Dean Jamieson well and truly had his hands full at the close of the Riverbend Nationals, claiming the accolades for the Western Conference final win, the Riverbend Nationals event win, and also the top qualifying honours for the April 5-7 event.
“I am a bit beside myself really,” Jamieson said at the end of the event.
“Johnny (Ireland) and Lucas (Neagoe) both had losses in round one, so I was sort of playing catch up (in the Western Conference) all weekend to them. It takes a bit of luck, and we had some go our way.
“It was tough racing out there. You never know what ‘Baldy’ is going to put up and then we had to race Mick Cristoforo in round two and he is a pretty handy racer – we have raced him a couple of times and it has gone either way. Then we had a bye run, where I went red – have been trying to fix that all weekend, leaving a few cherries, so that was a good time to do that and saw me a little cautious in the final!
“I am just so happy, and it is great that with Lucas and I being such great mates that we could go 1-2.”
Jamieson went into the weekend with 280 points, sitting behind Lucas Neagoe and Johnny ‘Hog’ Ireland – who were both on the cap – as well as Derryn McGregor (290), who did not take part.
Jamieson’s event and Western Conference final win came following race victories over Colin ‘Baldy’ Sainsbury and Michael Cristoforo in rounds one and two, before a bye in the final sealed his spot in the final, where he took the victory over event runner-up, Matthew Yard.
Despite being knocked out in round one by Cristoforo, Lucas Neagoe still has plenty to celebrate, being named as the Western Conference final runner-up.
A full complement of Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship racers descended on the state-of-the-art South Australian venue for the April 5-7 event alongside Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, putting it all on the line for the highly anticipated conclusion to the Western Conference.
For an overview of the Riverbend Nationals results for all brackets, including group one, please click here.
For a detailed rundown of how each of the sportsman brackets unfolded over the weekend, please click here.
Image thanks to Cackling Pipes