New South Wales second generation racer Nathan Smee captured his first Australian Speedcar Championship on Saturday night at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway when he outlasted a stellar field during a dramatic 40 lap final. Smee’s victory was the first by an Australian driver in the past five years as he broke the domination of the American’s in the 69th running of the Australian Speedcar Championship.

The fabled event fittingly celebrated the 75th anniversary of Speedcar racing in Australia with the legendary triple World Driving Champion Sir Jack Brabham making a special and popular appearance at the venue to assist with the trophy presentations. Brabham is a former winner of the Australian Speedcar Championship and congratulated Smee and the other placegetter's on their achievement.

“You have always got to give yourself a chance even from the B-main. All the boys who worked on the car, those American tires and the Esslinger engine, this is great,” said a relieved winner in victory lane.

Smee started the weekend poorly when he failed to finish his first heat on Friday night while leading due to a broken rear end. Smee also missed his second heat when the team changed the rear end placing well behind the leaders. Coming through with a win in his third heat on Friday night was a confidence boost before a fourth place finish in Saturday night’s final heat saw him start fifth in the B-main. Smee quickly elevated himself into the second spot in the last chance qualifier and advance to the Championship final starting from position 20.

“I didn’t really know what to do at the start so I went to the bottom and missed that crash which helped us out with a lot of positions.”

“We had planned to run the top actually but we did what we could to get to the finish first.”

“I always joked that I would retire if I won the Australian Title, I might have to reneg on that deal.”

Race winner Smee drives for his brother in law Mark Cooper, an ex pat Kiwi and former racer himself who now calls Australia home. Cooper is the proprietor of American Tires and Racing Services in Sydney and Smee said the plan going into the 40 lap, $10,000 to win championship final was simple.

“Starting from that far back in twentieth we had nothing to lose and Mark’s last words were just go for it and we did.”

In a race that had literally everything eventual runner up Brendan Palmer stormed home late to finish on the tail of Smee while he started from 17th on the grid. The 32-year-old from Brisbane was suitably impressed with the result in only his second season racing Speedcar’s following careers in Litrecars and Compact Speedcars.

“We had a good setup and we learnt a lot in New Zealand recently and I have to thank the boys who help me. Especially the guys from supergeek.com who are here tonight, all I can say is we come home strong,” said Palmer.

“We tried hard to get Nathan there at the end then when Keith Giles went by I thought we were gone but we were good enough to hang on for second.”

Third place behind Palmer was fellow Queenslander Sid Whittaker who was simply thrilled to gain a start in the Championship final after being the second reserve. Whittaker has chased the Speedcar Super Series recently and the talented driver recently finished second in national Litrecar title also after starting well back in the field.

“A lot of good guys dropped out by wearing tires and we were lucky to be there at the end.”

“We set the car to give it everything we had and I can’t thank my team enough who have been on the road and my family who I haven’t been with for weeks.”

“All the people involved make this what it is and I plan on missing the flight home tomorrow morning, we’re planning on a big night of celebrations. I wish my two boys were here to share this.”

Amazingly the sole other finisher was West Australian Keith Giles who was running second going into the final corner when he attempted a brave outside move for the win only to slip back to the tail as the chequered flag waved.

The race of attrition started on the first lap when Sydney’s Troy Jenkins, Queensland’s Brock Dean and Adelaide’s John McKay all excited in a turn one incident.

The second start saw high points scorer Dene McAllan shoot to the lead from the outside row ahead of Top 8 Pole Shuffle winner, American Davey Ray. Trailing were Kiwi Brad Mosen, Keith Giles, Ben Dillon, Ant Brien and Troy Jordan.

All eyes were mid pack where ninth starting and defending champion Kevin Swindell began his charge while tenth starting Mark Brown had edged ahead of the talented American. Five laps into the race and Swindell had scorched into fourth as he excitingly made his way around the outside of his rivals.

Meanwhile Ray managed to drive by McAllan and lead for the first time as he looked to add a third title to his 2006 and 2008 wins. With 32 laps remaining Swindell moved into third and looked ominous as he displaced Mosen who looped his car in turn 1 two laps later bringing on the caution light. Mosen would restart at the rear however was out of the event five laps later as was Queensland pair Brad Sloan and John Davidson.

20 year old Swindell made a move on McAllan for second that had him on the tail of leader Ray as Swindell attempted to shoot to the lead. Fourth was Brien, Scott Glazebrook, Smee, Giles, Mark Brown with a deflated left rear and Troy Jordan in ninth. The racing was close and fierce with Swindell charging toward the front while McAllan was right in the mix and racing hard.

The thrilling race was about to take another dramatic twist when Swindell made his move for the lead as he drew alongside Ray with 18 laps remaining in a race that saw a number of the front runners wearing their tires. As the battle raged between two of the world’s finest racers the caution light’s came on for Brien who was stranded with a flat tire. Troy Jordan and David Crabtree were also out of the race by this stage.

As the field circulated under caution Swindell’s title defence deflated along with his right rear tire following his amazing surge forward. Swindell was very animated toward race leader Ray under caution as Swindell quickly climbed from his car and gestured toward Ray who was still circulating on the track.

At the restart Smee was on the move as he jumped into fourth as Ray continued to lead ahead of McAllan and Glazebrook in third however Dillon would be the next to exit after a crash in turn 2.

The following restart saw Smee climb his way into second behind Ray as there were 15 laps remaining. Third placed Dene McAllan’s title aspirations went away with 12 laps remaining as his right rear tire was also worn out. Mark Brown also exited the race while Adam Wallis flipped on the main straight to bring out the red light.

At the restart Smee raced past Ray to lead with 10 laps left as a lap later Ray’s right rear tire deflated with the American limping to the infield.

With the race taking a different complexion Smee now led from Palmer with Peter Ghent moving quickly into third ahead of Whittaker as Dayne Kingshott and Glazebrook both finished infield.

Ghent’s potential podium finish was over when he suffered contact in turn 2 that damaged his front axle bringing on the cautions for the final time.

Smee led away with two laps remaining at the restart and it was left to Giles to attempt the pass for the lead on the final corner before he rode Smee’s right rear tire and slipped back allowing both Palmer and Whittaker to shoot into second and third respectively.

The final round of heat races was won by Davey Ray, Troy Jordan, Kevin Swindell and Dene McAllan. Ray won the Top 8 Pole Shootout over McAllan that was highlighted by Kiwi Brad Mosen’s awesome outside moves on Keith Giles to defeat the West Australian. Adam Wallis impressively won the B-main ahead of Smee with Brad Sloan and Whittaker first reserves.

The Modified Production Sedans were in action supporting the Speedcar Title with current Australian champion Mark Carlin taking the win over Mick Hetherington, Darren Hossack and Scott McElroy in fourth. Heat races were won by Hossack and McElroy.