Thorley regains series points lead

AFTER seven events in the season-long chase for Championship honours, Inala sprintcar driver, Pete Thorley has regained the 2009/10 Queensland Speedway Spares Series points lead with a podium finish at the most recent round at the Brisbane International Speedway.

Leading into the Saturday, February 20, event at Archerfield, Thorley sat second in the series – a mere two points behind leader Peter Lack.

They say confidence breeds results so when the ABC Auto Gear Racing team driver stopped the clocks at a respectable 11.896s for the 1/4 mile journey to set the fastest time in qualifying, the team knew they were already part of the way towards reaching their goals for the night.

Thorley backed his qualifying effort up with a fifth and third placing in his heat races to qualify as one of the top six drivers for the dash.

He finished the six-lap dash third to give him an inside second row start in the feature race, where he finished third.

“Just setting some goals and achieving them as much as we can, that’s all we’ve been trying to do each week.” Thorley’s brother and crew chief, Steve said.

“The double points draw was a bonus for us on Saturday night, especially with Pete finishing third in the feature as it has really helped us in the points chase.

“There’s still five rounds to go so it’s far from over but if we can remain consistent and keep chipping away each week then hopefully we’ll still be up there somewhere in the end.”

With the races over and the speedway lights finally dimmed at the end of the night, Thorley left the raceway holding onto a 26-point lead over Richard Morgan with Lack dropping back to third in the standings.

Thorley’s result also moved him to second in Club Championship points, just two markers behind leader Allan Woods with nine club races remaining.

Thorley is back in action this Saturday at Brisbane International Speedway for round eight of the Queensland Speedway Spares Series.