After taking three consecutive Victorian Championships, Portland Powerhouse Adam King finally snared the AMCA Nationals Australian Championship at Murray Bridge’s Riverview Speedway over the Australia Day weekend (January 23 & 24). King lead from start to finish defeating Current Tasmanian Champion Corey Smith and Four times National Champion Shane McKinnell.

“This is our fourth year and we’ve been working towards this the whole time.” Said King. “It’s great to finally get it.”

“We’ve had a fast car the last two titles but bad luck has kept us out of the points, so this win is just fantastic.” Said a naturally pleased and proud new national champion.

For the new national champ (King), and the defending title holder (McKinnell) the weekends couldn’t have been much different although the only four time champion showed his class with a big drive in the final to take the final step on the podium.

Following a practice night, meal and Calcutta the series action kicked off with Michael Ffrench taking the first heat win from position five. David May blasted from 9th to second with Paul Forrest jumping from 10th to third. Neither Kirsten Van Zealand nor Wayne Vickers finished.

Heat 1B fell to West Australian Koran Atkinson who swapped front row positions with Gareth Stevens. Mark Lincoln was third while Bill Lodwick Jnr failed to finish.

King showed his form right from the start taking the heat 1C win ahead of Matthew Bellette and Stuart Pope.

Heat 1D belonged to Dallas Czerwinski from Frank Thierry and Michael Qualman.

David Hartman won heat 1E but was put back to third for jumping the start giving the win to Matt Hardy and Rodney Bassett. Tim Woolfe didn’t make the distance.
The final heat of the opening round saw Raymond Hedley take the win ahead of Corey Smith and Darren McCarthy. There was plenty of aggro in this heat however as Tim Reidy and Daniel Scott rubbed panels for half a dozen laps before both were sent rear of field. Reidy along with Luke Dodding and Nick Stubbs didn’t take the chequered flag.

In heat 2A, Mick Kiraly in his self built chassis beat Ffrench and David Robertson to the line as Ted Hill did not finish.

Veteran Brian Chadwick scored the win in heat 2B ahead of Corey Fox and rookie Michael Hartman.

King blew from 8th to the win in heat 2C with Steve Potts and Stewart Grant-Campbell (SGC) next. Josh Stumann was sent rear of field for spinning SGC and Pope failed to finish.

Heat 2D belonged to Collin Dolmans ahead of Frank Thierry and Andrew John Wedd. Paul Sullivan and Daniel Brooks took each other out of the heat with Brooks done for the weekend with chassis damage.

Darren Clarke beat Keith Ebbs and Bassett to the flag in heat 2E as McKinnell backed up from pole to seventh. Mick Jackson was put back two spots from 2nd to fourth for jumping the start and David Hartman stopped with a flat front tyre. Bruce Tait and Hardy both failed to finish also.

Heat 2F saw Scott take the win ahead of rival Reidy with Maris Valodze in third. Reidy had actually taken the win but a protest by Scott was upheld. This heat also saw a huge accident when contact from another car saw Matthew Smith roll three times ending his weekend. Thankfully the Tasmanian was alright. Luke Dodding also failed to finish.

A third set of heats would complete the opening nights action with Stubbs scoring in heat 3A ahead of Frank Thierry and Col Pollock. Brooks did not finish.

Reidy was finally allowed to keep the win in heat 3B as he defeated Collin Dolmans and Steve Letts. Jason Dreaver was the only non-finisher.

Kiraly took out heat 3C from Vickers and Stumann.

Valodze won heat 3D from King and Jackson as Sullivan again failed to take advantage of his pole position when he didn’t finish.

Lodwick Jnr enjoyed his win in heat 3E from McKinnell and Stevens. Potts and Peter Wollschlager both stopped early.

The final heat of the night went to Scott, from Corey Smith and David Hartman. Robertson was sent rear of field for passing another car before the cone on a restart.

One of the pre race favourites Mark Lincoln finally found victory lane in heat 4A as he beat Corey Fox and Ffrench to the flag. Neither Kirsten Van Zealand nor Stubbs finished.

Woolfe took out heat 4B ahead of Letts and Dean Ballard.

Kiraly doubled his tally in heat 4C ahead of Robert Irwin and Stumann.

King continued to amass the points with yet another win in heat 4D this time beating home Darren Clarke and Ebbs as Nicholas Dodding failed to finish.

The penultimate heat went to Wollschlager from McKinnell and Wedd. Qualman (from pole) Adam Timberlake and Lodwick all dnf’d.

The final heat (4F) saw Robertson score the major points from SGC and Scott. Corey Smith was sent rear of field for two jumped starts and Bellette spun. Alex Petz suffered a flat tyre and Ben Genrich never made the distance.

Wollschlager never took up his pole position in the C-Main elevating Stephen Schwarz to pole alongside Michael Hartman. This pair ran in that order to the finish and transferred to the B-Main. Timberlake, Woolfe, and Jason Robinson just missed the transfer. Bellette, Lodwick, Nick Dodding and Aaron Van Zealand all failed to finish.

The final desperate race for the last two transfers saw Stevens start the B-Main on pole from Bassett, Irwin, and David Hartman. While Stevens and Bassett made the transfer Irwin was too eager and was sent rear of field for jumping the start. Potts and Vickers would be the two emergencies for the title race.

Thanks to his heat success’s, King had secured the all important pole from Kiraly, Ffrench, Scott, Corey Smith, SGC, Chadwick, Darren Clarke, McKinnell, Valodze, Lincoln, Robertson, Atkinson, Fox, Collin Dolmans, Letts, David May, David Hartman and Stevens.

From his coveted prime position King dominated the Christies Beach Auto Centre sponsored 30 lap final leading at every opportunity and being very cagey on the restarts to maintain his advantage. Conversely Kiraly blew his chances with a spin that eventually saw him finish 8th. Corey Smith put on a charge and worked his way to second with McKinnell gaining third by stealth as he quietly worked his way through the field. Many fans thought that if the race had run a few more laps McKinnell may have taken his fifth national crown. Scott and Frank Thierry completed the top five with SGC sixth after being sent rear of field for spinning Scott. Ffrench was next ahead of the aforementioned Kiraly with Letts, David Hartman, May, Fox, Darren Clarke and Stevens the only other finishers. Chadwick retired with a flat tyre and Valodze, Lincoln and Robertson also retired. Atkinson suffered a flat tyre and Collin Dolmans had his nerf bar pushed onto his tyre ending his race.

“The car was awesome all weekend.” King enthused. “We barely touched the car, we just trimmed it to the track and it all went to plan. We only had one close call in the heats when a car came down off the wall. We were running high and passed all but about two cars around the outside and we scored three wins and a second and secured pole for the final.”

“In the final we moved down the track a little after we’d set the car to run a bit higher up the track.” King continued. “The track slicked off quicker than we expected and we had to move down but that made the car a little loose but we got out to an early lead and were able to hang on until the last yellow with seven laps to go when it got a bit more difficult.”

“I would sincerely like to thank all of my valuable crew and my sponsors Port City Engines, All Star Graphics, Tri-tech Lubricants, Earl’s Performance Plumbing and Trident Tyre Centres.

King will now see out the rest of the season before making the step up to Sprintcars next season.

AMCA Nationals would like to thank Riverview Speedway, the competitors and fans and everyone associated with the track and the running of the event for making it the highly successful event that it was.