SAM INTO THE LEAD

NEWS Wednesday 6th January 2016, 12:05pm

by Toby Lerone

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The tight corners made conditions difficult at Undera on Wednesday evening for the second round of the Australian Championship with no less than four riders, including Justin Sedgmen, withdrawing from the meeting through injury. However, Sam Masters made it through to the final and secured more, vital, Championship points.

Sam started well with three wins before being defeated by the flying Brady Kurtz in his fourth race. Machine problems in his fifth race saw him finish at the back and as a result failed to gain direct qualification to the final.

In the B Final he made no mistake against Max Fricke, Jack Holder and Brodie Waters and secured the last qualifying place in the final. That gave him the poor outside gate and after the first staging of the final was stopped when Brady Kurtz ploughed into the safety fence, he finished third behind Nick Morris and Mason Campton.

Sam's 11 points in the qualifying races plus another 2 in the final gives him a total of 28 so far and that takes him into the lead in the Championship ahead of Max Fricke, Brady Kurtz and Rohan Tungate on 26 and Mason Campton and Nick Morris on 25. With two rounds to go it seems that the Champion will come from one of these riders.

The next round takes place at Gillman, Adelaide on Friday with the decider at Mildura on Sunday.