Bricknell Starts well at the President’s Cup                                                              23-1-2009

Tasmanian youngster Jamie Bricknell got his Mainland campaign away to a good start on Wednesday night by finishing 11th in the feature race of the Presidents Cup at Avalon Raceway.

In a quality 39 car field, Bricknell showed good pace and plenty of maturity in the heats for a second and a seventh place finishes after time trailing 22nd earlier in the night in what was his first visit to the Avalon Raceway track.

Starting from outside pole for his opening heat race, Bricknell got away to an early lead and established a handy gap which he held for the majority of the race, only to see the hard earned gap reduced to nothing due to a late race stoppage. A small mistake on the restart allowed David Murcott to get under Bricknell, and despite his best efforts, he had to settle for second.

For the second heat race Bricknell had to start from the outside of row five in position 11, and after producing a top quality drive in heavy traffic he was able move his # 55 TAS Giraffe Civil Contracting supported Maxim forward four places, eventually finishing seventh , and therefore scoring more valuable points.

Bricknell’s heat finishes were good enough to see him qualify 12th for the President’s Cup feature race, and as expected it was a tough and torrid affair. Racing on an unfamiliar track against some of the best driver’s in the country, Bricknell was able to move forward one place to bring home an 11th place finish in what was his first outing outside of Tasmania.

Photo Damon Kingshott

Speaking with Bricknell, he said; “I’m really happy, as I said before, I mainly wanted to come away to learn, by racing against the best, and to make the feature race and hold my own at my first outing is more than I expected,” he enthused.

“It’s such a tough field, like for example if I had won that first heat instead of finishing second, I would have started the feature race out of sixth, instead of 12th. It’s that close.

“I also really want to thank all the crew, they’re a fantastic team, who work really hard, and as always they have done a great job. The car was good all night, so I can’t really ask for more right now.”

Bricknell’s attention now turns to tonight’s Kings Challenge at Borderline Speedway at Mt. Gambier in South Australia, another major Sprintcar event with a first class line up of cars and stars where the competition will only getter tougher,

“There are more cars nominated for tonight than at Avalon on Wednesday, so it’s only going to get harder tonight and as the week unfolds, because there will more again when we get to Warrnambool for the Grand Annual Classic.”

For the 2008/09 Season Bricknell is proudly supported by the Following Organisations:

Giraffe Civil Contracting

A.B.E.L Landscape Supplies

Precision Autos

Altegra Pit Tents and Marquees

Longford Bodyworks

JAX Quickfit Tyres – Launceston

Exide Batteries

JF Machinery

Radiators Plus

BP Top Drop Service Station

Snap-On Tools – Launceston

Central Wholesale Wreckers

Dragway

Phillip Davey Sheetmetal

Jail House Grill

Launceston Powder Coating

All Sorts of Treats

Glen’s Gardening and Property Maintenance

DOC Signs

PM Race Engines