Karen Harlan, Tennant & District Times
Picnic Day weekend was no picnic at Tennant Creek Speedway, it was fast-paced, action-packed racing.
With two titles up for grabs competitors from Katherine and Darwin ventured into town to take on the local drivers.
Tennant Creek was holding the Street Stock Annual 60-Lapper and their new title event of North vs South for the NT Sedans.
With new racers in Tennant Creek joining the NT Sedans class and Katherine NT Sedan drivers always supporting Tennant Creek it was decided to hold an event to see who was the best, North or South. Was it going to be the more experienced drivers from Katherine or could the Tennant Creek crew show them they were going to be no easy competition.
Stephen Quong came out eager to race but his car had some mechanical failures early on in the heats and this left him out for the night. Aiden James showed early in the heats that he was going to be a threat, sending his pink panther car around the track.
Alas the pink panther couldn’t hold it together and ended up smoking around the track, unable to join the rest of the races.
In the feature Bluey and Brett were up against Keira and Brian from the Tennant Creek Auto Pro team.
Brett showed early in the race that he was going out hell for leather and Bluey was not far behind.
About 10 laps in Bluey found the opportunity to go under Brett and take the lead. Brian and Keira battled out in the rear, not giving up and fighting all the way. Even on the last corner Brian made a mistake and this allowed Keira to move into third place. Bluey ended up taking the glory for the North in first place followed by second Brett, third Keira and fourth Brian. Great work North team.
Justin Brumfield, recently crowned NT number one Street Stock driver, has been a big supporter of our Annual 60-Lapper and this year was no different. Megan Henderson and Kane Lloyd from Darwin decided to jump on board and come experience their first 60-Lapper.
Megan had raced on Tennant Creek track before but this was going to be a whole new experience for her, while Kane was fresh to the track as well as the 60 lapper.
The first 30 laps seen Justin make a strong start from pole, holding out local boy Jack Yates who started in third. The first 30 laps were a tussle throughout the field and cars were fighting it out for those valuable positions in the first half of the race. Jayden and Micky tussled around the track, with a bit of friendly rubbing.
Justin held out Jack and the rest of the field for the 30 laps.
Alas we had lost three competitors due to mechanical failures; Lucas Fry, Jacko Thompson and Colin Menzies.
Line up at the commencement of the last 30 laps was Justin Brumfield followed by Jack Yates, Jayden Giezendanner, Jamie Yates, Kane Lloyd, Megan Henderson and Micky Jones.
Could the Tennant Creek guys catch Justin?
Would the young Yates come through or would old man Yates make his move and surprise us all. Jack tried to take Justin the first lap and managed to get him on the second corner. Justin fought back hard and managed to get him back a few laps later. Justin then sent it hard around the track.
It was the more experienced mature driver vs the young whipper snapper. Jack ended up getting Brumfield back but he was not giving up this easily and managed to take him again.
Jack kept the pressure on Brumfield, waiting for him to make one little slip up. This race was coming down to who could keep their consistency and not make any small errors.
The leaders were entering traffic. Now for any racer that has raced against Megan Henderson they all know she holds a damn good line and to get around her she will make you work for it.
Brumfield tried to take the low line but ballsy Jack went high and this proved costly to Justin as Jack got the advantage. Jack was out front again.
Jayden tried to follow through as well but Justin regained his line and shut the door on Jayden.
The question was now if Justin could get Jack back. Jack was like “No way this is my track and I going to hold you out”.
The crowd was on their feet and cheering him all the way home.
Jack crossed that finish line a car length in front of Justin and took the crowning glory. Jayden brought it in for third place followed by Jamie Yates, Kane Lloyd and Megan Henderson.
Both classes were supported throughout the night by the juniors.
Anthony DuPreez from Alice Springs came to compete against local boy Jamie Jones.
Jamie and Anthony did some beautiful racing throughout the night. Great sportsmanship was shown in each heat and feature. Jamie took out the feature followed by Anthony.
Thank you once again to all our volunteers, sponsors and supporters of Tennant Creek Speedway. Big shout out to our major sponsors of this meet: Dexter Barnes, Tennant Creek Tyre Centre, Little Rippers Lifestyles and Tennant Creek Memorial Club.
See you all trackside at our next meet.
This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 10 September 2021.
