Going up against over 100 other drivers during last weekend’s Australian Wingless Sprint Championship on what they consider home soil at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway, the Storer brothers Luke and Daniel certainly did their family and team proud, with the pair coming away with top-10 results.
Backing up their 2017 Australian Championship campaign at Carrick Speedway in Tasmania where they proved that they were genuine contenders, with eldest of the two brothers Daniel rounding out the podium in third, while Luke came home 11th, the Portland, Victoria-based duo were once again in the mix this time around.
Qualifying on the outside of the third and fourth rows, lining up directly behind one another, Luke and Daniel were able to retain their starting positions throughout what was a chaotic 40-lap distance, eventually greeting the chequered flag in sixth and eighth respectively; a result they were quite content with.
“Finishing inside the top 10 amongst over 100 competitors is definitely not a bad result,” expressed Luke Storer.
“We had a few minor issues during the weekend which potentially hindered our chances of qualifying a bit closer to the front of the feature race, but we just took each race as it came and we made some really good progress Overall, we’re really happy to have been able to keep both of the cars straight and place them inside the top 10.”
Getting his Australian Championship weekend underway on Friday night with a pair of runner-up finishes in his heat races, Luke earned himself an inclusion in preliminary feature race one, starting out of position three. However, a slight miss with the setup, coupled with an injection problem, saw the 21-year-old racer slip back to sixth.
Fixing the injection issue and starting Saturday night’s competition underway in the best possible fashion with a win in his final heat race, Luke continued his winning fashion in the Mid-Pack Scramble to progress through to the A Scramble, where he determined his feature-race starting position by coming home in sixth.
Making his way up to third in the feature race, Luke did very well to hold his nerve amongst several the country’s heavy-hitters, but he wasn’t quite able to retain the podium position, dropping back to fifth where he remained until the last lap when he was pipped by Jason Bates at the finish line.
For Daniel, the opening night of competition went considerably well, with the 24-year-old driver picking up a win and a third in his heat races. This qualified him on the outside of the front row in preliminary feature race one where he managed to finish third, therefore locking him straight into Saturday night’s Australian Championship-deciding feature race.
While he began the A Scramble in fifth place, contact with another competitor unfortunately resulted in him slipping back to eighth, where he would start and finish the feature race.
“Top 10 is still a pleasing outcome to the weekend, but we would have liked to finish a bit higher as we think we definitely had the car to do so,” admitted Daniel.
“It was pretty special to race so closely with my brother throughout the whole weekend, and having both of us not only qualify for the feature race, but finish inside the top 10 is a real testament to the team and all of the hard work and preparation that they put in for the Australian Championship.”
The Storer brothers will be back in action this Saturday night at Mount Gambier’s Borderline Speedway for the fourth Super Series round. While Luke isn’t currently in contention for the Super Series point standings due to missing two earlier rounds, Daniel remains a front-running contender, having taken out round three at Geelong Avalon Raceway back in December.
The Storer Motorsport team would like to thank their 2018-19 season sponsors: Castrol Edge, Bill Storer Motors, Repco – Portland, The Royal Hotel – Portland, Allstar Graphics, Wurth Australia, and RPC Auto Electrical. Special thanks must go out to the team’s hard-working pit crew, along with all of their family and friends.
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