FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 19, 2012
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Mat Goodlad season shows promise with consistent top ten finishes



Perth WA (Australia):  In a season that started with some promise for Daytona Racing and driver Mat Goodlad, it has quickly turned around to be a frustrating one.  While the former Rookie if the Year has been a consistent top ten runner, with an occasional top five, the car still hasn't been where the team would like it.

"It has been one of those season where, you just don't quite have the speed, yet you can't find where your lacking it".

With four of the best drivers from the USA coming to race in the inaugural USA Invasion Tour in the South West of Western Australia, Mat knew he would have to lift and find some of the missing speed to be competitive.

Manjimup's round was the first and was to be held over the first two nights of the new year, this round of the tour would see Steve Shaver, Jeremy Payne, Doug Drown, Steve Francis and Devin Moran take on Mat Goodlad and the rest of WA's best.

For the preliminary feature race on the first night the track was quite rough, so Mat played it cautiously and brought the car home in 10th, but more importantly it was in one piece. Night two of the opening round saw the Old Man's Garage sponsored rocket finish its heats in fourth and fifth leaving it in starting spot nine for the feature race.

Once again the track conditions proved to be testing, this time it was difficult to see, as it was very dusty.  Throughout the 30 lap final there were a number of yellow light situations, which in the end would prove costly for Goodlad. Having stayed clear of the crashes including, the one that forced the red lights on at the start of the race, the Perth based racer had improved on his finishing position from the night before, climbing to seventh.

Needing to finish just one more lap to claim some valuable points, the number of laps under caution caught up Mat, forcing him to head infield having ran out of fuel.

Round three of the tour headed to the Smokefree Collie Speedway. The heat results in Collie were mixed, starting of the back in his first heat Mat was unable to move up and would finish in eighth, meanwhile in his second heat, the Diversified Contracting sponsored car started second and held that position.

Starting the feature race mid pack, the key to recording a good finish was once again staying out of trouble. Once again the ever consistent Mat kept the car out of trouble although not breaking into the top ten, finishing just outside in eleventh.

With round three being held on the Friday night, the USA Invasion Tour took a half hour drive down the highway, to the Coates Hire Bunbury Speedway for the fourth and final round on Saturday night.

"We may not have the result we were looking for, but it's not every day you get to race the likes of Steve Francis. Hopefully tonight we can put the few minor problems we've had over the last couple of nights and get a good result".

Like life you dont always get what you want, in this case the team wanted a good result, instead they got a destroyed race car. The first heat of the night would see Mat starting off the second last row in ninth, this heat though would only last just over half a lap.

Racing down the back straight and heading into turn three, a car who was on the top side of the track, in front of the field turned spun at full noise and as he came down the track t-boned a helpless Goodlad. With the damaged suffered the team had no choice but to load the car up and be done for the night.

During the week the car has been unloaded and inspected to see exactly what damage has been done.

"It's basically the whole rear end, the diff, exhaust and the fuel cell have all been damaged, even the seat has suffered a little bit".

If you want to know the teams decision on the rest of the season check out their facebook page "Daytona Racing".

Daytona Racing would like to thank their loyal sponsors: Diversified Contracting, Old Mans Garage, M2 Distribution (Drift HD), JHR Signs, Duralite Trailers, Valvoline and SWB Photography