GOODYER IS A TWO TIMES NATIONAL SPRINTCAR CHAMP
By Thomas Miles (Auto Action)
For the second time, Tasmania’s Jock Goodyer is an Australian Sprintcar Champion after dominating the title final at Mount Gambier’s Borderline Speedway.
Goodyer was never headed and flew in a fast SCCA Australian Sprintcar Championship A Main at Mount Gambier, leading from start to finish.
The crushing win is the Tasmanian’s second after he also won the 2023 title held at Perth Motorplex.
The 63rd edition of the race to be the #1 was all about Goodyer as he took an exciting preliminary A Main on Friday night before being even faster under the Saturday night lights.
His speed forced reigning champion James McFadden to settle for second ahead of poleman Ryan Newton.
Not even Goodyer himself could believe his speed in the 40-lap affair, with the result a fitting reward for thousands upon thousands of kilometres travelled around the country this season.
“I am lost for words,” Goodyer said.
“It was fricken hard and I could feel my car getting tight, but soon realised it was the left rear that was causing that.
“Then the lapped cars started to pull away so I thought I’d better drop, otherwise I am in trouble.
“We put the wing back a little bit and it just stuck down there.
“These guys just work so hard. We struggled a little bit earlier in the year and we just keep digging. We drive all the way across Australia for this.”
Goodyer’s car was like a rocket after every stoppage and shot away from the pack, leaving his rivals with no chance to fight back.
Runner-up McFadden was full of praise for Goodyer’s performance.
“We took too long to get by Ryan there. I felt a lot better than the car speed we were actually carrying,” McFadden said.
“Once we cleared him I thought ‘let’s go, its game time’.
“I got to the traffic and they were three wide. I could touch him, but could not pull him in so congratulations to those guys.
“Jock is a deserving champion. He drives one hell of a race car and will race the #1 with honour.”
Although Goodyer dominated when it mattered, it was not an easy night.
His campaign started strangely when Daniel Storer’s front left landed on the #T22’s top wing.
The bizarre incident left Goodyer thinking he “had a sunroof”; however, he did enough in the heats to secure enough points for a front row start.
He made the most of it by flying from the outside and sailing into the lead with a big advantage straight away.
Pole sitter Newton was forced to slot into second ahead of McFadden and Lockie McHugh, while local boy Parker Scott wowed the crowd to jump from seventh to fifth.
Three green flag laps were possible before the first yellow caused by Super2 winner Brad Vaughan.
In his first national title, the Supercars driver was simply happy to make the A Main and represent his small South Australian family team.
But luck had not been on his side in the brand new car with a broken front spindle, sending him into a spin at Turn 2.
Goodyer immediately reasserted his dominance with the top three unchanged.
By lap 13 McFadden’s speed was too much for Newton, and a move up high saw the Team Brady driver charge pass after a lap of side-by-side racing.
The pass occurred just before the second yellow needed for a luckless Brock Hallett.
Hallett had looked to be a contender for the top five, but got clipped by a slow-moving Jordyn Charge and the fast Queenslander’s race ended beneath the flag post.
The timing of the yellow saw Newton reinstated second, but it did not last long as he lost the position for good with 15 laps to go.
McFadden stole second with an impressive slide job at the final corner.
But with Goodyer leading by the length of the back straight, the all green run home meant McFadden’s dream of back-to-back wins fell short.
Scott tried to challenge McHugh, but soon found himself on the back foot.
The Mount Gambier youngster fell behind the charging Dayne Kingshott and even Kaiden Manders briefly, but the latter stuffed the slide job.
Scott ended up securing eighth as Todd Moule impressively rounded out the top five as Kingshott also starred.
The WA star dubbed the “Dennis Lillie of sprintcars” by Wade Aunger flew from 16th to sixth.
Tate Frost joined Charge, Hallett and Vaughan on the sidelines with mechanical gremlins.
With packed grass banks and fast, intense racing, it was a special occasion for the hard-working Borderline Speedway team led by Cary Jennings.
