By Allan Smallwood – American Steve Francis has taken out the 2012/2013 Supatilt Wild West Tour title with victory in the final round at held at Quit Collie Speedway last night (January 5th).
Francis won the thirty lap final over Craig Vosbergen and New South Welshman Ross Nicastri in what was an action packed evening at the coalfields venue.
A big field of close to thirty cars fronted for the final round of the Wild West Tour with many drivers using the meeting as a tune up before next week’s National title at Bunbury.
The opening heat race of the night would see Clint Noakes jump away at the start only for Jamie Oldfield to pull off a brilliant outside pass and take the win from Noakes and Warren Oldfield.
Matt Goodlad would get the better of Brad Blake in heat two after a spirited battle for the entire length of the race. Following them home would be the Frank’s auto parts team of Ross Nicastri and American Devin Moran.
Heat three would see Brad Ludlow jump away to a big lead before pulling to the infield with mechanical woes ending his night prematurely. American Steve Francis would inherit the lead and go on to win comfortably over Craig Vosbergen and Jay Cardy.
Devin Moran would show the Western Australian public what he is capable of in heat four putting in a polished performance to win from Jamie Oldfield and Jason Oldfield.
Heat five would see another visitor to the West get a heat win, this time Ross Nicastri putting in a great drive over Ryan Halliday and Michael Holmes.
Craig Vosbergen would inflict the first defeat of any kind to American Steve Francis since he arrived in Western Australia, with Francis trying for many laps to find a way past Vosbergen without success. Brad Blake would finish third from Koran Atkinson and Ryan Ludlow.
The A dash was the next event on the program with American Steve Francis winning comfortably over Craig Vosbergen and Jamie Oldfield.
Warren Oldfield in his Ultra Tune Morley machine would dominate the B Dash with Michael Holmes and David Nylander following him home. Nylander was having a much better run after mechanical woes had plagued him the last few rounds of the Hoosier Racing Tire Pro Dirt Series.
With such a large field a B Main would be required to be held to find the final six starting positions for the thirty lap A main.
Jason Oldfield would lead the opening laps of the B Main before Ryan Ludlow would hit the wall hard coming onto the main straight, with Matt Noakes and South Australian Matt Crimmins having nowhere to go slamming into the side of Ludlow’s stationery car. All three drivers would walk away from the crash but will be busy fixing their cars this week ahead of next week’s National Title.
Jason Oldfield would win the B Main from Koran Atkinson, Lee Watt, Matt Nylander, Dean King and Dale Clark.
Twenty two cars would start the A Main of the Final round of the Supatilt Wild West Tour with Phil Zuidema causing the first stoppage on the opening lap after he spun on the back straight.
A second attempt at a start would see a few cars get together mid pack with Brad Blake spinning after contact with another car. The race would then be put under a red light stoppage with ambulance officials called to Blake’s car as the multiple National champion had been injured in the incident. Blake would be taken away in the ambulance with a suspected broken wrist and arm.
The race would get back underway with Steve Francis pulling away from the field in the opening laps. Koran Atkinson would hit the wall hard sustaining big damage to his Cardy chassis. Atkinson would pull to the infield with another restart occurring after Clint Noakes would spin while running inside the top ten.
South Australian Luke Raymond would head to the infield shortly after with front end damage. Francis would continue lead and as the race progressed he would start lapping traffic. A great battle for the minor placings would occur between Devin Moran, Ross Nicastri and Matt Goodlad.
With a handful of laps remaining Steve Francis would spin after contact with a lap car with Dean King spinning into the side of Francis. The Ozmine Rocket of Francis would sustain some damage to the front and right side but be ok to restart at the lead of the race.
Francis would lead away at the restart with Craig Vosbergen applying a heap of pressure in the final laps of the race. Francis would hold on to win narrowly over Vosbergen, Ross Nicastri, Matt Goodlad, Devin Moran, Warren Oldfield, Jamie Oldfield, Clint Noakes, Jay Cardy with Ryan Halliday rounding out the top ten in his first race meeting since November.
Paul Joss, Michael Holmes, David Nylander, Lee Watt and Dale Clark would round out the finishers with Jason Oldfield hitting the wall on the last lap.
With victory at Collie Steve Francis wrapped up the title in the Supatilt Wild West Tour. Francis was pleased with his victory. “Pleased to get the job done here tonight at Collie, now we just look forward to next week at Bunbury where I hope to defend my title that I won last year in Sydney”.
Attention now turns to the 12th running of the Australian Dirt Late Model Championship to be held next weekend at Quit Bunbury Speedway on January 10th, 11th & 12th 2013.
For more information about Late Model Racing in Western Australia log ontowww.latemodelracingwa.com.au or find us on Facebook.
The Supatilt Wild West Tour is apart of the season long Hoosier Racing Tire Pro Dirt Late Model Series.
Supatilt Wild West Tour Finale Quit Collie Speedway A Main- 30 Laps: 1. USA91 Steve Francis, 2. 8 Craig Vosbergen, 3. NSW99 Ross Nicastri, 4. 18 Matt Goodlad, 5. USA99 Devin Moran, 6. 15 Warren Oldfield, 7. 51 Jamie Oldfield, 8. 23 Clint Noakes, 9. 52 Jay Cardy, 10. 99 Ryan Halliday, 11. 22 Paul Joss, 12. 91 Michael Holmes, 13. 54 David Nylander, 14. 10 Lee Watt, 15. 31 Dale Clark, DNF 0 Brad Blake, 63 Koran Atkinson, SA5 Luke Raymond, 11 Jason Oldfield, 21 Dean King, 34 Matt Nylander, 39 Phil Zuidema