The opening round of the Dutton Garage Southern Speedcar Tour was a night of mixed emotions for Mills Motorsport.
Youngster Caleb Mills debuted with his new KRE Eagle engine and reports back that “it’s strong”. And that was evident with his 2 runner up placings to former national champion Kaidon Brown in the heats, which then qualified him for a p3 grid for the nights Amain.
Things didn’t fair so well for Travis Mills, he actually placed third behind Caleb in their opening heat and failed to finish his second heat. Onlookers feared the worst as the 10v let off a puff of smoke and pulled to the infield with 4 laps remaining. Much to everyone’s relief, a power steering line had come loose and that was easily remedied.
The Amain ran late into the night but it was worth the wait – for one of the boys at least. Caleb unfortunately wasn’t able to make the most of his p3 starting grid and fell back a few spots and struggled to make them up. At the halfway mark, some cars got themselves into trouble at the top of turn 3 & 4 and doing his best to avoid stopping, he made the slightest of contact and bent some steering components ending his night prematurely.
Travis on the other hand, after dropping a heat, started the Amain from p12. Wasting no time, he plunged his way through the field to third by lap 13 and then set about chasing down the front runners. It took him 5 laps to catch up, and eventually took 2nd place with 1 lap remaining. Moving through the field at a rate of 1 car per lap, Travis also secured himself the Valvoline Hard Charger Award.
The team now heads into a break for the Christmas and New Year and will prepare for a very busy five months of racing starting with the 3 night Southern Speedcar Sweep taking in Simpson, Mt Gambier and Warrnambool on January 7, 8, 9.
The team at Mills Motorsport Group would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year and we’ll see you trackside next year.
