Costly Night for Bricknell                                                                                           16-3-2010

A button happy race official at Latrobe’s Bendigo Bank Arena last Saturday night spoiled Jamie Bricknell’s hopes of another podium finish in the 09/10 season and it also narrowed his lead in the Farmers Union Series point standings.

The whole saga happened during the closing stages of the feature race when Bricknell was attempting to pass Marcus Alexander for second when he drifted high and grazed the wall. Jumping the gun, the race official in question put on the caution light although Bricknell had not stopped or even looked like stopping. Despite the mistake Bricknell was sent to the rear of the field even though he hadn’t stopped.

“I know that I hit the wall and just because a race official made a mistake by pulling on the caution light too soon I shouldn’t have to wear the brunt of it,” said a disappointed Bricknell, who fought his way back from being put rear of field to finish in seventh place. “It cost me a chance of a podium finish and more importantly it has robbed me of valuable points in the Farmers Union Series and with the series rounding up I can’t afford to be losing valuable points.”

Photo Damon Kingshott

‘Tough’ was the best way to describe Bricknell’s night overall after he failed to finish the opening heat race due to coming off second best while battling for second place with Marcus Alexander that resulted in the front end of the TAS # 55 Montile Tile Boutique supported Maxim being knocked out. The Bricknell team were forced to make some hasty repairs just to make it out in the second heat race of the night where he ended up finishing in second place. A DNF and a second in the heat races Bricknell started the feature race from seventh.

“It was just a racing incident between Marcus [Alexander] where it could have gone either way as we were battling for the same piece of track,” he said. “The team put in a huge effort just to make it out for the second heat race and we just managed to make it out there in the nick of time. It was disappointing not to be able to reward the team with a strong feature race result for all their effort throughout the night.”

The Farmers Union Series will continue this Saturday night (March 20) at Hobart’s Mountain Dew Ice Raceway and it is where Bricknell is hoping to be able to pad his lead in the overall point standings.        

For the 09/10 Season Jamie Bricknell is proudly supported by the following organisations:

Montile Tile Boutique – Launceston, Devonport and Hobart

A.B.E.L Landscape Supplies

Precision Autos

Longford Bodyworks

All Sorts of Treats

DOC Signs

PM Race Engines