The summer of sprint car racing is in full swing in Australia. For some drivers from the United States, it is an opportunity to improve their craft and stay sharp for the upcoming 2024 season. Last night, round one of the USA vs. WA Speedweek kicked off at Perth Motorplex. Also, round one of the Clay-Per-View Speedweek took place at Murray Bridge Speedway. Chase Randall, Rico Abreu, Brock Zearfoss, Aaron Reutzel and Cory Eliason were all in action down under.
At Perth Motorplex, Rico Abreu timed sixth in his group, avoided a wreck in his heat race, and earned a seventh place starting spot in the A-Main. From his seventh place starting spot, Rico worked his way through the field and picked up the victory in his first night out in Australia. He was followed by Callum Williamson, Kaiden Manders, Brock Zearfoss and Cory Eliason.
It was an impressive drive for Eliason, who had problems in his heat race and was forced to qualify out of the B-Main. Eliason was able to win the B, and work his way all the way to a top five finish behind the wheel of the Monte Farms no. USA17. Abreu, Zearfoss and Eliason will be back in action on Wednesday, 12/27 at Perth.
Meanwhile, nearly 1730 miles (2783 km) to the East, Chase Randall and Aaron Reutzel found themselves duking it out with some of Australia’s best at Murray Bridge Speedway. Randall, who picked up a win over the weekend at Nyora Raceway, led early in the feature over Reutzel, Lachlan McHugh and Jock Goodyer. The “quickest chicken” was wheeling his USA no. 9 machine through traffic before he made contact with a lapped car.
A few laps later, Randall cut a right front tire as a result of the contact and crashed going into turn one. It was a hard hit, but Randall was able to walk away unharmed. His misfortune opened the door for rising star Jock Goodyer to take the lead and never look back. Goodyer was followed by McHugh, Luke Dillon, Marcus Dumesny and Brock Hallett. Aaron Reutzel would ultimately drop to sixth from his front row starting spot.
To catch all of the Australian racing, be sure to check out Clay-Per-View, as they are the main source for streaming the action down under.
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