Carson Macedo and Justin Sanders proved the fastest of the American drivers racing in Queensland and New South Wales as the East Coast international series wound to a conclusion on Jan. 21.
Unseasonal rain produced by the lingering La Nina weather cycle once again played havoc with racing, severely truncating the final Australia-USA clash at Toowoomba.
The sell-out two-night meeting at the Tec-Oils Speedway, 90 miles west of Brisbane, attracted a number of American drivers, including Carson and Cole Macedo and Justin Sanders.
Also joining the fray was Aaron Reutzel following an on-again, off-again, on-again visit Down Under.
In late December, his Australian team, Saller Motorsports, said that “a technical glitch with given names [was] hindering the visa process.” In January, the team announced the visit had been cancelled, citing more problems with Reutzel’s visa application.
Eventually, Speedway Australia assisted the process, confirming a week ago that the American driver had obtained the appropriate entry permit for professional sports people, a Temporary Activity visa.
The two-night $70,000 Red Hot Summer Shootout at the Toowoomba Speedway was truncated on the final night when impending rain threatened to wash out racing.
Ian Madsen (DTM Motorsport) set the pace in the hot laps recording a 11.036-second run, ahead of Lachlan McHugh, Jock Goodyer and Steven Lines. The fastest American was Sanders at 11.635 seconds for the tight 410 yards speedway.
Carson Macedo (Dyson Motorsports) claimed one of the heats, as did the Dumesny brothers, Matt and Marcus, (Valvoline) and Ian Madsen, among others.
Queensland driver Cody Maroska (SRV Road Freight) prevailed in the first night preliminary feature, winning from Macedo and Brock Hallett (GW Racing).
Goodyer (Platinum Prints), McHugh (Leigh Smith Yachts/Western Trucking Group), Madsen and Sanders (Motorguard Motorsports) were next to finish the 25-lap event.
With rain closing in on the venue, race organizers decided to truncate the program on night two, restricting the races.
Maroske backed up for victory in the $20,000 to win feature, leading Madsen, Hallett, Goodyer and Carson Macedo to the flag.
Three days earlier, the sprint cars had journeyed 125 miles south of Brisbane to race at the Castrol Edge Lismore Speedway in northern New South Wales.
The smaller field of 28 cars included Justin Sanders in the Motorguard Motorsports car.
Racing on the almost circular 440 yards Lismore Showgrounds, McHugh recorded the fastest hot lap time ahead of Brock Hallett, Sanders, Madsen, Brooke Tatnell (Qauntum Quartz/Albert Rd Store) and Goodyer.
The heat wins were shared by Sam Walsh (Rocket), Randy Morgan (Morgan Metal Corp), Madsen, Tatnell, Sanders and McHugh before a 20-car field fronted for the Lismore Nissan final.
McHugh and Luke Oldfield (Advanced Mobility/BK Trading) led from the start of the 35-lap final until Oldfield hit the wall on turn one, ending his race.
Marcus Dumesny also bounced into the wall, ending his chances of victory, although he was able to restart from the rear.
McHugh outlasted a fast-finishing Brock Hallett by .063 seconds to claim victory.
Sanders was third, ahead of Madsen, Tatnell, Goodyer and Morgan.
With the conclusion of the international features in the northern states, the sprint car teams departed on their 1,100 mile journey south for this week’s races in Victoria and South Australia.