Blake Blows Up The Field At The Firecracker. It might have been an easy drive from his home town of Bunbury to the small south-west town of Manjimup for the Firecracker 50, but Brad Blake didn’t have it easy from the time the LMRA hit the track for round 2 of the Champion Industries Pro Dirt Series. It had been a long time since the LMRA had hit the clay at the fast 500 metre clay way, but you couldn’t tell by the pace set in the heats. Right from lap one the racing was fast, close and hard as twenty of Western Australia’s best late models hit the track in what would rank as some of the best heat racing seen so far in 2008/09 for the Late Models. The opening heat would see the three top contenders for the evening fight it out till the final lap, when Brad Blake had the win stolen from him at the line by Craig Vosbergen, with Marc Giancola in third. You could have thrown a blanket over these three as they worked their way through traffic, exchanging places through the entire event. Heat two would see the returning CLint Noakes bolt away, only to have 61 year old Bert Vosbergen make it two from two for the TVR team, chasing down his much younger compatriot over the eight lap journey. Heat three and TVR again showed their best as son Craig continued on his merry way with win number two on the night. Craig sounded, looked and was tough as this fine win would earn him favoritism, and pole position heading in to the fifty lap final. The final heat and it was good to see Ryan Halliday grab a win. Halliday showed the style that has seen him a national champion in the past, and would do this young racer some good, giving him some much needed confidence for the T.L. Dozing sponsored final. And the final proved to be a ripper. Seventeen cars greeted the green flag, and Vosbergen got the jump over Giancola and Blake during the early laps. The leaders hit traffic in six laps, and this proved to be a bonus for the huge crowd on hand as they weaved through lapped cars, swapping positions with each other until the first yellow with nine laps run. Blake had assumed the lead at this stage, and Giancola had grabbed second away from Vosbergen just prior to the yellow light. At the green light, the top three bolted away again to have a ten car length break over the rest of the field, but the battles further back in the pack with the likes of Ben Ludlow, Halliday, Jay Cardy, Jason Oldfield, and the Noakes brothers Matt and Clint were just as enthralling to watch. A number of cars found the 50 lap final too grueling, with the likes of Warren Oldfield, Bert Vosbergen and Brad Ludlow all heading to the infield with mechanical dramas. As the race progressed just over mid race distance, Giancola would join them too, as the new powerplant suffered damage as he was holding down a strong third. This moved the senior Ludlow, Ben, up to third who had been under pressure from Halliday all race long. As the race went on he finally succumbed in the dying laps as a sick sounding motor lost horsepower and he dropped to fourth. Blake held on during the final couple of yellows to take the win in what finished up as brilliant shootout between himself and Vosbergen, and the large crowd went home happy seeing Blake take out the enthralling win. Afterwards a tired but happy Blake said “A bit puffed but don’t tell anyone” he laughed. “The track was a bit rutty coming out of two and I had to keep a tight line as I knew Craig was there, I could hear him. The car was set beautifully; Alan (Blake) always does a great job with that.” All in all a great weekend of racing, and another win has gone down in the record books for the likeable larrikin Blake in the Firecracker 50. After such a brilliant weekend all the LRMA are looking forward to when they return to Manjimup on January 3, 2009 for the Western Australian Championship. But that will have to wait as the next meeting for the Late Models sees them heading to Albany’s Attwell Park speedway for the first time next Saturday, the 13th of December, for round three of the Champion Industries Pro Dirt Series. BCM Motorsports Marketing Hard charger award was won by Clint Noakes from Glenbrae Racing, Racin Tyres Lucky Hoosier awards won by Jaron Crane, Champion of Champions Pole sitter Craig Vosbergen, Best presented Car & Crew Glenbrae Racing Late Model Racing Australia proudly supported by Champion Industries, A1 patios, GWN South West, Hoosier, Racin Tyres, Empire Graphics, Xtreme Pix, BCM Motorsports Marketing, BCM Promotions.
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