| Australian Sprintcar Title #1 To Robbie Farr | ||||
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Robbie Farr picked up his first Australian Sprintcar Title on the weekend and that has now fuelled his fire to try for another one or two more Aussie Titles to add to his already impressive list of sprintcar and speedcar wins. ”I’ve always wanted to win an Australian Sprintcar title, now that I have one it has given me so much satisfaction” After a season that has seen a few ups and downs, the Krikke Motorsport team and Robbie didn’t give up there desire to climb back up the ladder to be a top competitive team and mix it with the best once again. The results from the recent World Series final in Adelaide showed that the team was on the money with 3rd fastest time, then taking a 4th and 1st place in the heats followed by a dash win, rounding out the night with second place in the final. Next on the calendar was the Classic at Premier Speedway, and once again Robbie and the team continued with their strong performances, but the truth was that the team didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances of knocking the gear around any more than they had to. The reason for this was of course the Australian Sprintcar Title only days away from the Classic being conducted at The Bunbury City Raceway, basically the home track to the Krikke Motorsports Team and a majority of the their sponsors. A question that I asked Robbie some eighteen months ago was, what events did he want to win the most? Answer “the Australian Sprintcar Title, that’s what I want to win the most” So here at the Bunbury venue and with the results Robbie has had over the last couple of seasons there, the feeling was to keep focused and try to continue with the good form that Robbie and the team have had in the past here which should put them in good shape for a possible title victory. So roll on night one for a practice and two time trial sessions, the time trials were to help decide a tie on points if it was required, but also a sweetener was added to the tune of $2000 to the driver that could beat the current lap record of 13.35 held by Daryn Pittman. Okay Jeff Leisk showed that he had the speed and was the first to go under the record setting a time of 13.104 then along came Max Dumesny and lowered it again to 13.069, not to be out done and to show how serious he was about trying to win the Aus Title was Robbie putting down a blistering lap to set the new record at 13.065. With a second round of time trials conducted in reverse order and the track drying out it looked as Robbie’s new time of 13.065 was going to stand, well Max had other ideas and lowered the lap record to a new record of 12.958. End result, Robbie and the Krikke Motorsport team showed that they were back in town and were going to be a real threat for this Title. Night two, and the first two rounds of heats before the preliminary A main was the schedule, so without wasting any time to accumulating points, Robbie stormed to the lead from position 3 to take the win and 25 points in heat 1, heat five again went in the right direction from P8 to finish in P4 and another 10 points. With all the heat racing over for the first night Robbie had third highest points to give him a starting position for the preliminary A Main from P3 behind top points man Ryan Farrell (W95) and Max Dumesny (V5). To get this main event started was proving to be a major task, Robbie in the W2 Avenger was caught out in one of the attempted starts when it appeared Ryan Farrell missed the start and Robbie touched the W95 cars left rear wheel sending him into a massive wheel stand. Lets try again, and what looked to be a clean started ended in turns one & two with the W21 car of Wells making contact with Robbie and sending him sideways leaving no room for the oncoming traffic. Resulting in Kerry Madsen in the A1 car rolling then being collected by Luch Mote and Darren Jensen, Madsen was out with major roll cage damage from the incident and Robbie had some repairs to do to get back into the race. After repairing the steering and replacing two wheels he lined up for another attempt to start the race from the rear along side of the W21 car that was deemed to be the primary cause of the incident. Finally the race got underway, Robbie set sail to chase more points but being cautious not to get knocked around any more, by lap eleven at the only caution of the race Robbie had moved back up to position seven. After the restart he continued to go forward again finishing in P5. After a quick assessment of the damage from the race the team headed back to town to wash the car and prepare for the final nights racing. All things considered Robbie and the team where happy to be in a strong position after the first night. Night three, all was ready to resume the Title chase, Robbie started heat 12 from position 6 and once again wasted no time heading to the front, on lap nine he took the lead and maximum points again. Everything seemed to be working well allowing Robbie to have a little time to himself and watch a few races from the grandstand before his fourth and final heat. That little rest certainly didn’t hinder him for his last heat, starting from P5 he quickly moved into second and held onto P2 for the remainder of the race, end result enough points over the two nights to secure a front row start in the Main event and a strong shot at taking out his first Australian Sprintcar title. With all the racing done over the three nights the track had become slick and rough so a good set up and a thinking drive was required, the front row was W95 Ryan Farrell and Robbie Farr W2, at the drop of the green flag Farrell took the lead for the forty lap journey, Robbie was sitting a comfortable three to four car lengths behind the 95 car after a brief challenge on lap two for the lead waiting for the right time to make another move for the top spot, on lap twelve Robbie moved under the W95 car going down the back straight and into turn three taking the lead. While the action at the front was going on the A1 car of Madsen was also on the move and had taken second position from Farrell on lap fourteen then setting his sights on the W2 car. The gap between these two was minimal over the next five laps, then on lap twenty Madsen in the A1 Cool chassis made his move for the lead, this time Robbie went into turn three a little deeper with Madsen on his outside, Madsen lost traction on the slick racing surface and spun to a halt. At the restart Robbie had the V5 car of Dumesny on his tail but was able get through the lapped traffic with reasonable ease to hold a comfortable lead and without any further challenge to go on and take out his first Australia Sprintcar Championship. The temptation to do a few donuts and a bit of a show for the people after the victory might have been there but Robbie knew to get to the scales straight away to become the official 2003-2004 Australian Sprintcar Champion. With all the celebrating going on with the team members and congratulations from the other teams, spectators and well wishers that were phoning or text messaging Robbie the team didn’t know where to start with there own party. Robbie thanked the team members and their families for all the support throughout the season and over the title weekend along with the sponsors that made this a reality for him and the Krikke Motorsport team. One team member who joined the team this year, Shane Finch had a tear in his eye as this was a dream for him as well, Shane was one of Robbie’s crew members when he won the Australian Speedcar Title back in 1998. As at most sprintcar meetings there is always a party or two going on after the show and of course this was going to be no exception with many people having a drink with there friends and sponsors before the Krikke Motorsport transporter turned into the place to be along with many of the other teams and drivers to cap of the night or should I say morning! It appears that a new tradition may have been created for the winner of the national Title thanks to Bill Mann. I think it is called the signing of the wing! Bill gave the wing of the W2 or should I say the A1 Krikke Motorsport Avenger a clean and signed it congratulating Robbie and the team on there efforts then he got other drivers to do the same, last I heard was the wing was near new but now it will be taken from the car to be kept as part of the memory of 2004 Australian Title. Later on Sunday evening over a quite drink I again asked the question to Robbie, what do you want to win next a Classic? And the reply with a smile that says a thousand words came the answer “ this is the greatest, winning the Title, I want to win more Sprintcar titles, I want that more that any other event” Robbie wishes to thank The Krikke family and all the Krikke Motorsport Team members along with the sponsors, Toyota Genuine Parts, PWR Radiators, Terry Shields Toyota, Valvoline, Mercure Hotel Parramatta, Quick Race Parts, A-1 Digital Signs, Revolution Racegear, Mega Motors, Vortex Wings, Bunbury Toyota Avenger Chassis and thanks to all the people that have helped and supported him and the team throughout the season so far. (Sorry to the people that have tried to leave a message in the guestbook on the site, there is a problem that is out of our hands, hopfully it will be fixed asap) |