Despite having contested only five race meetings since joining the Speedcars class at the beginning of the season, Harley Smee is enjoying a great introduction to the class, most recently picking up a podium finish in last Saturday night’s Queensland Title at Lismore Speedway.
It’s been a whirlwind introduction to the class for the 23-year-old racer, who has so far collected three minor podium finishes from five feature-race starts, with the first two taking place at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway (second) and Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway (third).
In what was his first visit to the 400-metre showground track, Smee quickly demonstrated that his lack of Speedcar experience wouldn’t be too much of an issue for him.
Starting out of position 10 for the 30-lap feature race, the pilot of the NSW # 57 CEJN / Chief Fluid Systems supported Eagle powered Spike car, which is owned by his uncle Nathan Smee, immediately moved into sixth from the drop of the green flag, before taking over fifth at mid-race distance. From there, he set about chasing down the leaders, eventually coming away with a pleasing third-place finish.
The podium was made even more special for Smee, who was able to share it with eventual race winner Nathan.
“Picking up a state title podium this soon after stepping into Speedcars and also being able to share the podium with my uncle and car owner is a great result,” said Smee, who had a consistent run throughout the qualifying events, placing third and fourth in his heat races.
“It’s been a really positive transition into the class so far and I’m definitely getting more comfortable in the car, which is reflected in our results. I made a couple of small errors in the heat races which caused me to slip back, so for the rest of the season I’ll be focusing on how to capitalise on my heat races to give myself better feature-race starting positions.”
For his next appearance, Smee, from Chipping Norton in the south-west of Sydney (NSW), will be racing back at Valvoline Raceway on the Saturday night of February 2.
Smee would like to thank his 2018-19 season sponsors: CEJN (Marcus and Jennifer St Vincent), Chief Fluid Systems (Glen and Mandy Haddon), Allforms Sheet Metal, TFH, American Tire & Racing Services, Expo Plumbing, Brad Murphy Building, Tidy Kitchens and Joinery, Badass Graphics, Turk Motors, Che Che’s Pizza, and Hairyman Brewery.
Special thanks go to his uncle Nathan Smee, his grandfather Gordon Smee, his crew members Chris, Glen and Darren, and his girlfriend Bonnie.
To find out more about Smee and his team, LIKE them on Facebook by searching Five-7 Racing or FOLLOW them on Instagram by searching @teamfive7.
