The long-awaited start to sprintcar season has finally arrived! The crew arrived at Warrnambool early and rolled the car out with its new Triple X chassis. Thomas Randle of Tickford Racing also accompanied the crew for their opener and learn all things sprintcar related.
Waters had pace right from the start. opening hot laps with a time of 11.331, Waters then completed a 10.911s lap in Time Trials, placing him 9th fastest in the field of fifty-one cars and only three tenths off Jamie Veal in first. It had been enough to qualify him for the front row in the second heat of the evening.
Happy with the feel and pace of the car in Time Trials, minimal changes were made to set-up going into the 8-lap second heat. Quick off the start, Waters made a jump on the rest of the field to create an early gap. Carrying substantial speed, Waters was quick to start lapping cars, before finishing the 8-lap race in first. The crew greeted him with a round of applause as he returned to the pits.
The points gained so far were enough to qualify Waters for the A-Main Dash, an 8-lap race to determine the starting places for the first 8 cars in the A-Main. This would be Waters first Dash. The starting positions for the Dash are drawn at random, and unfortunately, Waters drew 7th. Waters maintained his fast pace in the first six laps, working up to 4th before a crash caused a yellow flag. After the restart, Waters made a slight mistake that put him in 6th, which is where he finished.
No damage was on the car after the dash, so the crew cleaned it up and adjusted the set-up ready for the A-Main where Waters would start from 6th. Once again, Waters was quick off the line, but it was unfortunately short-lived. Waters hit a rut before spinning out and hitting the wall. The damage to the car was immense, with the back end being destroyed.
The crew replaced the diff and other parts at the end of the night before rolling the car back into the truck and driving back to Melbourne.
Driver's Quote:
"Had a lot of fun tonight being back in the car. The crew built me a new car and it looks amazing in its new colours. Hot laps went pretty well, the same as Time Trials. We were 8th for our group which put us on the front row of our heat and managed to convert that into a win which was awesome! The Dash we drew 7th, got up to 4th and then made a mistake in the last couple of laps and went back to 6th. So, started the feature in 6th. The track was super fast and really rough. I just hit a rut and put it in the wall; so that was our night done. Bit disappointing, but a lot of cars hit it in the rough, so I wasn't alone. A massive thanks to all the crew and our sponsors for everything."
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