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Reigning Australian Champion Jack Goodyer has delivered a dominant display on the second night of the Chariots of Thunder series at Northline Speedway.
After and electrifying opening night, Night 2 presented a vastly different challenge in terms of track surface with a much drier, wider track that drivers all expected to slicken off much more quickly.
The top two finishers from each heat would transfer to the Dash, with the third and fourth placegetters going directly to the Feature race later in the evening.
Talent was on display from the opening heat, with Jock Goodyer, Luke Dillon, COT night one winner Brock Hallet and Victorian gun Grant Anderson all in action.
Hallet found himself in grief with Kale Quinlan, the latter getting upside down in turn one on lap one after wheel-to-wheel contact.
Repairs were required to the catch fence after the incident in which Quinlan walked away unscathed.
Dillon and Goodyer traded slide jobs, with Goodyer coming out on top and Anderson with a strong showing to transfer directly to the A main.
Callum Williamson and James Inglis were the standouts of Heat 2, with Todd Moule and Glenn Sutherland also filling the top four positions.
Another stacked field for the third heat would see Matt Egel, Ryan Jones, Ben Atkinson Jnr and Matt Dumsney in the front two rows with West Aussie star Jason Pryde further back from sixth.
Egel would convert the front row start to a convincing win, with Dumsney making his first feature race of the COT series by finishing second.
Tate Frost, who looked very fast on night one, continued his form into his heat race with a classy drive to win Heat 4 ahead of Jordan Charge.
The Dash, a race to decide the top eight starting positions in the A Main feature saw South Aussie Matt Egel make a sensational move from the second row to the lead, until a caution flew for a stricken James Inglis on the front straight.
Not much would change on the re-start, with Egel taking a commanding victory to secure pole for the feature race from Tate Frost, Callum Williamson, and Jock Goodyer.
“Took the lead on the back straight, being a short race on a fast track I didn’t really know where to run”, Egel said after the race.
“I thought the track might be a bit crumbly down low, and it’s all about momentum so I kept it high and played it safe”.
The B Main for the Sprintcars would see the top four cars transfer into the A Main Feature, which was straightforward until the red flag came out for a crash involving Dane Court.
Taylor Prosser was the class of the field, leading through several yellow flag periods to take the win, from Jason Pryde, with the final transfer positions taken by Hayden Brown and Mitch Wormall.
If Hallett was to go back-to-back after his success on night one, it was going to be from deep in the field starting from the 13th position, well behind the front row of Egel and Frost.
A messy start saw Tate Frost have half a spin in front of the field and was collected by Dumsney whose terrible run of luck continued through no fault of his own.
Frost was deemed to be the cause of the stoppage and sent to the rear of the field in the #T62.
Egel took the early lead, with Jock Goodyer in the Australia #1 moving up to second before another yellow, this time for Callum Williamson who got into the outside wall and was collected by Grant Anderson with nowhere to go, with the resulting damage taking both cars out of the race.
Matt Egel and Jock Goodyer went blow for blow, swapping between high and low lines to get through the traffic on a rapidly slickening racetrack.
With so many cars running the extreme high line around the wall, another caution was inevitable with Tate Frost ending on his side, a tough end to the night after such a strong start to the night for the 21-year-old Tasmanian.
With 15 to go, Goodyer made his move on Egel, and it was a decisive one, pulling out an immediate lead until another yellow flew, this time for Atkinson and Prosser who joined the temporary wrecking yard that the infield was becoming.
With 1 to go, the low line was the place to be, with Goodyer leading the way with Egel and Dillon in pursuit and that is the way they would finish Night two of Chariots of Thunder.
“I Just knew I had to be patient when I Passed Matt (Egel) to make sure I cleared him and he couldn’t get back past me”, Goodyer said after the race.
“It was a bit of a thinking game out there, I really had to think about what’s going on and how the racetrack develops”.
“It was a bit touchy with the fuel load we had on so I let it settle for the first part of the race, but I’m excited to see what we can do next weekend as well”.
The point score after two rounds sees Goodyer in front by only two points over Matt Egel, with Ryan Jones and Brock Hallett Tied a further two points back and Luke Dillion Rounding out the top five.
Round three of Chariots of Thunder kicks off at Northline Speedway next Friday night, with the series Grand Finale on Saturday night
