"We were the fastest car out there, if we had another lap or two we would have had a shot at the win, but that's just the way it goes."
Those were the words of Bowral sprintcar ace Steven Graham after he finished runner up in the feature race at Parramatta city raceway last weekend[November, 23] to Queenslander Todd Wanless.
After starting from position 11 in the 20 car field, Graham had a slow start.
But after 10 laps of the 30 lap event he had progressed up into sixth position and looking strong.
On lap 20 race leader at the time Dennis Farr was passed by Wanless for the lead and soon after Graham made his way by into second and set sail in a bid to peg back Wanless.
As the race drew closer to a finish the Bowral charger was reeling him in and with two laps left in the books he was on the tail of the leading car.
But laps were running out for Graham and it was now or never, but despite a spirited challenge he ran out of laps finishing second in his best drive thus far this season.
"With a lap to go I was behind him [Wanless]," Graham said.
"I just had to pull something out of the bag, because I wasn't content with running second so I just tried it and I nearly got there.
"That's why I think we needed another lap or two because if we did we would have been in business."
So with this impressive showing on the weekend Graham has now jumped from position six in the Parramatta track championship overall to outright second, after a few drivers higher in the points had night's that they would not care to remember.
In other racing news Tahmoor's James Powell made his debut at Parramatta city raceway in his Litre sprintcar and it was a rather expensive and forgetful nights racing.
The opening heat for the 16 year old Picton high student went with out drama and he drove a steady race to finish 10th out of 15 starters.
After that the night went down hill for Powell and the entire team, when the car went out for his second heat, the car was dogged by fuel dramas.
It was latter found that the fuel tap hadn't been turned on fully and that was the reason for Powell's dismissal.
Once that drama was sorted out, James was lucky to qualify for the final starting from position 19 in the 24 car field.
The race started without incident and things were looking promising with the car handling well and showing a lot more speed then his previous outings that night. Sitting in 15th after only 5 laps coming onto the front straight to do another lap, the # 43 machine developed a problem and he had to retire from the race, it was a busted gear box.
"I'm shattered after tonight's showing, when things were finally getting together and to blow a gear box it hurts bad," he said.
"Another disappointing factor is that my team worked so hard this weekend and I feel for them because they put a lot of effort in their bid to get me to the track.
"The cost of the damage is unknown, I'd say around two grand for starters, but we'll be back for the December,14 show that's for sure."
The final was taken out by Gosford sensation Shay Spranger, his win also saw him brake the 12 lap record, shaving an amazing 13 seconds off the previous record.
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