VEAL: “SEAT TIME IS EVERYTHING”
Reigning Australian Sprintcar champion Jamie Veal is determined to get back in the groove as the Queensland/New South Wales chapter of the Speedway Australia Sprintcar States Series begins at Archerfield.
The decorated Warrnambool racer has won just about everything on the menu in Australian Sprintcar racing but made the decision to be primarily Queensland based for the season to gain more laps.
“Racing in Queensland gave us the opportunity to get more seat time than if we stayed in Victoria, just with the sheer number of events they run up here, and with only one event under our belts before coming here, we knew it would take some time to get back in the swing.”
Despite being void of a win this summer, Veal has still garnered four podiums from six starts and now wants to capitalize on regaining some race fitness.
“We’re not far off, so when it finally clicks and everything starts flowing again we will be fine.”
A return to form for Luke Oldfield has netted the Gold Coast Sprintcar racer an impressive ten podiums from twelve starts, and the 36-year-old almost admitted that he may have matured as a driver.
“It’s taken a while for me to learn to race smarter,” he laughed, “but don’t tell dad I said that.”
An impressive four wins this season has awarded him a 25% win rate, and it’s been achieved in some very talented company.
“There’s no doubt that competing against Veal, McHugh and Goodyer every night makes you a better racer for sure, but this year we’ve just been chipping away at the “one-percenters” and making sure everything is right and the morale in the team is pretty high as a result.”
Lockie McHugh returns to Archerfield needing to bounce back from a few unlucky nights, but is adamant that nothing needs to change to get back in victory lane.
“We’ve had a couple of average nights recently but we usually roll pretty good at Archerfield and Toowoomba so we’re not too stressed.”
When asked if he feels he has a target on his back, the quietly spoken 23 year old dismissed the notion.
“No I don’t think so. We don’t really worry about what other racers are doing, so I don’t imagine they’re worrying about me either. You get lost when you look at other racers and you can get confused, so we just keep our mind on the job and go racing.”
McHugh, Oldfield and Veal will be joined by a stellar cast of over 40 racers tonight including World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year James McFadden and Californian Carson Macedo The the six round series will be held over eight nights beginning tonight at Archerfield and concluding at Sydney’s new $73m Eastern Creek Speedway on January 14 and 15.
Live streaming of the rounds is available on www.speedwayaustralia.tv
Pic credit: Matt Coenders – Mad Matt Photography
QUEENSLAND/NEW SOUTH WALES SPRINTCAR STATES SERIES
Round 1 Wed Jan 5 Archerfield Speedway QLD
Round 2 Fri Jan 7 Archerfield Speedway QLD
Sat Jan 8 Archerfield Speedway QLD
Round 3 Sun Jan 9 Hi-Tec Oils Toowoomba Speedway QLD
Round 4 Mon Jan 10 Fraser Shores Maryborough Speedway QLD
Round 5 Wed Jan 12 Castrol Edge Lismore Speedway
Round 6 Fri Jan 14 Eastern Creek Speedway
Sat Jan 15 Eastern Creek Speedway