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[Australian Motorsport] RUSSELL STARTS THE SEASON WITH A WAKEFIELD WIN |
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Sunday, 05 March 2006 |
RUSSELL STARTS THE SEASON WITH A WAKEFIELD WIN
It was a winning start to the motorsport season for Newcastle teenager Drew Russell in round one of the Shannons Australian Production Car Championship at Wakefield Park Raceway.
Russell, who was the Class A Champion and second in the outright standings in 2005, made his presence felt, despite a relatively late decision to contest the round.
The warning signs for the opposition were present immediately from the outset of the round. Despite battling oversteer in the Go-Karts-Go Honda S2000, Russell set the third fastest laptime in practice and then qualified on the front row of the grid for the scratch race.
Off the line in the scratch race - the opening race of the weekend - the diminutive Honda was swamped by the bigger and more powerful cars, costing him time and positions in the early part of the race. The 17-year old charged back, though, to finish in second place, just half a second behind the race winner David Ryan.
On Sunday, Russell put in a flawless performance in the series’ familiar reverse-class-handicap format races.
Driving with a potent blend of speed and maturity, Russell won the opening race by seven seconds, then backed it up with a five and a half second race win in the final race. In each of the weekends three races, Russell recorded the fastest laptime by a comfortable margin.
The commanding performance saw him win the round.
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