Langton unbeatable at Charlton
Posted: 12/04/04

Over the Easter break, Shane and Nathan Macdonald raced at Charlton Raceway for the Saturday and Sunday night.  There were to be 3 heats on Saturday night and 1 heat and a final Sunday night.  Peter Rodgers pieced his car back together from his roll over in Brisbane the other week, but could only make it for Sunday night.  Heat 1 on Saturday night saw Shane Macdonald lead the race while Rodney Pammenter come through the field to take the lead from Macdonald in the later stage of the race. while Nathan come from the back of the field into 4th, and got up the inside of Shane Langton who was 3rd, on the last lap across the finish line, but wasn't quite ahead of Langton.  1st Rodney Pammenter    2nd Shane Macdonald    3rd Shane Langton. 

Heat 2 saw Nathan Macdonald and Rodney Pammenter off the front row, with Nathan getting the better start and took the lead into the first corner.  Pammenter dropped back from Macdonald while Shane Langton was sitting in 3rd, Shane Macdonald in 4th and Dennis Bullpitt in 5th.  With about 3 laps to go, Chris Duffel from Brisbane rolled his Ford Cortina onto the roof which saw the red lights come on.  On the restart Pammenter was looking to take the lead by getting up the iniside of Macdonald a few times, but Macdonald held onto the lead.  1st Nathan Macdonald    2nd Rodney Pammenter    3rd Shane Langton. 

Heat 3 for the night saw Pammneter off the front row with Langton beside him. Pammenter broke free and took the lead, opening up a good lead.  While Shane Macdonald and Nathan Macdonald were fighting for 3rd position, with Shane running on the inside and Nathan on the outside for 2 or 3 laps.  Shane ended up getting into 3rd while Dennis Bullpitt pulled out after breaking his rack on his car.  Nathan caught his brother Shane back up, as Nathan come faster into the corner than his brother around turn 1 and 2, Shane threw his car a bit sideways to get around the corner, while Nathan braked to miss his brother, the #32 car pushed straight ahead and hit Shane in the left rear tyre, which tore a big hole in his tyre, forcing him to retire.  Nathan was still able to keep going and obtain 3rd spot.  While Peter Campbell finished 4th.  Nathan later receiving the black flag from the officials for hitting his brother.  Macdonald was forced to accept the ruling.  1st Rodney Pammneter    2nd Shane Langton    3rd Peter Campbell. 

The first heat on Sunday night saw the two Macdonald brothers off the front row.  This was the first race for the night so the track was still fairly wet in some places.  Both Shane and Nathan tried to beat each other into the first corner, but Nathan come into the corner too fast and slid up into the wall again.  This set off a series of events with the rest of the field hitting each other and spinning out, trying to avoid Macdonald.  Nathan pulled onto the infield with a bent pannard bar and suspension damage to the right front corner of the car.  The cars were put into a single file restart.  Shane out in front, found some grip right up high near the fence, and eventually pulled a half lap lead over the rest of the field.  Peter Campbell drove well to pass Shane Langton and get up into 2nd place.  While Dennis Bullpitt was running 5th when he found a distinctive high line like Macdonald, and went around the outside of Pammenter, Langton and Campbell, all in one corner, to take 2nd place.  Peter Campbell held onto 3rd position with Shane Langton in 4th followed by Rodney Pammenter and Peter Rodgers.  1st Shane Macdonald    2nd Dennis Bullpitt    3rd Peter Campbell. 

For the feature race, Rodney Pammenter in his #8 Commodore, was the highest point scorer and started from pole, with Shane Langton beside him followed by Shane Macdonald, Peter Campbell, Nathan Macdonald, Dennis Bullpitt and Peter Rodgers.  The water truck was put out before the race, making it extremely slippery.  Langton was able to take the lead over Pammenter, while Bullpitt once again found the high line working for him, after coming from 5th, going around the outside of everyone to eventually take the lead.  But while going around the outside of Shane Macdonald, the two cars just touched, which saw Shane's right rear axle break, Macdonald eventually realising this and pulled onto the infield.  Nathan managed to get past Rodney the Rocket Pammenter into 3rd, while Shane Langton stole the lead back from Bullpitt.  Nathan come around turn 1 and 2, and got a tap from Rocket, which put him off line and allowed Pammenter through.  Pammenter then passed Bullpitt to take 2nd.  While Nathan was happy to finish and had to settle for 4th with Peter Rodgers in 5th and Peter Campbell in 6th.  Shane Langton being unstoppable, making this his 3rd successive feature race win at Charlton.  1st Shane Langton    2nd Rodney Pammenter    3rd Dennis Bullpitt.