Damage Halts Tatnell's Charge at Night 1 of the Classic

WARRNAMBOOL - Bad luck struck Brooke Tatnell and the Krikke MotorSport Team at Night 1 of the 36th running of the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Warrnambool's Premier Speedway on Saturday 26 January 2008.

Tatnell qualified 16th with an 11.252-second lap. He started Heat 1 from the outside of the second row and powered straight into third in the first corner. A motor problem developed, which saw the two-time Classic winner ease off to prevent further damage, thereby finishing fourth. Between the Heat race, the Krikke MotorSport Team worked feverishly to bolt in a new Maxwill Motor.

The Krikke MotorSport driver started Heat 2 from the inside of the fourth row and moved into fifth on the opening lap. He ran a majority of the race on the high line, and finished sixth narrowly missing out on an A-Main transfer.

The six-time World Series Sprintcars Champion therefore started the 15-lap B-Main from pole. He moved straight into the lead, and powered his Toyota Genuine Parts/Maxwill Motors/Cool machine around the high line to open up a gap over the field. Soon into lapped traffic, the Krikke MotorSport driver weaved his way through the slower cars, to take the B-Main win.

Tatnell started the 25-lap America/Australia Challenge and Preliminary A-Main from 15th. He moved straight into 14th on the opening lap, before an incident which left him with nowhere to go, forcing him into the wall trying to avoid another stricken car. The suspension was damaged on the Toyota Genuine Parts/Maxwill Motors/Cool machine, which ended Tatnell's race.

On a disappointing night, Tatnell lamented, "Another Classic; another heartbreak. We just had a night where we had a motor problem early, and we really hurt the motor, because we had to try and finish the Heat race. Normally, we would have shut it down, but points are critical. Then we just got taken out in someone else's mess in the Feature race. It's just going to make us work hard tomorrow night. If the track goes slick, we can still race from the back and race up to the front, so tomorrow is a new day."

Krikke MotorSport Team Owner Shane Krikke commented, "We had an average qualifying run, and then in the first Heat, we were going along pretty well, racing with [Garry] Brazier, then we dropped a valve, which sort of put us on the back foot, and Brooke just limped the car back home in fourth. Really, we were lucky to change motors in time, and therefore we didn't get enough of a chance to put a set-up on the car, so we just rolled through the next Heat. In the B-Main, we were very good, we were pretty happy with that, and I think we had the pace to run in the top ten somewhere in the A-Main, but unfortunately Warrnambool has come back to bite us again."

Brooke Tatnell and the Krikke MotorSport Team will return to action at Night 2 of the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool, on Sunday 27 January 2008.

27 January 2008 - Jane Alexander - KMS East Coast Correspondent