Murcott thrills fans with stunning victory
LOCAL hero and track specialist David Murcott used traffic to snooker race leader Robbie Farr and execute a lead and victory in the Sprintcar Jackpot Invitational at Avalon on Saturday night.
The win capped an excell ent night o f action at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway that was again in danger of losing one of its premier events because of inclement weather.
Farr’s sizzling 11.822 sec lap time in the Pole Shootout ensured the defending President’s Cup winner would top the timesheets and start on pole position.
Murcott was second quickest, followed by Steven Lines, Dennis Jones and Jack Lee.
At mid-race, Farr still held sway over Murcott, while Lines had consolidated third place following a torrid battle with Jones, who settled into fourth.
As leader Farr approached traffic and tried to distance himself from Murcott, it went horribly wrong.
Farr slipped up track after a s l i g h t touch, a l l o w i n g Murcott to go through and into the lead.
With Farr behind him, Murcott produced a faultless final handful of laps to capture a popular win in front of his adoring Geelong fans.
Next were Farr, Lines, Jones, Lee, Nick Lacey, Kris Lacey, Quentin Tanner, Peter Milnes and Michael Cunningham, who failed to finish.
‘‘I knew traffic was my only chance to get Robbie (Farr) and I guess we were pretty lucky there,’’ beamed Murcott from victory lane.
‘‘ Full credit to the Drew families for putting this event on. We finally got this race on after the last two were washed out.’’
Murcott was also quick to thank his Horrell Motorsport team and Eagle Chassis for their continuing support.
The Sprintcar Jackpot Invitational opened the evening with a pair of 25-lap qualifiers that saw Peter Milnes win the A qualifier and Kris Lacey the B qualifier.
The next club event at Avalon Raceway is on October 27. Details: avalonraceway.com