The Late Models returned to the Manjimup track for the second night of action and it was Steve Francis who was fast straight out of the box, continuing on from last night and scoring the opening heat win from Jeremy Payne and Warren Oldfield.
The USA drivers were in top form with Steve Shaver winning both his heats and Doug Drown also winning one in Chris Biddle’s # 24 late model. The West Aussie drivers on the night to win heats races were Jamie Oldfield and Jay Cardy
The dusty 30 lap feature race got off to a rough start with a couple of drivers at the front of the field tangled causing a chain reaction down the pack with quite a few drivers receiving extensive body damage and Simon McNab heavily hitting the fence on the main straight head on causing a red light stoppage
When the final got under way again, Steve Francis was the clear leader of the final race weaving in and out of lapped traffic with Shaver following closely behind until a blown tyre had Shaver pull infield. Francis also pulled infield with just twelve laps remaining, when his engine gave out. From there it was Jeremy Payne who went on to take the win from Brad Blake and Doug Drown
Hard Charger on the night was Craig Vosbergen who started out of 18th in the feature and finished 5th
With the first round won and done everyone will be going back to their workshops to regroup and make all the necessary adjustments for the massive weekend ahead for the Ultra Tune Morley USA Invasion Tour Round 2 at Collie Speedway on Friday night and Round 3 at Bunbury Speedway on Saturday night.
Unfortunately there are a few casualties that won’t be able to continue the Ultra Tune Morley USA Invasion Series, including Simon McNab who suffered a broken wrist in the feature race incident at Manjimup.
All the USA drivers will be ready to compete in Collie and Bunbury this weekend, including Steve Francis, as Michael Holmes has stepped out of his #91 so Francis can continue his racing in Australia.
Jeremy Payne was extremely happy with his win in Manjimup and would love to head home with more victories under his belt.
Steve Shaver was fast in Manjimup with some great heat race wins, but is planning to have a podium finish result in Collie and Bunbury.
Doug Drown was happy with his 3rd place result in Manjimup after a few problems with his #12 Webster Motorsport late model, but would love to be at the top of the podium in the next rounds.
The sensational team of US drivers will be sure to impress the race fans with their speed and skill handling the fast and powerful V8 late models from the moment their vehicles hit the track!
The West Australian drivers are also racing for the R2C Pro Dirt Series in conjunction with the Ultra Tune Morley USA Invasion Tour, so they have alot to fight for as Collie and Bunbury are rounds 8 & 9 of the R2C Competition Filters Pro Dirt Series.
So make sure you get your backside trackside this weekend for the best sedan racing action in Australia.