Last night saw the 9th running of the Wayne Armstrong Cup at Pithara Speedway which also doubled as the final round of this season's LSA Club Championship.

 

Leading into the race meeting Anthony Gaudio led Benny Migro by 26 points in the season points with both men still a chance to taste championship glory.

 

Heat 1 saw Benny Migro win comfortably from Mick Doble, Nathan Chant and Jason Jones.

In heat 2 Ross Atkinson made the most of his front row start to take the win from David Sudholz who was showing some good early speed and Mike Hanlon in third. Anthony Gaudio and Glenn Dickinson had an impressive battle for 5th and 6th.

 

Heat 3 saw Glenn Dickinson start from P2 along side Tahni Doble. Dickinson took the lead from the start as Gaudio and Migro sat in 2nd and 3rd. Migro was applying the pressure on Gaudio before making a minor mistake in turn 1. A couple of laps later Gaudio ran wide down the back straight and Migro pounced into 2nd. Rookie Matt Davis attempted a last lap move on Tahni Doble that came un-stuck taking out her front end. Dickinson declared the winner from Migro, Gaudio and Mick Doble.

 

Jason Jones won the final heat of the night from Mike Hanlon, Robert Garraway and Ross Atkinson.

Next up was the A Dash which determined the starting positions for the inside line for the first four rows for the feature race.

 

Atkinson was deemed to have jumped the first attempt at starting but didn't make that mistake the second time around taking the lead from Migro, Mick Doble and Sudholz. Atkinson went way wide in turns 3 and 4 and Migro got by into the lead. and that's the way the order stayed.

 

Jason Jones won the B Dash to claim the right to start from P2 in the feature. Gaudio finished the Dash in second, Dickinson third and Hanlon 4th.

 

The Midpack Dash for feature grid positions 9 to 14 saw Daryl Borgas make a good start and lead the opening lap before spinning on lap 2 in turn 2. After the restart Nathan Chant would move through and take victory from Robert Garraway, Grant Atkinson, Matt Davis and Tahni Doble.

So, going into the Feature Race Gaudio's points lead had been cut to 15 with Migro needing to finish 8 spots better than Gaudio.

Feature race time and Migro started on pole with Jones alongside. Jones got caught for a jump on the initial start. When the greens came on again Migro made the better start and lead from Jones, Ross Atkinson, Gaudio, Mick Doble and Dickinson.

 

The first stoppage of the race was caused when David Sudholz and Tahni Doble made contact in turns 1 and 2 with both spinning to a stop. Robert Garraway was forced infield while the field was under cautions due to a flat tyre and on the restart Jones, while in 2nd, spun in turns 3 & 4.

 

After the restart Migro led Atkinson, Gaudio and Dickinson. It wouldn't be long before Dickinson pulled infield ending his night. Chant had no problems inheriting 4th place. Tahni Doble would bring on the yellow lights one more time as she spun again in turns 1 and 2.

 

Migro wasn't flustered by the restarts and drove an excellent race to claim the win and back to back Wayne Armstrong Cup victories with Atkinson and Gaudio doing everything they could to get past but had to settle for 2nd and 3rd respectively.

 

Fourth across the line was Chant, then back to Mick Doble, Jones, Davis, Hanlon and Grant Atkinson.
As a result of finishing third in the feature, Anthony Gaudio wins the 2016/17 Club Championship from Benny Migro, Mick Doble, Glenn Dickinson and Ant Dye.