Saturday February 18th saw the Mills Motorsport team make its first trek into South Australia to Murray Bridge’s Murray Machining and Sheds Speedway to contest the prestigious Tim Crouch Memorial. Doubling as round 4 of the Speedcar Super Series the team was confident of a strong result considering past performances at their favourite track.
The night commenced with Squizzy time trialling in as the 3rd quickest. Whilst this was great in terms of points it also meant he would start towards the rear of both of his qualifying heats.
Murray Bridge threw the team some curve balls by dishing up a track no one had never encountered there before but none the less the team worked tirelessly to adapt. Moving from 9th to 3rd in heat one and 7th to 2nd in heat two obviously meant the team was doing something right.
With such strong results this had Squizzy officially qualify 2nd based on points. However the Tim Crouch Memorial format requires the top 7 qualifiers to fight it out over a 7 lap dash in honour of Tim’s #7. The unique format also requires said qualifiers to begin the seven lap dash from positions randomly drawn and exchanged between them rather than their qualifying positions. This randomisation saw Squizzy lose his 2nd place qualifying position to a 6th place starter in the Super 7 dash and whilst this was not ideal for the team it certainly provided great theatre for the fans. After having his worst fears realised with his grid position Squizzy was certainly prepared for a fight, however that was not required. A great start and a little bit of luck on his side saw him slide in to 2nd place where he would stay for the remaining laps.
Starting the 30 lap main event from p2 on the outside of up and coming youngster Kaidon Brown, Squizzy had experience on his side and took the lead from the drop of the green flag and went on to set a frantic pace. Leading the way with speed and consistency lap after lap Squizzy was never under any serious threat until lap 22 when ex Australian Champion Adam Clarke took charge and slid into the lead down the back straight. The final eight laps remained the same and saw the chequered flag drop first for Adam Clarke, second for Squizzy and third for Kaidon Brown.
Whilst the team felt obvious disappointment in not claiming the top step of the podium there is still a sense of achievement in the fact that it was their fourth podium in one of their favourite events that honours one of speedway’s true gentlemen.
