15/06/2025
Gilroy Wins Northern Nationals!
In a race that lasted nearly an hour and had plenty of drama from start to finish, it was Mackay racer Wayne Gilroy who outlasted the rest of the field to claim the Northern Nationals win at Cairns Speedway last night.
Gilroy would start from position six in the forty-lap feature race with pole position claimed by Australian Champion Nathan Macdonald, starting alongside Joel Berkley who was able to race into the lead as the green flag flew. Myles Gilroy, the twin brother of Wayne, flew through the pack to be second at the completion of the opening lap ahead of Macdonald.
Lap two saw Gilroy get past Berkley to take the lead, but the yellows came out to negate the move, seeing Berkley back in front for the resumption.
Berkley, Gilroy and Macdonald would put a slight gap between themselves and the rest of the field, which was being led by Mick Shelford, as they continued to go two and three wide in the battle for the lead.
A number of restarts would ensue, and each time Gilroy applied the pressure to Berkley, including one attempt when Gilroy got past Berkley only for another stoppage to occur.
Finally, the group got some green laps strung together and by this time David Head was able to join the front battle, Head going around the outside of Macdonald, Gilroy having a half lose and being straightened by Macdonald who had nowhere to go, and somehow the race continuing with ‘Tangles’ now in third ahead of the National Champion.
Berkley by this point had opened up his own gap as Gilroy and Head continued to go side by side, Macdonald right behind them.
Head ducked into second place with twenty-six laps to go, but as had been the story so far, the yellows came out once again, negating the lap and the move.
The race resumed and it would only go for a few more laps before disaster struck, Myles Gilroy and Head coming together, Head rolling over and Gilroy’s car climbing over the front bonnet of Head and into the fence in a huge crash.
Berkley would now be elevated back into the lead, but Macdonald took the opportunity to race by and take over the point. Over the next few laps he would pull away, until a moment with a lapped car that suddenly slowed in front of him saw a collision occur, Macdonald now out of the race.
Berkley would again inherit the lead on the restart ahead of Shelford and Wayne Gilroy, and this time he pulled away, surviving multiple restarts to hold the point. One of those restarts saw Shelford coming to a stop, leaving Berkley now leading Gilroy and Brett Hardy for the restart with twelve laps and nine cars remaining.
Unfortunately for Berkley, he too would succumb and join the infield parking lot, a flat tyre seeing him retire with six laps remaining.
This handed Gilroy the lead, and he took the opportunity, leading the other remaining five cars to the green flag for the run to the chequers.
Hardy would be the next to withdraw, leaving Gilroy the leader ahead of Brandon Atto, Beau Smithwick, David Manly and Kev Young.
With one to go Gilroy was well clear despite a flat tyre that saw him slowing. Just as Gilroy hit the finish line to take the win, Smithwick dove under Atto for second, Atto spinning to a stop in turn four.
Smithwick continued on to claim second while the incident allowed Kev Young underneath for third before he lost a wheel exiting the final corner, but he still did enough to cross the line in third on just three wheels in what added to a dramatic race.
Manly would round out the four finishers in what was a marathon race.
Official Result
Feature, 40 laps: 1. MK19 Wayne Gilroy, 2. RK63 Beau Smithwick, 3. RK71 Kev Young, 4. CN11 David Manly. DNF: MK25 Brandon Atto (39), T53 Brett Hardy (35), CR9 Joel Berkley (34), CR54 Mick Shelford (29), RK26 Mason Cameron (28), CN6 Steve Manly (24), A1 Nathan Macdonald (23), CN69 Graham Klienhans (23), RK46 Kory Jennings (23), T16 Stacey Lee (23), SB89 TJ Horne (19), MK75 Myles Gilroy (15), CR24 David Head (15), RK105 Tyson Jennings (13), CN21 Ryan Wilkins (13), CN8 Scott Vella (13), CN4 Luke Reyment (7), T32 Shaun Adams (0). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 1.273. Fastest Lap: 16.433 Nathan Macdonald.
Pic Courtesy Gilroy Racing page.
