By Staff Writer It was ‘third-time lucky’ for Sam Masters, the 25-year-old from Newcastle, taking the 2017 Australian Speedway Senior Solo Championship crown in front of a home crowd at Kurri Kurri, January 14.
Masters topped the heats with 14 points, becoming the number one seed ahead of the A Final decider.
“I won all my heats, but I got second in my last, my engine was starting to get tired.
“It has been working well all series, but race engines don’t last very long.
“We got what we needed out of it and I’ve come out the winner,” Masters said.
The all-important A Final saw Brady Kurtz, Nick Morris, Sam Masters and Troy Batchelor fly off the line and pile into turn one, where Masters looked to be a little flustered and out of contention. However, he managed to get the rear tyre to bite hard on the exit and launch to the lead.
Masters told press he was a bit “flustered” in the A Final knowing he had tied up the title.
Round three winner and 2017 title hopeful, Justin Sedgmen did not have the night he hoped for, scoring only 9 points, barely getting him a start in the B Final.
Sedgmen still managed to finish the Championship in second place overall thanks to his consistent racing in previous rounds, sitting on a total of 55 points.?2017 Championship hopes of young gun, Jack Holder (reigning Under 21 Champion) have been dashed after he suffered an unfortunate crash in heat eight and was medically cleared of a shoulder injury to score only 3 points for the night.
The race included Sedgmen, Campton and Fricke, which restarted without him.
Holder also crashed out of his final race.?The title has been a long-time coming for Masters, who has fought hard to place second in both the ‘15 and ‘16 championships.