RACE REPORT: WESTERNATS
EPIC
WESTERNATS WINS SET STAGE FOR
GRAND
FINAL
The stage is set for a monumental Grand Final later this month
(Adelaide International Raceway, March 23-24) following the
penultimate round of the 2017/2018 Summit Racing Equipment
Sportsman Series at the Perth Motorplex.
Hoisting ANDRA Christmas Trees at
the event were Steph Gullotto (DENSO
Super Street), Bryan Finn (Modified
Bike), Martin Mirco (Super Sedan),
Matt Czerny (Modified), Chris Theo (Top
Sportsman), David Smith (Supercharged
Outlaws) Jim Ioannidis (SuperStock),
Ralph Lewis (Competition) and Wayne
Patterson (Competition Bike).
Runners-up
were
Joel
Trotman
(DENSO Super Street), Trent Anthony
(Modified Bike), George Tipouikidis
(Super Sedan), Mark Grieve (Modified),
Alby Bakranich (Top Sportsman), Jon
Ferguson
(Supercharged
Outlaws)
Jamie Chaisty (SuperStock), Stuart
Moresby (Competition) and Phill Paton
(Competition Bike).
Smith’s Supercharged Outlaws story at
the Westernats read like a fairy-tale,
with the West Australian taking victory
in his Dodge Stratus in what was his
first ever competitive event.
Smith took the win from Ferguson and
his distinctive Chev Belair after having
earlier defeated Adam Murrihy – the
defending champion and recipient of
the Longest Distance Travelled Award
and the Supercharged Outlaws Top
Qualifier Medallion – sponsored by The
Tile Co-The Shower People, KC Tools and
Summit Racing.
Smith went on from his win over
Murrihy to take victory from a red-
lighting Norbert Claite ahead of a bye
run into the final. Ferguson meanwhile
had survived a double break-out semi-
final against Chris Went, after earlier
taking wins over Shane Kramer and
Darren White.
“This is a pretty hard thing to
comprehend, it seems surreal still and
I am lost for words really. It is pretty
incredible, but I guess you surround
yourself with good people and the
results show,” said Smith, while
thanking Total Work Wear Salisbury
and Morley Mitsubishi for their support.
“It is funny, because you always try
and stay optimistic and stay positive
and be confident, so we were saying
all meeting ‘we are going to the finals,
we are going to win it’, but not actually
thinking we were going to win it – it is
pretty cool, it is pretty special.
“We will take the car home now and
regroup and get ready to bring it back
out next season. We have a good base
line now, so hopefully we will have half
a shot of doing something.”
Czerny was another racer celebrating
a break-through in Perth. The racer has
lead the Modified points tally for much