Experienced sprintcar driver Grant Anderson survived a war of attrition to take home his second Max's Race trophy on a track he described as "too fast for good racing".
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A "rough and fast" track caused havoc in the 30-lap A Main feature at Premier Speedway on Saturday, December 16, by knocking out almost half the field, including several front-runners.
Anderson, who held off podium finishers Jamie Veal and Jy Corbet, conceded it had been "quite rough and demanding out there" but stopped short of wanting to place any blame.
"The (organisers are) working really hard to get it better, but yeah, they're going through a rough patch," the Albury-based driver told The Standard after his win. "It's either slick and smooth and chews our tyres up or the opposite, really rough and fast like it was tonight.
"It's really hard work - honestly it is too fast to put on good racing but like I said, no-one is deliberating doing this sort of stuff.
"I mean I'm pretty happy tonight - I've come out on top."
Anderson started the A Main on the front row alongside pole-sitter Alex Orr, who set a blistering pace in the eight-lap dash earlier in the night.
However carnage emerged as early as the opening lap, with Tasmanian driver Tate Frost crashing out on the second turn, before the field suffered a serious shake-up four laps later when Orr, who led the race, suffered a similar fate coming out of turn one.
Corbet assumed the lead ahead of Anderson and reigning Max's Race winner Jock Goodyer, before the Albury driver soon made his move to grab the lead with 23 laps to run.
Top five competitor James McFadden, fresh off his season on the World of Outlaws tour, became the next casualty, crashing into the wall on turn three after Brock Hallett's Q5 made contact with McFadden's D5, while the likes of American Chase Randall and Cam Waters' nights ended early when they retired to the in-field with car issues.
Both experience and luck ultimately played into Anderson's hands, as he kept the likes of Goodyer and later Hallett, who both trailled Anderson in second, at bay before Goodyer hit the wall with 14 laps to run and Hallett was forced to the back of the field with car issues with 11 remaining.
"I've been doing it a while now, a good 20 years but your emotions, anxiety, it still gets up there," Anderson said.
"I've learned how to stay calm but every time someone seemed to get into second there, I looked up next caution and they were the one that hit the fence.
"(It was) very tricky and hard to be consistent."
Despite the drama of the race, Anderson was elated to take out the event named in racing icon Max Dumesny's honour, which also included a bump in winner's prize-money from $5000 to $7000.
"It feels awesome, any win is so hard to get and this is a blue ribbon event," he said. "We were lucky enough to win it a few years ago so to get another one is awesome, (it's) world class competition here."
Anderson, who has been pleased with his form despite only racing "three-to-four times" so far this season, has his eyes on the upcoming 2024 Flying Horse Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and Australian titles next month.
"We're looking forward to a big January, from Boxing Day onwards we'll do between 15 and 18 nights in January, it will be full-on," he said.
Earlier in the night, McFadden, Orr, Anderson and Daniel Pestka took out each of the four heat races, while Veal and Corbet posted the fastest quick times of flight one and two respectively, with times of 10.302 and 10.345 seconds.
In the supporting classes, Tasmanian Callum Harper clinched the late models' A Main, while Kyneton's Chevette Muir won the Formula 500 feature ahead of Cobden's Hugo Chivell.
Meg Saultry
Sports journalist at the Warrnambool Standard, with a strong interest in Australian rules football, basketball and women in sport.
Sports journalist at the Warrnambool Standard, with a strong interest in Australian rules football, basketball and women in sport.
