Manders On The Pace In Darwin
Author : Ken Brown

MANDERS ON THE PACE IN DARWIN
Anybody in the know will tell you that driving a powerful 410 cu.in. Sprintcar is not easy.
Kaiden Manders, the man behind the wheel of the J&S Drilling #60 projectile, accepts that fact and showed he is a quick learner over the final weekend of the Chariots of Thunder Series at the Northline Speedway in Darwin.
On Friday night the 19 year old Manders started first in his opening 10-lap heat race, took over the lead midway through the event and set the fastest lap time of 11.989 seconds.
Next time out he raced from position 10 in the field to cross the line an impressive fourth.
These results saw him start out of position 4 in the 20-lap main event.
He maintained that spot until around lap 12, then move up to third.
However a spin with five laps remaining saw him drop back to finish twelfth.
The following evening saw Manders start fourth in his first heat and quickly take over third place.
The second heat saw him start sixth and finish fifth.
In the 30-lap main event - the final of the NT Championship - Manders started from eighth position, but contact with another car dropped him back through the field.
He kept at it and worked his back to cross the line a creditable sixth, just missing out on fifth spot.
Manders ended up eighth (out of 31 drivers) in the Chariots of Thunder Series pointscore.
He commented after the final race.
"We had really great car speed over the weekend. The first night we were on track for our second podium until unfortunately I had a spin with 5 laps to go. This put us behind a bit for the next night, and contact at the start of the feature sent us to the rear. Luckily I had a great car and managed to come back through to 6th just missing out on a top 5 going across the line. I can't thank everyone that helped the J&S team enough for everything they did over our Darwin trip. I feel like I learnt a lot about driving 410's in a very short amount of time, and I can't wait for our summer season to start."

The J&S Drilling W60 team wish to acknowledge the support of their loyal sponsors who enable us to keep on racing.
Many thanks to – Non Stop 24hr Fitness, Neptune Skip Bins, PJW Haulage, S&J Excavations and Mandurah Bolt Supplies, Cowara Contractors.

Press Release
Prepared for J&S Drilling by Ken Brown
0421173271


IMAGE by Sphynx Photography