Pakenham speedway racer Tony Moule in action in Western Australia.THE long trip to Kalgoorlie International Speedway, Western Australia paid off Pakenham Speedway racer Tony Moule when he took out the Australian ‘360’ Sprintcar title on 1519 March.
It was Moule and the Chris Argus racing team’s first Australian title when he fended off a late challenge from youngster Shaun Bradford to win the event.
Moule, who finished third in the event in 2005, said it was a major relief to finally take out his first title, as well as for his car owner Dave Argus.
“The weekend didn’t start well, as we had a poor qualifying run and didn’t finish as high up in our heat races as we would have liked,” he said.
“However, I was still confident heading into the feature race and knew I could win, even though I was starting from the fourth row.”
Moule qualified 23rd in the time trials and finished his four heat races with a second, a third and two fifth places.
He also recorded a 12th place in the preliminary feature race, after being up to as high as sixth, only to be sent rear of field for an incident with another car.
Moule started in position eight of the 40lap feature race, got away to a solid start and on the 17th lap was well placed in sixth.
By the 32nd lap he had moved into second behind leader Allan Nash and for the next four laps battled for the lead with the Western Australian based driver.
On the 37th lap, thirdplaced Bradford made an ambitious move for the lead on Nash and it resulted in contact between the pair that also involved Moule, who made contact with the wall.
Moule was able to continue, despite a bent radius rod and inherited the lead for the restart, as Nash was unable to continue due to damage caused from the collision with Bradford.
For the closing laps, Moule held on for the victory, winning by three feet over Bradford.
“There were a few anxious moments towards the end, but thankfully I was able to come out on top,” he said.
“The key to my win was using the high line of the race track and that enabled me to move through the field. Considering the amount of racing on the day, due to night one on Friday being washed out, the track held up very well and allowed for duel lanes of racing.”
Moule paid credit to his car owner Dave Argus for making the drive available and was very pleased to claim an Australian title for him.
“Dave has given me with an opportunity to drive for him and I can’t thank him enough,” he said.
The win adds to Moule’s recent Victorian State title victory (the third of his career) and the eighth title event for the Chris Argus Racing team.
Moule thanked team members Chris Argus, Paul Golds, Wayne Ingram, Russell Argus and Lisa Moule.
