Last weekend would see Golding Motorsport driver Rob Golding head to the Perth Motorplex for the 4th annual @John Day Speedcar Classic and with some solid results in the past, the team was keen to better that mark once again.

One of the few drivers who have run in all four of the John Day events, Rob was twelfth in the first running of the event, backed up with a ninth the following year and a sixth in last years event, and was hungry for an even better result last weekend.

“Heading into the event, we hadn’t been that happy with the car,” said Rob. “We’ve been ok but had been feeling like we have lost a bit of speed. During the week the team and I decided to make some changes to try to get it a bit better. Hot Laps was an improvement but it still wasn’t enough so we made some more changes in between the heats. The car was a bit different to drive but once I got my head around that we started moving forward.”

In hot laps Rob did enough to finish third in his group, seventh overall, and was ready to start his opening heat from position three. After some good laps and luck, Rob was able to come home in second place in that race, while in his second heat, after officially starting from sixth, he managed to finish third, giving him enough points to start from position four in the feature.

“We got a bit lucky in the heats” says Rob simply. “First heat a couple of cars dropped out so we came home in second. In the second heat we managed to start on the front row after some others dropped out, but then the car just didn’t take off as we went green, so we got swamped. I was able to fight back and finish third which put us out of fourth for the feature.”

The feature was set to be decided over twenty five laps, and in the early stages, Rob would drop as low as sixth place. Showing the grit that has taken him to podium positions on a number of occasions, Rob would fight back and grab fourth on lap nine, then move into third place for a number of laps before ultimately settling back into fourth place, where he would greet the chequers.

“At the start of the race most people went to the top. Rather than follow the train I thought I’d try the bottom as it looked pretty good on the rolling laps. The car launched off the corners pretty well so I decided to stay on the bottom. I adjusted the shocks a little during a yellow which helped but we’re still lacking a bit of speed to catch the guys in front. After reviewing some footage we can see where we’re losing ground so at least we know what to work on.”

Despite finding more room for improvement, Rob was pleased with his fine fourth place finish in a race that honours a true legend of Speedway, his best finish in the blue ribbon race so far. The night got even better later that night with Rob receiving a contingency award, which will be touched on in a later post.

“Overall it was a positive night for the team” says Rob. “We’ll make a couple more changes in time for the next race meet and hopefully that will help us further!”

For now, the team will concentrate on making more changes to the car in readiness for the next event at the Perth Motorplex on Boxing Day and will be hoping to get back on the podium once again, not to mention grab a bundle of points as Rob looks to regain the Perth Motorplex Track Championship, in which he currently sits fourth, just a handful of points behind the top three. Stay tuned!

Golding Motorsport is proudly supported in season 2020/21 by Quantum Collective, My Race Setup, Dasco Supply Group, QVEE, Thermal Dynamics Engine Heaters, Asteel Powdercoaters, AG Composites, Dominos Spearwood, Hyper Industries and Mills Drainage.

Release by DTN Media.Pic Courtesy Peter Roebuck.