What a difference a week can make.

Brooke Tatnell and the team at Krikke MotorSport had been hoping for a much better final result at the 13th running of the Krikke Boys Shootout at the Bunbury City Speedway this past weekend, but it was not to be.

After their stellar result the prior week at the Nanovich King of Wings; taking the chequer in first place and banking the $20,000 prize, the KMS team we’re coming into the Shootout with high expectations.

And they didn’t disappoint on night one... But that’s not the cherry night, is it?

Night 1 saw the KMS/Toyota Genuine Parts/AJC /Cool car time trial in a respectable 6th place, just 0.06seconds behind the fastest car, on a dry and dusty track after 40°c heat and strong Easterly winds had played havoc with track curator’s preparations all week long.

This gave Tatnell a position 5 start in heat #3 and from there he showed the crowd why he became the World Series Champion for the 8th time by rounding up the field and finishing in 2nd place.

The track needed to be graded before the dashes as it was very compact and already a black racing line had formed providing just one lane for the drivers to competitively race. The KMS car only gained one position though in the dash putting Brooke out of position 5 in the A Main Preliminary Final.

Starting inside third row, Tatnell was looking the goods. He had a beautifully prepared racecar and it appeared that the team had set the car up nicely for another race win. But American driver Jason Johnson had other ideas and after a red light stoppage with just 9 laps to go, the KMS just didn’t have the momentum needed to get past Johnson and had to settle for 2nd place on the podium.

“Our car was fast out there tonight’ said Tatnell when interview after the feature ‘But we made a bit of a meal of that last re-start and just weren’t able move forward like we were earlier in the race”.

Roll on to night two, and a heavy track had the drivers on the edge of their seats.

The KMS #2 Toyota Genuine Parts/AJC/Cool machine started inside front row in their heat and Tatnell had to work hard to get to the front after he and Kerry Madsen had a showdown at the start of the race with Madsen being the initial driver to take the lead. Tatnell pulled out all stops though and with five laps to go got around Madsen and drove a sensational race to win convincingly with a half lap gap behind him to Madsen as he crossed the finish line.

With their confidence high, an outside row 3 start had the team psyched for the race ahead.

The team had set the car up to what would give them the best opportunity for a win and now it was down to the driver and, as any race, a bit of lady luck.

The race had already had two caution lights when an open red occurred after Ricky Maiolo crashed heavily. This allowed the team to change a front wing that had earlier suffered damaged and now lay across the front bonnet. Prior to this stoppage Tatnell had been coming on strong and was by now up to third place and the car was looking to be on song with the track conditions.

All looked set for a dramatic finish with Brooke charging toward the front but in the rough conditions while trying to get to the lead unfortunately Brooke hooked a rut and bicycled in a big way and dropped a couple of spots but he did do an amazing job to save from flipping.

Once he settled Tatnell kept up the momentum but a few laps later Kerry Madsen suffered some major steering failure which saw him have no control over his car and as a result he tangled with the #2 KMS car causing himself to flip and land across the front of the #2 Cool causing a fair amount of front end damage. This unfortunately was the end of another Krikke Boys Shootout for Brooke, his second in as many attempts.

“We will win this race one day,’ lamented Tatnell ‘It just isn’t going to be this year.”

Jason Johnson went on to win the Shootout with a brilliant performance from Ryan Farrell to come home in second place after starting from 19th position, and former 6 times Shootout winner Robbie Farr rounding out the podium in third place.

And so ends the Krikke MotorSport’s 2009/2010 racing season. Brooke and his wife Amy and daughter Emma head back to the United States next Wednesday where Brooke is chasing sponsorship dollars so as he can compete in the World of Outlaws and where they will await the birth of their second child and crew chief Pete Caporn and Shane Finch get stuck straight back into the preparations for new cars, motors and inventory for next season. The 2009/2010 season may well be over but the team doesn’t get any rest as they prepare for the onslaught to begin again in October.

Roll on 2010/2011, when Krikke MotorSport will yet again be a force to be reckoned with in Australian Sprintcar racing.

Krikke MotorSport would like to thank the following sponsors and corporate partners for the support during the upcoming 2009/2010 sprintcar season:
Toyota Genuine Parts, AJC Professional Coating Services, Maxwill Race Engines, Cool Chassis, Mercure Hotel Parramatta, PWR Performance Products, Alberts Car Stereo, Pioneer, Revolution Racegear, BR Motorsports, Vortex, Valvoline, Mega Motors, A.Lucas Spraypainters, GT Fabrication, A1 Sign Shop, Bunbury Toyota and BCM Motorsport Marketing for their much valued support and welcome them as a part of the team.

*This press release has been authorised and distributed by Jodie Krikke for Krikke MotorSport Media