Nigel O'Neill Claims maiden and Well Over due PCR feature!

Saturday the 17th of September saw the opening round of the Sydney Street Stockers at PCR for season 05/06. There was some tight close racing throughout the night on a track that was nice and hooky but fairly rough.

The first heat brought out a field of 17 cars. Brian Reed (#46) won the first heat from Glen Hoogewaerts (#11) and Glen Mitchell (#41) 3rd. Mitchell was hot on the heels of Reed but suffered a flat tire on the last lap but still managed to cross the line in 3rd spot.

Nigel O'Neill #9 in full flight
Photo by www.stillshots.com.au

Heat 2 saw Bryan Foyle (#6) start off pole and take the lead as soon as the green flag dropped to let everyone else fight out for the remaining positions. John Smith (#91) and Glen Mitchell battled it out for the remainder of the heat but Mitchell was quick to retrieve the second place spot after missing out in the previous heat.

The third and final heat saw current track champion Tim Bink (#1) start off the front row next to Nigel O’Neill (#9). The pair swapping positions several times before O’Neill took the chequered flag from Bink and a hard charging Richard Elliot (#7).

The top ten was inverted for the feature race which saw the ever improving pair of Greg Cook (#40) and Glen Hoogewaerts (#11) starting from the front row. Going four wide into turn 1, John Smith got a slight tap just at the wrong time sending him on a huge bicycle through turn 1, showing everybody the underside of the immaculately presented 91 commodore, but luckily after splitting the pack on two wheels he came back down on all four on the trotting track in turn two, his race literally over as all the field had cruised by. From there Brian Reed slotted into the early lead from position four while Tim Bink, Shane Carlson (#25) and Nigel O’Neill all battled it out from further back down the pack edging there way to the front with each lap. First Bink and then O’Neill passed Reed leaving him with his hands full with Shane Carlson hot on his heels, at the same time O’Neill started applying the pressure to Bink. Within a lap or two O’Neill took the lead and despite Bink's best efforts came home with his well over due and 1st PCR feature race win with Shane Carlson taking 3rd from Reed who came home 4th and Richard Elliot in 5th. All up it was a top nights racing from all the guys on a less then ideal track. The next round for the stockers is at PCR on the 8th of October.