It was a challenging but encouraging weekend for Ben Atkinson, who was plagued with misfortune over the opening two nights of the Chariots of Thunder at Darwin’s Northline Speedway.

Atkinson showed solid pace in the Xtreme Motorsport-owned Austec Irrigation/Roller Door Services NT-backed ACT # 2 Maxim on Friday night for the Darwin Title, scoring second in his opening heat race. In his final heat race, Atkinson came together with another car while battling for fourth position, causing him to drop back to sixth.

Starting out of position eight for the 25-lap feature race, Atkinson managed to work his way up into third by lap 15, where he remained until contact with a lapped car saw both cars sustain damage, forcing the drivers to prematurely retire from the race.

The following night in the Pope 65 Bob Ekins Memorial, Atkinson finished second and third and his heat races, both from position six.

After winning the pole shuffle, as the highest point scorer, Atkinson opted to start from the outside of the front row for the 30-lap feature race; however, in the process of recovering from a slow start in fourth, he collided with a lapped car who was crashing, which brought his run to a premature end for the second night in a row.

“The speed was definitely there, we just had a bad run of luck this weekend,” enthused Atkinson.

“We’re looking very forward to returning to Northline this weekend for the NT Title and we’ll be hoping to capitalise on our pace and finish up the front.

“I’d like to give a huge thanks to Jamie (O’Neill) for letting me run his car and the Xtreme Motorsport team for all of their help over the weekend.”

This Friday and Saturday night, will see Atkinson and the Xtreme Motorsport team return to Northline Speedway for the two-night running of the Northern Territory Title.

The Xtreme Motorsport team would like to thank their 2016 season supporters: Austec Irrigation, Roller Door Services NT, Build Up Crane Hire, Repco - Pinelands, Tap & Drain Doctor, The Tan Van, Sign City, Xtreme Garden Care, and Grizzly Dyno Shocks.

To find out more about Xtreme Motorsport, visit their website at www.xtrememotorsport.com.au, or LIKE them on Facebook by searching Xtreme Motorsport.