SEARLE ENCOUNTERS SIMPSON FOR FIRST TIME

On Saturday night (December 8) Kate Searle had her first experience on the Simpson Speedway racetrack in the opening round of the Victorian Formula 500 Stampede Series. Simpson Speedway is one of Australia’s more unique tracks and although Searle has been there before as a crewmember, this was the first time she has competed at the egg shaped venue.

“I’d been to Simpson before when I was crew for Sprintcar racer Adrian Parr, but Saturday night was the first time I’d raced on the track. I must admit that it was a difficult and frustrating start to the night for me,” Searle said. In the opening heat race, Searle started from pole position, but dropped back in the field to record a disappointing result.

“I was pretty frustrated after the first heat. Nothing was wrong with the car, it was me as the driver,” Searle admitted. “Simon (Amato) had a word to me as he has raced Sprintcars on the track and I also got some advice from Jessica Moulden who has done many laps around Simpson in the F500 and Junior Sedans.”

In the second heat, Searle showed immediate improvement by starting second and remaining in that place. In the final heat gear problems caught Searle out and after starting sixth she dropped back slightly. The qualifying heat results were still enough for Searle to start from tenth position in the 15-lap A-Main.

With two laps remaining Searle was placed eighth, but with a slight touch of the brakes to avoid a moment from another car ahead, her night was over when another car collided into her. “I touched the brakes and the car spun, unfortunately another driver had no where to go and ran into me which gave us front end damage. It was a racing incident and we were unlucky in the end,” Searle explained.

The Diggers Rest driver summed up her Simpson experience as a true learning curve, while she also praised fellow lady racer Jess Moulden in taking out the feature race win. “Full credit to Jess, it was great to see a lady beat the men and although we didn’t finish the event, it was still a good feeling and we went away from Simpson with good spirits.

“The thing I learnt about Simpson is that it’s a track that can play with your mind. At a place like Warrnambool you just go flat out and that’s all you have to think about, however at Simpson you are always thinking. “You are always looking ahead to see what other cars are doing, you can’t afford to blink or sneeze put it that way. I’m looking forward to returning later in the season. We have now down around 40 laps on the track and next time we know what to expect a bit more,” Kate said.

Searle’s next meeting will be the opening round of the Oval Express Series at Horsham’s Blue Ribbon Raceway on December 27. On December 28 she will then head to Hamilton’s Western Speedway, followed by Laang Speedway on December 29 for the first three rounds of the OE Series.

ABC Realestate Racing would like to thank the following sponsors for their support throughout season 2007-2008: ABC Realestate, Power Loan, Summa Auto Parts, Mainline DynoLog Dynamometers, Leading Car Care Centre, Dyno-Mite Performance, Red Ed’s Sheds, Gantek and VACC.

Release by Jarryd Stokes