In a spectacular Hungry Jack’s Queensland Sprintcar Championship feature race on Sunday night (April 24), Luke Oldfield powered his Titan Garages Cool to a memorable win, having dominated the two nights of competition at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway. It is Oldfield’s first state championship win in Sprintcar competition, a victory both hard earned and thoroughly deserved. David Murcott motored into second spot ahead of Peter Lack, with Bryan Mann and Andrew Scheuerle rounding out the first five in the 35-lap championship decider.

In the Australian Modlite Championship, Terry Leerentveld successfully defended his title, although his win certainly did not come as easy as many expected with several drivers throwing down a challenge at various stages of the 20-lap feature race. A late surge from Sean Butcher carried him into second spot, with Aaron Seton completing the podium ahead of Aaron Prosser and Paul Hovey.
It was an inauspicious start to the evening when a couple of showers swept over the complex just prior to Sprintcar hot laps, however the weather cleared quickly and racing got underway in rapid time.

The opening Sprintcar heat of the night saw Brad Ayers lead all the way from the front, downing a couple of interstaters in Jimmy Matchett and Jake Tranter, while heat two fell the way of Matthew Butler over Victoria’s Peter Milnes and Allan Woods.

Although battling the flu, Brandon Rawlings raced to victory in heat three over Brent Aprile and Kevin Titman.

Heat four saw Milnes secure himself a spot in the feature field when he led home Paul Morris and Robbie Farr, who advanced from the fourth row.

Aprile annexed heat five from Oldfield, who also advanced from row four, with Matchett third on this occasion.

The final heat saw Butler double up to finish ahead of Consol Racing teammates Rawlings and Mitchell Gee.

The Pole Shootout saw Lack and Richard Morgan eliminated in the first round as Mann and Brent Kratzmann progressed to take on Murcott and Scheuerle. It was Murcott and Mann who advanced from this stoush to fight it out against Farr and Oldfield in the final round. Leaving his best until the last possible moment, Oldfield snatched pole position from Farr, with Mann and Murcott confined to the second row of the feature race grid.

There were a few missteps getting the B Main underway before things settled down with Aprile in command. Butler, Matchett and Morris grabbed the final transfer spots into the main event.
At the drop of the green it was Farr who won the sprint into turn one and subsequently led the opening stanza. After an untidy opening lap, Oldfield settled into second spot and was able to reel in Farr; the pair swapping slide jobs before a moment in turn two on lap nine resulted in Farr’s Hi-Tec Oils #7 pirouetting on its tail tank before tipping over, effectively ending his bid for a fifth win in this event. Oldfield assumed control from the restart and never looked likely to lose the lead from this point, riding the cushion perched very high on the track in his charge to the chequer. Murcott likewise faced little resistance in second spot, but there was certainly movement aplenty further back with dices raging through the field. Mann held third until relegated by Lack on lap 13, with Kratzmann surging into the top five at this stage, only to relinquish two spots in the latter stages of the race. Scheuerle eventually finagled fifth ahead of Darren Jensen and Kratzmann, with Mark Pholi finishing strongly to nab eighth. Titman and Butler maxed out the top ten, with Milnes, Aprile, Morris, Woods and Matchett also going the distance and greeting the chequer in that order. Farr made some progress from the rear before striking trouble again on lap 26 to join Tranter, Rawlings, Morgan and Gee on the infield.

The final round of heats for the Australian Modlite Championship resulted in wins for Scott Lehfeldt, Troy Evans and Dirt Modified maestro Kevin Britten.

Aaron Prosser pressed his championship credentials when he took out the Dash to secure pole position for the finale, leaving Leerentveld, Seton, Nathan Politch, Lehfeldt and Butcher in his wake.

Whilst Leerentveld powered to the lead at the drop of the green as was expected given his form across the weekend and throughout the season, Prosser applied plenty of pressure and it looked like an upset might be on the cards. However, every time Prosser looked like he might have the move made, Leerentveld found a way to stay ahead and it was only on the final lap of the race that Prosser was bumped from the podium when Butcher and Seton slipped ahead. Paul Hovey and Ben walker were the best of the rest, followed by Evans, Jac Carnall, Robert Hardy and Lehfeldt, who was running fourth until he spun himself out of contention with five laps remaining.

Following heat wins to Kirsty Kelly (2) and Peter Campbell, it was Keith Blatch who trumped a depleted field to win the Lightning Sprint feature race. Jeremy Hassall was a distant second, followed by the only other finishers in Campbell and Jayden Fraser.

More championship action at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway next Saturday night (April 30) when the Queensland AMCA Nationals Title will be decided, along with Polar Ice Midget Track Championship and Dirt Modifieds.