Jamie Veal seals victory in Chariots of Thunder series, while James McFadden wins Pope 65

OSTOJICS Chariots of Thunder delivered heated racing across two weekends at 7mate Northline Speedway, with Victorian pilot Jamie Veal’s consistency earning him the coveted title.

James McFadden won the Pope 65 Challenge at Chariots of Thunder. Pic: SPHYNX PHOTOGRAPHY

OSTOJICS Chariots of Thunder delivered heated racing across two weekends at 7mate Northline Speedway, with Victorian pilot Jamie Veal’s consistency earning him the coveted title.

Veal narrowly missed out on a $35,000 prize packet for his efforts across the CoT, racing from back from 20th position in Saturday night’s Pope 65 Challenge, only to miss nabbing victory by half a car length. He still managed to collect a combined $10,000 in prize money for winning the series and his second place in the Pope race.

Narrowly taking first place in the Pope 65 Challenge to pocket $10,000, and cement second place for the series was McFadden.

CoT event organiser Jason McIver said it was the biggest CoT meeting to date, he relished in the action.

“Jamie Veal was running for the Pope Challenge, he won the pole shuffle and he elected to start in 20th,” he told the NT News.

Veal’s consistency across the two weeks allowed him to pursue the Pope 65 Challenge, as the driver taking part needed to earn enough points from the weekend prior to be eligible. McFadden’s results from last weekend meant he was not a candidate.

“He was reluctant to take the challenge because he also knew he was leading the points for the entire series. He worked out if he finished in the top-10 he would still win the series,” McIver said.

The slick track conditions allowed for competitive racing, as well as plenty of paint shared between cars and a few wrecks.

Friday night’s Defend the Top End saw a heated melee between Veal, McFadden, Robbie Farr and Steve Lines. McIver said there was no love lost between the rivals, but the crowd loved the exchange.

“We had Farr leading on the last lap, but then he got swamped by Veal, McFadden and Lines to finish fourth,” he said.

“All on the last lap, crowbar-ing each other out of the way. It was an epic race. Veal took the win”

“McFadden and Farr were having words after the race, Farr ran into McFadden after the race and spun him out to show his displeasure towards McFaddens driving on the last lap. The crowd was going wild.”