Joel Heinrich beats Josh Anderson in opening race in the Top End
Osborn’s Transport driver and Battery World Aussie Racing Cars Super Series leader Joel Heinrich has won the opening race at Hidden Valley after an exciting battle with pole winner Josh Anderson in the Team CoolDrive/Perenso Racing Mustang and series returnee Cody Brewczynski for Shell Rimula Topgun Race Team.
Anderson led away from the start as Rookie Cup leader Riskie Racing’s Brandon Madden was slow from fourth and dropped to eighth position.
Brewczynski was putting all sorts of pressure on Heinrich as the top three began to build a margin from fourth placed Anthony Di Mauro for Koan Solutions, who had the second Team CoolDrive Mustang of Motorsport 25’s Reece Chapman for company.
Heinrich made a neat move approaching Turn 5 to demote Anderson to second as Brewczynski remained in touch.
Another battle was hotting up towards the back of the top 10 as Rookie Cup contender Nathan Williams battled Kent Quinn leading the Masters Cup in the Norganic Proteins Mustang and the Variety Motorsport entry of Brendon Tucker.
Meanwhile, recovering from his slow start was Madden as he moved back to sixth and was putting pressure on Chapman to enter the top five. While the leaders had spaced and Heinrich set a lap record, Di Mauro led an angry battle pack as Madden passed Chapman for fifth.
Heinrich continued to dominate as he won by 2.4s from the battling Anderson and Brewczynski, with Di Mauro heading Madden, Chapman, Western Sydney Motorsport’s Craig Thompson, Williams, Quinn, Tucker as Cody Mckay completed the top 10.
Madden led the Rookie Cup from Williams and the Action Line Marking entry of Scott Dornan, while Thompson won Gold Cup from Tucker, with PCA/MGR Racing’s Matt Gooding rounding out the rostrum.
It was another Masters Cup victory for Quinn as he led MSS Group/O’Keefe Motorsport driver Scott O’Keefe celebrating his 50thrace start and the third Western Sydney Motorsport entry of Grant Thompson, as contact during the encounter knocked bodywork onto his tyre.
It’s a short turnaround for the teams as two more races follow in Darwin today as the Battery World Aussie Racing Cars Super Series return to the track at 10:55am ACST/11:25am AEST before Supercars qualifying.