Ash Walsh snatches Dunlop Series pole

Ash Walsh has given himself a great chance to close the gap in the Dunlop Series title battle after securing pole position with a last ditch effort.

In a session full of incidents and controversy, Walsh stayed out of a trouble and grabbed pole by eight hundredths of a second with his last flyer.

Steve Owen will start alongside the Ford Falcon driver on the front row despite being caught up in a collision with Todd Hazelwood, which brought out a second red flag.

The vastly experienced Owen had held provisional pole at the time of the incident and he took no further part in the session.

Championship leader Dale Wood was third fastest just a tenth ahead of Jack Perkins, who topped both of Friday’s free practice encounters.

It was Perkins who edged the early exchanges as qualifying began with Triple Eight Racing Engineering’s Casey Stoner (Pirtek Holden) holding a place in the top six up until the halfway stage.

Owen made a slow start to the session due to smoke pouring from the rear of his Falcon, but a visit to the pits solved the issue.

He soon moved up to second once he found his rhythm.

The red flags flew for the first time at the halfway mark when Rodney Jane clouted the tyre wall hard at the chicane. This followed a 180 degree spin for Taz Douglas.

Shortly after qualifying resumed, Owen popped in a time to shoot to the top of the timesheets while Wood moved above Perkins into second.

With five minutes remaining, the session was halted for a second time following a collision between Owen and Hazelwood.

The two cars made contact at the chicane result in Hazelwood being pushed into the fence hard. Owen limped back to the pits and took no further part.

Walsh saved his best until the dying seconds of qualifying to snatch pole position from Owen by eight hundredths of a second. Wood eclipsed Perkins for fourth and will start directly behind his title rival.

Stoner’s early promise faded in the final quarter of the session and he will start from 13th on the grid.

See below for full Dunlop Series qualifying results