Pole Shootout against Luke Oldfield, Peacock made the most of his start, immediately powering into the lead and remaining there for the majority of the distance.
Experiencing a slight hiccup in the latter stages of the race, Peacock ran wide, brushing the wall and allowing second-place challenger Lachie McHugh to take over the lead. However, this wasn’t for long, as the yellow lights illuminated, relegating McHugh to second place and returning Peacock to the front of the field.
While his contact with the wall did cause him to sustain some minor damage to the rear end, which resulted in added vibration throughout the car, that wasn’t enough to deny him of the victory.
Off the back of this achievement, the team will now shift their focus to World Series Sprintcar Speedweek, which will take place down south over five rounds throughout South Australia and Victoria during the Christmas-New Year period.
“The team and I are really looking forward to racing down south for Speedweek and this win has definitely given us some added confidence for when we head down there,” enthused Peacock.
For his next appearance, Peacock will be racing at Archerfield Speedway on November 24, followed by another race meeting at the track on December 8, and the fourth Ultimate Sprintcar Championship Queensland round at Hi-Tec Oils Speedway on December 15, before travelling south for the commencement of World Series Speedweek.
Peacock would like to thank the following 2018-19 season sponsors for their continued support: Speedy Race Industries (Aaron Broadbridge), Kellash Creek Pastoral Company, Kaeding Performance, Ford Wreckers – Redcliffe, J Peacock Painting, and Ash Media Speedway Footage.
Special thanks go to Peacock’s cousin and crew chief Aaron Broadbridge, Matt Black, Mark Farmer, Tyler Barton, John Cooley (Cool Chassis), Ken McNamara (KRE Race Engines), Glen Beaton, his dad Jeff, girlfriend Reannen, Nick, and Vicki.
To find out more about Peacock and his team, LIKE them on Facebook by searching Peacock Racing.
