As the big guns fought out the placing’s  Ballina’s Aaron Suffolk quietly slipped into the lead and marched away with the Motortorque Automotive V8 Dirt Modified Feature race at Grafton Speedway on Saturday night. 

A scorching hot day leading up to the event made track conditions less than ideal for the big V8s come feature race time. 

Suffolk in the Suffolk's Engines entry started on pole and jumped clear as his more fancied rivals Mortimer, Reynolds and Herne worked their way through the field. 

Mick McNamara (McNamara Engineering) moved into second but was soon relegated to third as Mortimer in the Car Sound Central entry made his move on the outside and set sail after Suffolk who was building a strong lead. 

With a handful of laps completed Rookie Rian Collier rolled in the Grandstand turn and that brought on the red lights to stop the race. 

Luckily Collier emerged physically unscathed but faced with a big repair bill on his unsponsored racecar. 

At the restart Mortimer tried to slide through on the inside but Suffolk held his line and the lead. Wayne Reynolds in the B. V. C. Modified had moved past McNamara into third and was making big inroads after the leaders as the Aussie Champ Stuart Herne in the Farmer Charlies racecar pulled out all the stops to also slip past McNamara and move into fourth. 

As Reynolds closed in on Suffolk and Mortimer the suspension failure that robbed him of the lead last week surfaced yet again to prematurely end his night. 

Queensland’s Ray Klarich joined the casualty list on the infield when he clipped the wall and spun out of contention. 

As the tow trucks removed Klarich’s car Herne now in third place retired with heating problems along with second placed Mortimer who was also having problems with the steamy conditions. 

With his challengers watching from the infield Ballina’s Aaron Suffolk recorded his first feature race win in the open division. McNamara who had driven a good race made one small mistake and paid the price when he hit the wall several laps from home to allow Lismore’s Steve Wright into second with Newcastle’s Tony Sneddon finishing third.

Leanne Rose who finished second in the feature race at Lismore last week went one better at her home track to take the win in the Streeters Feature race with John Wiblen second and Mark Philp third.

The Stockers Feature race was a wild and woolly affair but Grafton’s Robbie Gray jumped clear early in the race to keep out of trouble and take the win. 

Jimmy Williams tried hard to catch the big Ford but had to settle for second place but the drive of the race came from Lismore’s Steven Quirk who put in a Lazarus like effort to come back after being sent to the rear of the field to finish a close third.

NSW Champ Les Pepper dominated the Four Cylinder Feature with Mark Soward

Second and Steve Cox third.

Phil Corbett took the win in the Open Sedans with Rosemary Brinkworth second and Greg Pepper third.

Paul Reeves was first across the line in a hotly contested Junior Feature race with Jay Glass second and Alan Jarvis third.

The action now moves to Bartercard Lismore Speedway for the Northern Rivers Hotel Super Sedan Shootout on November 23rd. Also on the program that night are Production Cars, AMCA's, Stockers, Streeters, 4 Cylinders and Juniors. 7 classes of racing in one night.