Alach on podium for Barry Butterworth Classic

Alach on podium for Barry Butterworth Classic

BSL Racing’s Shayne Alach has taken the final step on the podium at the Barry Butterworth classic as he continues to work back towards the front of the field.

With the meeting running across two nights, Friday night at Huntly and Western Springs on Saturday, Alach had his best qualifying run of the season, taking second in the qualifying race final at Huntly. Then, like BSL Racing team-mate Scott Buckley, consolidated his spot in the 40-lap winner take all feature race for the Barry Butterworth classic title.

Meanwhile F2 Midget driver Trewen Joine returned after two big crashes in the last two meetings in the newly liveried BSL Racing/F2 Midget car. A DNF and a heat win saw Trigger start from sixth in the nine car feature race and worked his way into a strong third place when the chequered flag fell.

The Barry Butterworth classic employs a unique grid system, whereby defending champion Michael Kendall started from the back, then choosing Michael Pickens to start ahead of him, who then chose who would start in front of him and so on. Alach was chosen to start the Parker Store Spike Esslinger from grid 14, while the Iscar Sesco Mopar powered Aggressor of Scott Buckley started from a strong grid five.

Both drivers had a strong start, with Buckley scrapping for second early in the race before a right rear puncture with 10 laps remaining forced his retirement. Alach started to work the highline, making strong forward progress and making an early break into the top five.

When a yellow flag came out with seven laps remaining, Alach opened up a healthy gap over the chasing pack and took a convincing third place when the chequered flag flew, the best result for the current Western Springs track champion, who commented that after much frustration, he and his time were finally getting their heads around the reverse-head Esslinger in the number #11 car.

Both Alach and Buckley now look towards the New Zealand Midget Car championships, held at Western Springs speedway next weekend. Alach has once previously sat the NZ1 on his car in the 2008/09 season, while Buckley’s biggest aim for this season is to claim his first national midget title.

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