WSS: Kalgoorlie report

Dumesny's Win in the Wild, Wild West

>From the World Series Sprintcars web-site

KALGOORLIE, WA (Wednesday, November 27).....Three-time World Series Sprintcars champion Max Dumesny won the opening round of the 14-race 1996/97 Championship at Kalgoorlie International Speedway having overtaken early pace setter and defending dual title holder Brooke Tatnell six laps into the 30-lap A-Feature. Driving a local Sean Enterprises-Schnee with backing from his regular sponsors Valvoline, AutoPro, No Fear and Mayday Earthmoving, Dumesny started from the pole having earlier won the Goodyear Eagle Dash ahead of Tatnell's Shell Helix-Schnee.

The biggest loser in the Dash was Auto Action Fast Time winner and top points qualifier Garry Rush who drew an inverted six and ultimately finished the feature with his Castrol-Maxim in fifth behind Dumesny, runner-up Mark Wells, Indiana All-Star ace Danny Smith and a fading Tatnell. Brooke had jumped into the lead at the green to head the 16-car field until a lap five caution triggered by a turn two spin from national champion Todd Wanless. A lap later Dumesny shot beneath Tatnell exiting turn four to wrest away the lead that he was to maintain for the rest of the non-stop race.

Gosford's John Shore had charged his Havoline-J&J up into top three contention until the genial giant looped the car in turn three to end his race in retirement. Others to languish on the infield by race end included Sydney Star Skip Jackson ("we never had the set-up right all night"), Wanless (another gyration) and Adelaide's Phil March (front wing).

Afterwards Dumesny said, "As the race wore on I could tell that Brooke was getting loose and took the opportunity when he went wide - he's done it often enough to me! I didn't want to move off the bottom of the track as I didn't know how much of a lead I had to leave the door open." Geraldton (WA) star Wells surged through from seventh-starting spot to finish within six car-lengths of the winner. Wells was happy with second, explaining, "We had the motor cutting out in the first heat and a flat left front tyre in the second and still only just missed the Dash. In the feature I could get in underneath people in the hole developing in turn one with a wheel on the kerb to hold them off."

A disappointed Tatnell lamented, "The car wasn't 100 per cent right but then 80 per cent of it tonight was the driver's fault", while Smith was pleased with third having only flown into the country mere hours before the event. "I thought I had a shot at Max until the right rear tyre started to go flat after the only caution - it was just as well it went non-stop the rest of the way as it only had three-and-a-half pounds of air in it at the finish." said the American.

Round 2 of the WSS Championship will be run at Perth's Claremont Speedway on Friday, November 30 with the final Western Australian leg at Bunbury City & Regional Raceway the following night.

1996/97 WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 1 Kalgoorlie International Speedway, Kalgoorlie WA - November 27, 1996

TIME TRIALS : 1. Garry Rush (NSW #2) 13.837s, 2. John Shore (NSW #66) 13.883s, 3. Brooke Tatnell (NSW #8) 13.935s, 4. Mark Wells (WA #92) 13.937s, 5. Brad Heywood (NSW #12) 13.940s, 6. Ron Krikke (WA #99) 14.009s, 7. Danny Smith (USA #88) 14.065s, 8. Darryl Krikke (WA #95) 14.008s, 9. Max Dumesny (VIC #5) 14.104s, 10. Shane Krikke (WA #2) 14.116s, 11. Phil March (SA #3) 14.153s, 12. Pino Priolo (WA #8) 14.186s, 13. Alan Haynes (WA #66) 14.201s, 14. Peter Smith (SA #8) 14.228s, 15. Skip Jackson (NSW #7) 14.245s, 16. Todd Wanless (AUS #1) 14.251s, 17. Mike Figliomeni (WA #10) 14.260s, 18. Barry Lawrence (QLD #28) 14.287s, 19. Scott Milling (WA #50) 14.299s, 20. Terry Cutts (WA #16) 14.308s, 21. Ryan Farrell (WA #77) 14.322s, 22. Mike Van Bremmen (VIC #6) 14.496s, 23. Andrew Scheuerle (QLD #95) 14.503s, 24. Anthony Lambert (QLD #77) 14.621s, 25. Mark Gilbert (SA #5) 14.737s, 26. Antony Kinley (WA #45) 14.928s, 27. Trevor Green (SA #4) 14.928s, 28. Joel Knott (NSW #44) 15.642s, 29. David Anderson (VIC #37) 17.307s

QUALIFYING HEAT RACES (10 laps):

HEAT 1 : 1. Todd Wanless, 2. Mark Gilbert, 3. Scott Milling, 4. Danny Smith, 5. Mark Wells, 6. Alan Haynes, 7. Garry Rush, 8. Shane Krikke, 9. Joel Knott, 10. Mike Van Bremmen HEAT 2 : 1. David Anderson, 2. Phil March, 3. Mike Figliomeni, 4. Darryl Krikke, 5. Brad Heywood, 6. John Shore, 7. Terry Cutts, 8. Andrew Scheuerle, 9. Antony Kinley, 10. Pino Priolo HEAT 3 : 1. Trevor Green, 2. Max Dumesny, 3. Barry Lawrence, 4. Brooke Tatnell, 5. Skip Jackson, 6. Anthony Lambert, 7. Ryan Farrell, 8. Ron Krikke, 9. Pino Priolo HEAT 4 : 1. Terry Cutts, 2. Darryl Krikke, 3. John Shore, 4. Todd Wanless, 5. Shane Krikke, 6. Mark Wells, 7. Antony Kinley, 8. Joel Knott HEAT 5 : 1. Danny Smith, 2. Garry Rush, 3. Skip Jackson, 4. Max Dumesny, 5. Trevor Green, 6. Ryan Farrell, 7. Brooke Tatnell HEAT 6 : 1. Anthony Lambert, 2. David Anderson, 3. Barry Lawrence, 4. Ron Krikke, 5. Brad Heywood, 6. Phil March, 7. Andrew Scheuerle, 8. Mike Figliomeni, 9. Pino Priolo

GOODYEAR EAGLE TROPHY DASH (6 laps) : 1. Max Dumesny, 2. Brooke Tatnell, 3. Danny Smith, 4. John Shore, 5. Darryl Krikke, 6. Garry Rush

B-FEATURE (12 laps) : 1. Shane Krikke, 2. Terry Cutts, 3. Trevor Green, 4. Mike Figliomeni, 5. Peter Smith, 6. Anthony Lambert, 7. Joel Knott, 8. Scott Milling, 9. Antony Kinley, 10. Andrew Scheuerle, 11. Ryan Farrell, 12. Alan Haynes, 13. Pino Priolo, 14. Mike Van Bremmen, 15. Mark Gilbert DNS

A-FEATURE (30 laps) : 1. Max Dumesny, 2. Mark Wells, 3. Danny Smith, 4. Brooke Tatnell, 5. Garry Rush, 6. Darryl Krikke, 7. David Anderson, 8. Ron Krikke, 9. Brad Heywood, 10. Barry Lawrence, 11. Shane Krikke, 12. Terry Cutts, 13. John Shore, 14. Skip Jackson, 15. Todd Wanless, 16. Phil March

LAP LEADER/S : Brooke Tatnell (Laps 1-6), Dumesny (Laps 7-30)

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