Tasmanian sprintcar ace Jamie Bricknell and his team are under pressure to rebuild the car in preparation for their mainland challenge, after the T55 Maxim was heavily damaged during the final of the USA v TAS show at Carrick Speedway on Saturday night.

Bricknell had shown exceptional speed over the two night show, and was a favourite to take out the event, starting out of third for the feature.

On the second restart, the two lead cars split wide, leaving the door open for Jamie to power alongside. However, the inside car veered wildly back up the track, where Jamie rode their wheel, launching him heavily into the concrete wall on turn one.

Despite the heavy impact, Jamie emerged unscathed from the car, which suffered significant damage.

"It's devastating to everyone on the team" expressed Bricknell. "We worked hard all week, battled our way to the front, and got taken out through no fault of our own."

However, the team has vowed to put the incident behind them and focus on rebuilding the car for the pending trip to the mainland.

"The other driver has apologised" says team owner Steve. "While he admitted it could of been avoided, what's done is done, so we'll regroup and focus on getting back on the track."

The day after the incident, the Maxim chassis had been stripped of all but an engine, and the team was taking stock of the damage, but also counting their blessings.

"The tail tank was damaged, and the fuel bladder had spilt" explains Steve.  "Considering it was the start of the final, it had a lot of fuel on board, so it was lucky not to catch fire."

While hesitant to put a dollar value to the incident, Steve has expressed surprise at the amount of damage sustained.

"Besides the obvious front end and wings, we've lost four brand new shock absorbers, several rims, a tail tank, and bent the diff and axle. We may have to miss the next round at Latrobe while we wait for parts, but we'll do our best to get there."

For the 2011/2012 Season Jamie Bricknell is proudly supported by:

Montile Tile Boutique – Launceston, Devonport and Hobart

Precision Autos

KRE Race Engines

C&A Milne Builders

JMC - Jackson Motor Company

All Sorts of Treats

Angryman Photography & Media