By Ebony McQuinn
Unfortunately, the night ended very quickly for Chief Racing. A slow start, Waters struggled to find pace in time trials. He clocked a time of 13.099, four tenths off the top time of 12.790. He qualified 3rd in Heat 3 and 6th in Heat 5. Not much was changed to the set-up between time trials and Heat 3. Heat 3 saw similar struggles as Waters was slow off the line, losing a position. He held fourth for the remainder of the race, unable to pass due to lack of vision.
After deep discussions, the crew changed the set-up for Heat 5. Waters had a good start, passing to third within two laps. Battling for second with promising speed. Having another crack, the steering box failed and Waters lost control of the car, hitting the wall between turns 2 and 3. The car sustained heavy damage, forcing the v6 Sprintcar to retire to the centre. Once the car was brought back to the transporter, the crew were able to assess the damage, determining that the car wouldn’t run again.
While the damage cannot be fully assessed until the crew have returned to the Chief Racing Factory where they can pull it apart, it is the current belief that the chassis is irreparable.
Driver’s Point of View:
“Round 8 in Mildura with the All Stars. Wasn’t the best night for us. Didn’t quite get the car running in hot laps, which put us out of third for our first heat. I ended up running fourth, struggling with the car. The second heat started out of sixth and got up to third pretty quick. I was racing for second, the car felt really good. Was running a bit high, got on the right front, not sure if something broke, but it put me in the wall, putting an end to our night. Finally got the car right and ended up in the wall. Just wanna thank all the guys for their effort and our sponsors. Not the best night, but we’ll bounce back.
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