Friday, 3 November 2006
NSR PR

Last Saturday night, the Nathan Smee Racing team travelled from Sydney, New South Wales to South Australia for Round 1 of the intense 2006-2007 Speedcar Super Series. Backing up from A main victory at their last outing, the team were ready for any new challenges bestowed on them at Riverview Speedway, Murray Bridge.

“The truck arrived on Thursday night and we were fixing it up to suit the midget and gear till 3.30 Friday morning” Smee explained. “John, Mick and Dave from Northwest Trucks haven’t stopped working on it over the last few weeks and I appreciate the massive amount of time and effort they have put in for us. We only had a couple of hours sleep on Friday before John, Dean and I headed out on the long drive to Murray Bridge”.

Arriving mid-Saturday morning, Smee and crew visited the facilities in preparation for the night’s event which is run under a different race format to regular Sydney shows. Here each driver competes in a 2-lap time trial, two 10-lap heats and depending on qualifying results; a pole shuffle, b and/or a main.

Hitting the track for the first time later that afternoon for time trials, Smee was under 2 laps of pressure to perform. With points awarded on each position, Smee captured 9th fastest time; only 0.004 seconds off first place, securing mid-field starts for the inverted fastest to the rear heats.
 

 

 

Lining up for his first heat, Smee took to the high side of the track sweeping past the front runners to capture the lead on the opening corner. Making headway on the pack, Smee kept his peddle to the metal for the 10-lap sprint before getting the car sideways on turn 4; hitting the infield allowing another competitor through for the lead. Back on track the chequered dropped with Nathan home in second.

The second heat was under way with an inside row starting position for the NSR team. Slipping out to the highline, Smee was into second position heading into the second corner. An intense battle for positions ensued with Speedcar #6 securing a fourth place finish result.

 

Qualifying into the pole shuffle on points tallied throughout the night, Smee grabbed 6th place on the starting grid for the A Main after an exciting 2-lap driver vs driver battle. But misfortune struck only four laps into the feature as Nathan felt the left rear tyre deflating on the N6 machine; later revealed to be caused by bleed off valve failure, forcing him to retire from the thirty lap event a lap later.

“I’m disappointed with out it all turned out, to come so far and finish on the infield after starting in 6th wasn’t the plan but this should be the end of our bad luck for the season” Smee said after the race. “Still, that was one of the best midget races I’ve seen; just wish I could have been out there with them. We’re racing at Mildura next week for the second round and I’ll definitely be out there mixing it up with the other guys!”

 

Fighting words from Nathan Smee Racing, be sure to head to Timmis Speedway, Mildura for Round 2 of the Speedcar Super Series; come to the pits and check out Speedcar #6!
 

QUICK RESULTS

TIME TRIALS	RESULT	FASTEST LAP TIME
	9	13.56 seconds

 

HEAT ONE	START POSITION	FINISH
	4	2

 

HEAT TWO	START POSITION	FINISH
	3	4

 

FEATURE	START POSITION	FINISH
	6	dnf

 

Nathan Smee Racing would like to thank their valuable Sponsors: