Last Saturday night signalled not only the NSW V8 Dirt Modified Title at Hession’s Auto Parts Grafton Speedway, but also the commencement of the hotly-contested 5 Star Dirt Series, and it was Kevin Britten who got his series campaign off to a winning start, banking some extremely valuable points.
A former 5 Star Dirt Series Champion on two occasions, Queensland-based driver Britten, who is also the current and four-time Australian Champion, is eager to regain the mantle in the 2019-20 season and last Saturday night’s performance certainly saw him make considerable gains towards doing so.
Despite lining up on the outside of the third row for the 30-lap NSW Title-deciding feature race at the Grafton venue, Britten well and truly fronted up to the challenge in front of him, carving his way through the field and picking off his opponents one by one to eventually claim the first place prize.
Not quite able to hold off the eventual winner, Mark Robinson narrowly missed out on the victory after leading the majority of the race before being relegated to second place by Britten with just three laps remaining. While this was slightly disappointing for Robinson, past 5 Star Dirt Series performances have proven that he has what it takes to make amends and claim the overall crown.
Mitch Randall was pleased to get his series campaign off to a positive start, coming away with a podium result in third place, followed by pole-sitter Andrew Firth, who lost out to his rivals in the opening third of the race, slipping from first place back to fourth where he eventually finished.
Completing the top-five finishers was Lee Gorton, while Chris Polsen, Scott Cannon, Tim Luscombe, Zak Blanch (Qld) and Mark Connolly rounded out the remaining finishers.
Numerous drivers experienced a disappointing end to their NSW Title and first series round, but none more so than reigning 5 Star Dirt Series Champion Chris Corbett, who was hoping to hit the ground running after last season’s victory, but was forced to retire to the infield due to a myriad of mechanical issues that had plagues his night.
Suffering the same fate, Chris’ brother Dale Corbett joined him on the infield, as did former NSW Champion Andrew Pezzutti, Brayd Stevenson and Sam Bruggy.
The second 5 Star Dirt Series round is scheduled to take place on the Saturday night of January 25 at Lismore Speedway in New South Wales, which will double as the opening night of the Australia Day Cup.
Battling it out for the biggest prize yet, the 5 Star Dirt Series winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to 2020 Super Dirt Week in America.
Taking place over five nights at Oswego Speedway and surrounding tracks in New York, Super Dirt Week has been dubbed ‘racing’s biggest party’, attracting the best racers from throughout America and also internationally. To find out more, visit www.superdirtweek.com.
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2019-20 Season 5 Star Dirt Series Calendar:
January 25
Round 2, Australia Day Cup Night 1 – Lismore Speedway (Lismore, NSW)
February 8
Round 3, Queensland Title – Hi-Tec Oils Speedway (Toowoomba, Qld)
March 21
Round 4, Garden State Shield – Avalon Raceway (Geelong, Vic)
April 4
Round 5, Victorian Title – Heartland Raceway (Moama, NSW)
April 11
Round 6, WA Title – Augusta Margaret River Speedway (Margaret River, WA)
May 16
Grand Final – Archerfield Speedway (Brisbane, Qld)
