Stadium SUPER Trucks

Paul Weel steals SST Townsville Race 3 victory in final turn

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Credit: Stadium Super Trucks

The third and final race of the Boost Mobile Super TrucksTownsville 500 weekend appeared to come down to Paul Morris and Shae Davies as the two approached the last corner. However, their battle instead opened the door for Paul Weel to slip past and move from third to first to win his second Stadium Super Truck race.

A field inversion from Race #2 placed Rob Whyte, who retired from said event with a brake failure, on the pole ahead of Phillip Foster. Weel, who won the second race for his maiden SST victory, started last.

Whyte cleared the field early with Davies moving into second. The two ran in the order for the first three laps before Davies passed him in turn two; Whyte tried his own move in the thirteenth and final turn, where they made contact but he failed to make the overtake. A lap later, Whyte fell two spots to Morris and Race #1 winner Toby Price after running wide into turn eleven.

By the first competition caution on lap six, Davies led Morris, Price, Whyte, Shaun Richardson, Weel, Trav Milburn, Dave Casey, and Foster. While the top three pulled ahead on the restart, Weel overtook Richardson and Whyte in a three-abreast pass approaching turn three to take fourth. He gained another position on lap eight when the driveshaft fell out of Price’s truck and ended his race.

“Lost: 1 Tail-shaft on Townsville Street Circuit… If found please return,” quipped Price on social media.

Price’s retirement prompted the second competition yellow to come out, and the race resumed on the penultimate lap as the grid exited turn three. Morris took the lead after cutting through the grass in turn seven.

On the final lap, Davies reclaimed the lead after accumulating enough momentum in the slipstream to pass him entering turn one. Morris tried a move in the final corner on the inside line, but he ran wide and Davies also went too deep while trying to hinder him.

Weel capitalised on the two’s battle to duck to the inside himself and score the victory. He joins Morris and Davies as the only multi-time winners in 2021, while Weel and Morris are the only drivers with consecutive victories. Weel also joins E.J. Viso (three straight wins at Detroit in 2014) and Matt Brabham (sweep of Detroit in 2016) in the small company of SST racers whose first two victories came in back-to-back rounds.

Morris held off Davies to take second. With his two wins, Weel claimed the weekend victory with Davies and Morris joining him for that podium too; Davies edged out Morris by one point courtesy of his bonus as the Fastest Qualifier. Morris, Milburn, and Price each finished with 27 points, but Morris had the advantage as Article 3, Section 9.9 of the series rulebook states ties are broken by the driver who places the highest in the final race.

“What a way to finish the weekend,” began Weel on Instagram. “1st place in the last race with a pass on the last corner and 1st overall for the weekend @ssupertrucksau in Townsville. Thanks to all the hard working guys in the team and great partners”.

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverLaps CompletedStatus
1950Paul Weel10Running
2467Paul Morris10Running
3388Shae Davies10Running
4111Rob Whyte10Running
5770Trav Milburn10Running
6612Shaun Richardson10Running
75121Dave Casey10Running
8266Phillip Foster10Running
9887Toby Price7DNF

Weekend standings

RankNumberDriverRace #1Race #2Race #3Total Points
150Paul Weel8121232
288Shae Davies1161028*
367Paul Morris971127
470Trav Milburn109827
587Toby Price1211427
612Shaun Richardson710724
711Rob Whyte64919
8121Dave Casey58619
966Phillip Foster45514
* – 1 bonus point for fastest qualifier
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Justin is not an off-road racer, but he writes about it for The Checkered Flag.
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