Fired Up And On Fire

Newcastle Herald

Saturday August 9, 2008

Brent Davison

NOVOCASTRIAN Racing might be one of the most underfunded racing teams in Australia but that does not seem to stop its young drivers, brothers Drew and Aaren Russell, from having a red hot go.

Last weekend at the Winton round of the national Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, Drew, 20, showed his determination after falling back through the field from his 21st qualifying position at the start of the first heat race to be in 26th spot second-last place by the end of lap one.

Driving the oldest car in the field Russell cranked up the performance factor, pushing his Holden Commodore to 17th spot and finishing the race 0.3 seconds adrift of Brett Holdsworth.

In the second heat race Russell fired from 17th on the grid to 14th position before finally running into 10th place at the chequered flag and beating off serious challenges from cashed-up teams.

A good start in the final heat race meant running as high as eighth position by the end of the first lap. A lack of power on a dry track though meant Russell could not sustain the challenge and fell back through the field to be 13th on the final lap.

Just as he was getting ready to celebrate though he was hit by another car, forced to run wide and passed by two cars, forcing him back to 15th in the race and 14th overall for the weekend.

At the same time Drew was driving his heart out at Winton, younger brother Aaren, 16, was tasting success in his new Stinger Formula Vee open wheeler at Eastern Creek.

Aaren qualified 11th on the grid but converted that into a race win in heat one, an effort he repeated in the second heat race before electing to run for the outright points and settle for third spot in the third heat race.

Team owner and father of both drivers, Wayne Russell, said he could not have been more proud of his sons at the weekend.