Former Track Champion comes out of retirement to take the win in wife’s car.
Story by Melinda Reiher

On an overcast but very muggy night at Parramatta City Raceway, Sydney Street Stockers took on Round 3 of their Championship with 20 cars ready to rumble and praying the rain will hold out for the night.

With split heats on the agenda for the night, Heat 1 saw Leigh Bourke (#69) and Round 1 winner Nigel O’Neill (#9) start on the front row with Andrew Tyma (#20) and Warren Gillespie (#27) on the second row. Bourke got the jump on O’Neill going into the first corner and a hard charging Tim Bink (#1), who started back in 10^th, quickly caught up to Bourke and O’Neill to take them on. Eventually O’Neill and Bink managed to pass Bourke, which left him to fight it out with Richard Elliot (#7), John Smith (#91) and Tyma for third spot. Smith and Elliot were constantly swapping positions to try to take on a fast Bourke. O’Neill took out the first heat from Bink, Bourke, while Smith edged his way past Elliot for fourth.  

Photo's Supplied by www.stillshots.com.au

Heat 2 saw Bryan Foyle (#6) take the lead from Graham Arnold (#37) into the first corner, with a former track champion coming out of retirement, Ray Healey loaning his wife’s #29 Falcon charged through the pack to pass Foyle on the first lap. But due to ‘out of retirement jitters’ Healey ran wide on turn 2 letting half the field pass him before making another charge back up to the front to battle it out with the fast contenders. Lap 4 saw the yellows come out as the #25 Falcon of Shane Carlson (who was allowed to start rear of the field after missing his first heat due to his brothers wedding) stopped on the back straight. For the rest or the race, Glen Mitchell (#41) got a clean run on the restart leaving Brian Reed (#46), Bryan Foyle, Richard Elliot and Leigh Bourke to battle it out for the second spot. Elliot was able to pass Reed and Foyle to challenge Mitchell for the lead. The two swapping places at every turn but Elliot won Heat 2 over Mitchell, while a very close battle saw Foyle and Reed make slight contact battling for third over the finish line, with Leigh Bourke and Ray Healey coming home in 5^th and 6^th place.

Third and final heat saw John Smith and Brian Reed off the front row. Reed took the lead as the green flag dropped with Tim Bink and Ray Healey catching up to do battle with him. Bink managed to pass Reed around the highline and that was the last they saw of Bink as he took a lead on the field. Shane Carlson passed the likes of Ray Healey and John Smith to take on Reed but ran out of laps as Bink took the win followed by Reed, Carlson, Smith, Healey and Foyle.

Feature race time saw 17 out of 20 cars start the 12-lap battle. Andrew Tyma and Ray Healey paraded the front row as Bryan Foyle and Glen Mitchell had the second row. As soon as the green flag dropped Healey was off and not looking back. Leigh Bourke charged up to 2^nd from 6^th spot with Tim Bink to challenge Healey. Bink pulled off a pass leaving Bourke to battle it out with 3 front running Holdens in Foyle, Reed and Elliot. The yellows came out on lap 5 with Robert Swain (#17) spinning in turns 3 and 4. The night ended for John Smith and Nigel O’Neill as they both headed back to the pits with car dramas. With everyone bunched up for the restart, Healey and Bink took off, while Bourke pulled a good lead leaving Foyle, Reed and Elliot to fight it out. The field was again bunched up together with a second yellow flag due to Nathan Pantovich #16 spinning. With a repeat of the first restart Healey and Bink took off again, the pair putting on a good battled for the front spot, but the real entertainment was back further with Bourke, Foyle, Reed and Elliot all swapping positions for third. Bourke, who was troubled by a slipping clutch, didn’t give up the 3^rd spot too easy. Running 4 wide on a few occasions, the 3 holdens, one by one managed to scrape pass Bourke with just 2 laps to go. It would have been very hard to pick the winner as Healey and Bink came onto the front straight side-by-side, Healey just able to get his nose into of Bink’s to take the win. Reed won the battle for 3^rd as Elliot, Foyle and Bourke coming home in 4^th, 5^th and 6^th all nose to tail. After spinning with 4 laps to go, Nathan Pantovich brought his Holden back up to 7^th with Warren Gillespie #27, Brian Matthews #78 and Robert Swain rounding out the top ten.

The next round of the Sydney Street Stockers will be the 12^th of November.

I’d like to send out my congratulations to Ray and Sue Healey on the birth of their son.

Overall points after 3 rounds.