Finally A Winner At Westcoast Classic
12/01/2009 6:47:49 AM - Dean Thompson

Team Drew Motorsport came, saw and conquered at Avalon Raceway in the prestigious ‘Westcoast Classic’ for Modified Sedans on January 10th and did so overcoming engine struggles leading upto the day and then fierce competition in the feature from Mark Carlin and Darren Cockerill.

A quality field attended the event with current Australia # 2 Andrew Blackwell, South Australian young gun Chris Hayden, Anthony Wilson, Mick Hetherington, Rodney Burr and Kenny Griffey all in powerful Modified Sedans,

The team contested three heat races in order to qualify for the feature race starting with a seventh place grid position in heat one with Carlin and Griffey ahead of him and Hayden at the rear of the field. Credit to Griffey out front nobody could get by him as he went on to win from Hayden, Carlin and Drew. To say Justin Drew was concerned that Hayden stormed past him would be spot on however the team decided that they just needed to tighten the car a little and see how it played out for them in the second heat.

Heat two Drew sixth started behind Hayden and Wilson and in a race that went the ten lap distance without stoppages the team was pleased to come home third and in one piece with no work to do to the car. At this point when speaking to Drew he praised his team. “Crew Chief Damian Smith, Jason and Josh and others have all worked hard to get the team here tonight. We only got the car from the dyno this morning and pretty much came straight to the race track.”

It is always considered a hard task to hold on to the race lead from start to finish especially when your racing without rear vision mirrors, however Drew did exactly that in his third heat when he started pole and led the field entire race distance with Hayden and Cockerill finishing in the minor places.

Shock news before the feature with Chris Hayden who was the top point’s qualifier unable to start leaving Cockerill and Drew at the front of the field and giving Drew an opportunity to stay away from the racing pack and capture his first Westcoast Classic victory. That wasn’t going to be real easy as the front two had Hetherington, Carlin, Griffey, Blackwell, Wilson all stacked up in order behind them.

When the race got underway Cockerill assumed the lead with Drew, Hetherington and Carlin all on his bumper bar. Through the whole evening TDM really had not much to do other than tighten the car up and scrape race mud from it and the car was motoring along nicely albeit behind the race leader Cockerill. At the 15 lap stage a massive rollover to a competitor brought a re-start to the race and Drew closer to Cockerill who had started to put distance between them.

From the restart a couple laps later Drew made a outside move coming off turn 2 stick and he assumed the lead and went on to take victory after leading for the last three laps. The result was a popular result on his home track in front of sponsors and fans. So the 31st Westcoast Classic belongs to Justin Drew who was happy to say the least. “I can’t wipe the smile off my face. I’ve been trying to win this race for years and at the start of the season we put this down as a goal to achieve as time is running out as I have other racing aspirations. I can tick it off now and to join uncle Jeff (Drew) as winners of the event is fantastic.”

TDM thanks its major commercial supporters:
Damian & Sandra @ Circletrack Racecraft – (Damian Smith)
John @ Colac Toyota
Stewart @ Cunningham Plumbing
Justin Drew Plumbing
Ray @ Archibald Builders
John @ M & W Engine Services
BKM Electrical
Phil @ PDR Differentials and Drive Shafts
McCann’s Plumbing Plus
Bob & Pat @ Ipta Fibreglass
Mark Haby Motors
Pete’s Paint and Panel
Wayne @ Smooth Suspension
Phil @ Geelong Tune Up Specialists
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Written by
DMT Media
Dean Thompson
0412061208
dmtmedia@speedway.net.au

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