Zak Turner impresses but is cruelled by car trouble at first attempt at National Junior Sedan Title

Geraldton’s Zak Turner impressed with his inaugural performance at the 20th National Junior Sedan Titles at Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier but was let down by his machinery. The national titles saw 77 competitors and their cars battle it out over the weekend to earn the title of the best young racer in the country. It was a massive weekend of racing with no less than 25 heats taking place across the weekend with three A, B and C divisions with a 25-lap feature deciding the title. Across the heats WA champion Beau Oldfield was the fastest overall from Queensland champ Aidan Rigby with a best lap time of 16.630 but Turner was not far off the pace with a time of 16.837. It was the fifth-fastest time overall and a fair effort to go along with a win in heat two and a lap record in his very first race of the weekend in heat seven. The strong performances saw him qualify in the 22-strong A final field along with Oldfield and fellow WA drivers Zach Munro, Hunter Downs and Donny Davis. Oldfield would take the initial lead from Rigby with the first fifteen laps of the race going through without a stoppage after the C and B finals were marred by two big rollovers but fortunately drivers in both incidences walked away from the crash. Rigby took the lead on lap 13 as he would battle with Oldfield for the rest of the race in a thrilling contest between the two state champions. Linken Paterson, Zach Munro and Jayden Hancock were battling for third with Turner driving a solid race sitting in sixth just off the podium battle. Hancock retired on lap 19 opening the door for a top-five finish when disaster struck Turner as his car developed engine troubles on the same lap and he was forced to retire bringing an end to his championship tilt. Rigby would go on to win the title over Oldfield by just over half a second with Munro taking third. It was a tough end to what had otherwise been a fantastic weekend for the young Geraldton driver and will no doubt provide a confidence boost he has the skills to match it with the best in Australia.