A lack of familiarity with either the track or the race car he was driving wasn’t enough to prevent South Australian Chad Ely from starring in the opening weekend of the Top End Challenge for 360 Sprintcars.

In what was his Northline Speedway (Darwin, NT) debut and his first drive aboard the Nick Halkitis-owned car, the current Australian Champion managed to overcome a slow start on the opening night and go on to dominate the second and final night, which doubled as the Cadillac Transport supported Darwin Title.

The opening night of the Darwin Title started with qualifying time trials. At the completion of time trials, it was local favourite Jason McIver who topped the time sheets.

In the heat races, wins were shared between Danny Porter, Ben Atkinson, Ely and Halkitis. The 20-lap preliminary feature race resulted in Atkinson dominating proceedings. After being the highest point score heading into the feature race, Atkinson powered to the lead from the outset and went on to pace the field for the entire distance. At the fall of the chequered flag, he scored a comfortable win. After some tough runs in the earlier heat races, McIver, who had started the preliminary feature race from deep in the field (position 13), charged his way through the field to finish in second place behind Atkinson.

Ely was making gains with every outing and he finished the opening night by rounding out the podium finishers in third. The top-five finishers were completed by Porter and Steven Ling. Daniel Evans (SA), Zac Farrer (Vic), Mark King and Yoshi King were the remainder of the finishers.

The hard-luck stories of the preliminary feature race were Halkitis (engine failure) along with Dale Giffin and South Australian Jed Bell. The latter two were involved in a crash together earlier in the night, but managed to return for the preliminary feature race, but were unable to finish. In the second round of heat races, rookie Tim Woolfe crashed out of contention, and it consequently brought his weekend to a premature end.

The second and final night saw a remaining two rounds of heat races and the feature race. Ely (x 2), McIver and Atkinson scored the heat-race wins. Atkinson’s win in the final heat race consolidated his top position in the points standings heading into the feature race.

Atkinson decided to start from position two in the 30-lap feature race, which saw the second highest point scorer Ely start from pole position. In what was a position that Ely took full advantage of, he powered to the lead from the drop of the green flag, and stayed out in front all the way through to the finish.

Despite his best efforts, Atkinson was unable to deny Ely of the front running spot and had to settle for second. It was yet another hard-charging drive from McIver. After starting from position 11 in the field, he managed to fight his way through the field to finish in third on the podium. Outside the podium finishers were Halkitis, Farrer, Evans, Bell, Ed Trutwin (WA), Mark King and Griffin in 10th. The non-finishers were Ling, Porter and Yoshi King.

The second and final weekend of the Top End Challenge, which doubles as the HB Concrete supported Northern Territory Title, will return to Northline Speedway this Friday and Saturday night (August 29 and 30).

To find out more about the Top End Challenge, visit www.nt360sprintcars.com.au or contact Jason McIver on 0408 818 544.