The Price is right!
Sunday February 25, 2007. Nathan Macdonald

Steve Price claimed his first win in the 2006/2007 Queensland HDS Modified Production Series at Maryborough Speedway on Saturday night.  Price started on the front row for the 30 lap A-main and led the race for most of the journey while under constant pressure from the New South Wales champion Michael Hally.

Brett Barron put his VS Commodore on pole position for the A-main after an excellent run in the heats.  Steve Price accompanied Barron from position two, while Darryl Etherdon and Matt Swarbrooke shared row two.

As the green flag went down for 30 laps, Brett Barron moved ahead into the lead, until Darryl Etherdon snuck up the inside to obtain the race lead.  Barron slowed and went from second to last after his ignition cut out suddenly.  The car got going again but would have to start from the rear. 

Travis Barron was forced to retire on the infield with a flat tyre after qualifying from position six on the grid.

Mark Ferguson come to a grinding halt with suspension problems which brought on the yellow lights.  Etherdon looked cool and calm out in front in his Ford Cortina starting to get a buffer over the rest of the field, when he suddenly pulled infield after the belts were thrown off his engine.  This left Steve Price out in front with Michael Hally in second and Matt Swarbrooke third.

Gary Maroske advanced past Swarbrooke into third.  Swarbrooke was then involved in an incident which saw him get turned around.  The race was restarted with Swarbrooke re-joining back in fourth, however he would later retire with steering problems.

Steve Price drove the Graphreaks sponsored BA Falcon faultless for the 30 laps, as Michael Hally was right on his tail just waiting for a mistake, but Price knew where everyone was and never gave in to the pressure.  Price has been chasing a win in the series all season and has come close several times but was elated to finally pull it off.

Michael Hally kept up his consistent run to cross the line just milli-seconds behind Price, and in doing so has re-gained the series lead.  Gary Maroske was next in line and come home for a comfortable third placing.  Aiden Raymont finished in fourth but was black flagged for a racing incident.  The big mover through the field was Greg Raymont, who actually qualified through the B-main.  Raymont picked his way through the quality field to finish a fine fourth.

Brendan Bayfield claimed fifth followed by Neil Coomber, Brett Barron, Luke Hollyman, Jason Campbell, Shane Langton and Shane Macdonald.  Macdonald went out in the feature race with no power steering, and rolled around to gather some points for the series, and after the dust settled ended up in 11th.

Aiden Raymont won the first heat of the night.

Heat two saw an action packed race, as Steve Price took an early lead.  Todd Doyle was running second when he spun his car, as Craig Mellor desperately spun his car to miss Doyle.   Doyle would restart at the back of the field.  Price was leading the race as Mellor started to apply some pressure and found a gap as he put his VS Commodore into the lead.  Mellor won the heat with Price in second and Travis Barron third.

Shane Langton and Gary Maroske took out heats three and four respectively.

Steve Price took out heat five.  Heat six went to Darryl Neisler.

Heat seven saw an all out Barron attack with Travis and Brett Barron battling it out in front.  Travis crossed the line just ahead of Brett, with Mark Ferguson in third.

Luke Hollyman won heat number eight with Brendan Bayfield second and Shane Macdonald third.

Dennis Bullpit drove his Toowoomba Steering Service EL Falcon to win heat nine, keeping Michael Hally at bay in second.

Other heat wins went to Matt Swarbrooke, Darryl Etherdon and Brett Barron

The B-main saw Shane Langton take the win after having to change a steering rack just before.  Greg Raymont finished in second with Craig Mellor third and Shane Macdonald fourth.  Rodney Pammenter just missing out on the transfer spot in fifth.

The final round for the HDS Series will be at Charlton Raceway in two weeks time on the 10th March, which will prove to be the deciding round for the winner.