South Australian driver Matt Egel claimed the final night feature of the three-day Ostojic Chariots of Thunder at Darwin’s Northline Raceway this past weekend.
Driving the WE Whyalla Earthworks No. 52 car, Egel had been second on overall points going into the final round.
Young local Todd Mouke set the qualifying quick time and won the dash to start on pole.
Egel snatched the lead from Moule within the first three laps of the 30-lap A-main and was never headed in the run to the checker for the $15,000 winner’s prize.
Lachie HcHugh claimed the second spot on the podium, 2.5 seconds down on the winner. A further half-second away in third placing was the Tasmanian star, Tate Frost who had started from position seven.
First raced in 2007, the Chariots of Thunder has been claimed by some of the nation’s top drivers, including James McFadden in 2017 and 2018, Jamie Veal in 2019, Lachlan McHugh in 2022 and Jock Goodyer last year.
The 39-year-old Egel from Adelaide, South Australia previously won the series in 2021.
Jordyn Charge, who went into the race as the favourite to claim the race, having won the feature on the first two nights of the annual series.
A record crowd turned out for the racing in 90 degrees Darwin temperatures.
The 25-year-old Charge from Melton, Victoria has been in scintillating form during the Darwin season.
He won the A-main on the first night of racing, defeating Egel by just 0.133 seconds.
Charge backed-up the following evening to top the podium from Egel, Ben Atkinson and McHugh.
The Pope challenge was claimed by Lachlan McHugh, racing from 20th in the starting grid to finish fourth in the $30,000 race. The challenge allowed the Queensland driver to elect to start from position 20 instead of the pole. With a $5,000 bonus for accepting the challenge, and a total of $45,000 on offer to win, McHugh came close to claiming the full bonus.
However, his luck came to an end on the night three feature, dropping to 17th after a lap 18 incident. He recovered to finish 11th, but his opponents had escaped.
McHugh finished third in the series in the Dondex/Leigh Smith Yachts mount.
With racing in the south of the nation in recession from May through October, interest turned to the ‘Top End’ for the winter features.
A convoy of 23 teams made the 2,000 miles trek from the south to contest the $160,000 annual Darwin feature. They joined eight local entries for the race.
Prominent amongst them were Lachlan McHugh, Brock Hallett, Tate Frost, Charge and Egel.
In previous weeks, Lachlan McHugh had claimed the NT championship.
Charge had won the previous feature at Northline from Egel and Sydney driver, Mick Saller, setting the scene for the Chariots of Thunder showdown.