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Perth Motorplex
KWINANA BEACH, Western Australia. (March 14) - Marc Giancola survived a plethora of restarts, the carnage going on behind him and a big charge from Brad Blake to win the 8th Australian Late Models at the Perth Motorplex on March 14.
Following the pair home was Ben Ludlow who was second the previous year.
"Thanks to the Motorplex for putting the event on," Giancola said.
"Must have to apologise to the crowd, you must have been tearing your hair out with restart after restart."
Asked if the win had sunk in Giancola said it had.
"I have finished second before so this one feels a little better."
Blake thought he had something for Giancola but suffered suspension damage late and drove the car as good as he could.
"We done to Mark I am really proud of him," Blake said.
"One short…sorry guys."
Ludlow was happy to be on the podium with the car running out of fuel in the last 10 lap, saying he was doing as much as he could to conserve the fuel.
Giancola elected to start on the outside on the front and he opened up a good buffer from Grimson, Blake, the Ludlows and Drown who slipped back to sixth in the opening couple of laps.
The American then managed to make up a couple of spots over the next couple of laps.
Giancola was into lapped traffic after just five laps and had a massive lead but it was to no avail when Bert Vosbergen's heavily-beaten up #4 pulled up on the main straight with 24 laps remaining.
On the restart it was Giancola from Blake, Drown, Grimson, Ben Ludlow, Brad Ludlow, Cardy, Nylander, Noakes and Craig Vosbergen who had raced up from the back of the pack.
Ben Ludlow probably wondered who hit him from behind a lap after the restart, but he wouldn't have to go far to find out with his son being responsible for the love tap.
Giancola and Blake ran away from the pack, including Drown and were up on to lapped traffic again with 20 laps remaining.
Blake pulled up alongside Giancola to have a look but
Blake got underneath on a couple of occasions only to be denied each time and after getting in front momentarily Giancola appeared to get a wake-up call and pulled away.
Brad Ludlow and Brad Kelleher came together with 14 laps remaining.
Off the start Giancola showed he had some pretty serious horsepower under the bonnet of the #43 machine but not as much as he would have liked with Blake reeling him back in a couple of laps later with Drown also showing he is still in contention.
Drown levelled to Blake with nine to go but the challenge saw him lose a bit of speed and a few laps later he lost some more ground.
Blake tried a desperate move on the main straight where there didn't appear to be a gap but he managed to force his way around a lapped car and keep going.
A second later the caution lights came on when four cars came together in pits bend and were all facing the wrong way.
With six laps remaining it was Giancola from Blake, Drown, Grimson, Ben Ludlow, Brad Ludlow, Van Wormer and Craig Vosbergen.
It was game on in the final five with all the front runners going hard - but only for a few seconds.
Matt Noakes lost the back end of his car, requiring a tow truck.
Grimson and Brad Ludlow were then out of the show when they came together after ploughing into the fence at the end of the straight.
Van Wormer continued his charge forward and at the same time Drown went to charge around the outside of Blake but hit the fence.
Van Wormer then tried to again push his way forward on the restart but went too hard and pushed into Craig Vosbergen, spinning them both around on the main straight.
To say Vosbergen was not happy with the outcome was an understatement.
Drown went into the second night racing in similar fashion to the Friday night, winning heat seven from Matt Noakes and Rick Musarra.
Ben Ludlow got to the lead early but his challenge was over as soon at it began, slowing up and pulling infield, only to rejoin the race a lap later.
Drown said it was a little scary in the low groove early on.
"I am not sure what happened to Ben…we will go on work on the car a little bit now.
Brad Ludlow got the early lead in heat eight and never looked back, taking a valuable points-boosting win.
Blake mounted a serious challenge in lapped traffic in the latter stages but was unable to make up enough ground.
Craig Vosbergen was third.
"I am really happy with the car with the track being so wet…it is just fun to do this…I hope we are in with a chance later on."
Grimson was the all-the-way winner in heat from Giancola and Bert Vosbergen.
Giancola closed up the gap in the latter stages after tagging the wall on the main straight.
"That should help," Grimson said of the big points haul, where he went into the Dashes in fourth.
Giancola claimed the pole position after winning a spirited A Dash over Drown and Blake.
Drown looked menacing while running the low line for six laps but Giancola was equal to the task as the pair put on a great driving display.
Grimson set up his start on the front row with an all-the-way in the B Dash from Brad Ludlow who took second from Cardy in the latter stages.
Qualifying: Doug Drown 16.891, Marc Giancola 13.367, Brad Ludlow 17.639, Bert Vosbergen 17.689, Darryl Grimson 17.723, Matt Noakes 17.727, Matt Nylander 17.778, Ben Ludlow 17.778, Jay Cardy 17.885, Phil Richards 17.900, Rick Musarra 17.904, Brad Blake 17.918, Nathan Disney 17.974, Jamie Oldfield 18.141, Barry Blake 18.168, Michael Holmes 18.200, Ryan Halliday 18.390, Dean Smith 18.588, Mark Matthews 18.641, Matt Goodlad 18.692, Craig Vosbergen 18.781, Barry Kelleher 18.976, Clint Noakes 18.999, Kevin Bell 19.094, Daniel Green 20.967.
Heat 1: 1st Doug Drown, 2nd Brad Blake, 3rd Nathan Disney, 4th Matt Noakes, 5th Dean Smith, 6th Kevin Bell, 7th Daniel Green, 8th Jeremy Hale. DNF: Matt Nylander.
Heat 2: 1st Marc Giancola, 2nd Darryl Grimson, 3rd Ben Ludlow, 4th Ryan Halliday, 5th Rick Musarra, 6th Matt Goodlad, 7th Clint Noakes, 8th Jamie Oldfield. DNF: Terry Chamberlain.
Heat 3: 1st Brad Ludlow, 2nd Jay Cardy, 3rd Phil Richards, 4th Michael Holmes, 5th Jeep Van Wormer, 6th Barry Blake, 7th Barry Kelleher, 8th Bert Vosbergen. DNF: Craig Vosbergen.
Heat 4: 1st Brad Ludlow, 2nd Craig Vosbergen, 3rd Clint Noakes, 4th Ryan Halliday, 5th Jay Cardy, 6th Darryl Grimson, 7th Rick Musarra, 8th Barry Blake.
Heat 5: 1st Doug Drown, 2nd Matt Nylander, 3rd Phil Richards, 4th Nathan Disney, 5th Bert Vosbergen, 6th Michael Holmes, 7th Barry Kelleher, 8th Daniel Green.
Heat 6: 1st Brad Blake, 2nd Marc Giancola, 3rd Dean Smith, 4th Ben Ludlow, 5th Matt Noakes, 6th Jeep Van Wormer, 7th Jeremy Hale, 8th Kevin Bell, 9th Matt Goodlad.
Heat 7: 1st Doug Drown, 2nd Matt Noakes, 3rd Rick Musarra, 4th Clint Noakes, 5th Matt Goodlad, 6th Matt Nylander, 7th Ben Ludlow. DNF Daniel Green.
Heat 8: 1st Brad Ludlow, 2nd Brad Blake, 3rd Craig Vosbergen, 4th Nathan Disney, 5th Jay Cardy, 6th Terry Chamberlain, 7th Jeremy Hale, 8th Ryan Halliday, 9th Barry Kelleher.
Heat 9: 1st Darryl Grimson, 2nd Marc Giancola, 3rd Bert Vosbergen, 4th Jeep Van Wormer, 5th Dean Smith, 6th Kevin Bell, 7th Michael Holmes, 8th Mark Matthews. DNF: Phil Richards.
A Dash: 1st Marc Giancola, 2nd Doug Drown, 3rd Brad Blake, 4th Ben Ludlow, 5th Bert Vosbergen, 6th Dean Smith, 7th Rick Musarra. DNF: Michael Holmes.
B Dash: 1st Darryl Grimson, 2nd Brad Ludlow, 3rd Jay Cardy, 4th Matt Nylander, 5th Matt Noakes, 6th Nathan Disney. DNF: Ryan Halliday.
A Main: 1st Marc Giancola, 2nd Brad Blake, 3rd Ben Ludlow, 4th Jeremy Hale, 5th Jeep Van Wormer, 6th Mark Matthews, 7th Jay Cardy, 8th Terry Chamberlain, 9th Barry Kelleher, 10th Clint Noakes. DNF: Doug Drown, Darryl Grimson, Craig Vosbergen, Matt Nylander, Brad Ludlow, Matt Noakes, Dean Smith, Nathan Disney, Matt Goodlad, Michael Holmes, Bert Vosbergen, Kevin Bell.
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