Carson Macedo is no stranger to racing Down Under. The 26-year-old from Lemoore, Calif., has been visiting Australia since 2015 when he first drove for the Sean and Felicity Dyson Motorsports team.
Macedo even managed to race in Australia in early 2022 after negotiating for months for an entry visa during the height of the COVID restrictions. His persistence has paid off with a series of victories that he has continued this season.
Macedo opened his account for Dyson Motorsports at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway, the inner-city venue running its last season after more than 40 years before being redeveloped for industrial use.
Contesting a round of the East Coast Logistics track championship in mid-December, Macedo was positioned in third placing behind locals, Luke Oldfield in the Advanced Mobility/BK Trading No. 17 and Randy Morgan in the Morgan Metal Corp no 54 in the opening laps on the 440 yards speedway. The 37-year-old Oldfield was the driver to beat, having won the first rounds of the series, and having qualified fastest on the night. He had also claimed the feature at the Hi-Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway in early December.
On lap nine, the American claimed the second position, before launching into the lead eight laps later. Morgan fell off the pace in the closing circuits of the 30-lap feature, allowing Oldfield to secure second, ahead of Aaron Kelly (Raw Metal Corp No. 7), Ryan Newton (NuTrend Quality Homes No. 66) and Jy Corbet (Castrol Edge/Corbett’s Group No 10).
Macedo repeated his domination at Sydney’s new Eastern Creek Speedway on New Year’s night.
Starting from pole at the purpose-built $70 million stadium, he dueled with Ian Madsen at the top of the track for much of the event before the visitor claimed a narrow.704 seconds victory.
Third in the 35-lap feature was Newton, who charged from 12th position in the grid.
Macedo wrote himself into the Australian record books as only the third driver to win both the midget and sprint car features on the same night in Sydney, when he charged from 16th on the grid to defeat Mitch O’Brien by over seven seconds. Nathan Smee rounded out the podium.
Only Ron Shuman and 10-time Australian Sprint Car champion Garry Rush had achieved the double on the same program previously.
Although the Australian ovals are smaller than many American tracks, Macedo has found the racing very similar.
“The race tracks are just really tight, little bullrings,” he said. “For the most part, most of its really the same.”
While Macedo was dominating in Sydney, Justin Sanders engaged in a two-night battle with Luke Oldfield at Archerfield. On Boxing Night, the Queenslander powered to the lead from Jy Corbet mid race to greet the checkered flag ahead of Sanders in the Motorguard Motorsports car, Newton and Randy Morgan.
Two nights later, the Californian turned the tables on Oldfield, grabbing the lead after a late race restart. Corbet was third, ahead of Morgan.
Sanders continued his winning form at Eastern Creek, Sydney, on Dec. 30, defeating Ian Madsen in the Patti’s Hire/DTM Motorsports car and reigning Australian champion Marcus Dumesny in the Valvoline sprinter, both of whom had won features at the Sydney venue in the previous two weeks. Macedo finished fourth.
“Being the first time here, everything just kind of aligned,” said Sanders after winning the 35-lap feature.
Sanders and Macedo will run more events in Brisbane and Sydney over the next two weeks before travelling south for the major features in Victoria and South Australia, culminating with the Grand Annual Sprint Car Classic at the end of January.