Mildura’s Jarod Waters pinching himself after storming from position 15 to claim national title in Albany

New national modified sedan champion Jarod Waters says he is still coming to terms with his team’s remarkable turnaround at Albany’s Attwell Park Speedway at the weekend in front of a packed crowd. Waters was electrifying in official practice and set the fastest time of the 2023 National Modified Sedan Title but his campaign quickly changed. On Saturday in the first three qualifying heats Waters and his Mercedes struggled for speed and he languished in 21st place on the points standings after night one. The Victorian was in danger of having to come through the B-main to make the 40-lap title decider but a second place in his last heat on Sunday had him start out of position 15 in the 22-car field. From there Waters produced one of the most sensational drives in a national title, storming his way through the field with superior car speed. Waters rocketed into the top five after only 10 laps and blasted past Matt Noakes and Aidan Raymont to grab second place by lap 17. WA star Luke Fraser was leading the final as a host of big contenders retired to the infield. Raymont pulled off with engine issues while running in fourth place and then former WA champion Brendan Selleck retired. Victoria champion Kye Walters was next to retire with a flat tyre and defending national titleholder Brock Atkins slowed after 28 laps to end his campaign. On lap 26 Waters had hit the front, getting underneath Luke Fraser and he overcame a messy restart when his car failed to pick up, to control the final 13 laps and secure title glory. The 39-year-old was delighted to win his maiden national title after a troubling weekend. “I don’t know what to say, it’s a bit overwhelming actually,” he said. “Rolling out in that final we never expected to be where we ended up. “The car was terrible (Saturday), we worked our a.... off all day (Sunday) trying to get the thing to hook up. “I actually spent a lot time on the phone to my brother Cam Waters, he was racing in Warrnambool tonight on the Easter Trail in the sprintcar … trying to work out what we do with the set up. “We threw this set up at it and rolled it out, it was just a rocket, the thing was on rails. “We were on a high on Friday, got to Saturday and we didn’t know what the hell was going on, the car was terrible and we couldn’t move forward in the heats.” There was also some pre-race drama for Waters before the title decider. “On the grid presentation before the race one of the guys came up and said ‘you’ve got a massive tow-in on the car’,” Waters said. “We just kept chipping cars away, it was so fast on the exit of the corner so passing cars was pretty easy. “We just picked them off one by one and all of a sudden I was right behind the leaders.” Waters said it was nice to get redemption after finishing third in last year’s national title. “We put it on pole for the Aussie title last year at Moama and ended up third,” he said. “We did a plug lead and finished on five cylinders so this was a bit of redemption for that one too. “It hasn’t sunk in at all yet. “I’ve only been back racing for three years and a lot of people thought we were crazy building a Mercedes but it has paid off in the end.” Waters is the older brother of V8 supercars driver Cameron Waters who has helped with his speedway racing and won the same event at Horsham in 2018. Waters crossed the line 3.305 seconds ahead of a gallant Luke Fraser on Sunday night, while Queenslander Joel Berkley stormed around the top of the track in the dying stages for third. WA pair Noakes and Branden Fraser rounded out the top five, while Albany’s Laurie Dowsett was the best of the locals in sixth. Four Albany drivers made the championship final — Dowsett (qualified 10th), Jason Batchelor (11th) and Calon Ball (13th) while Aydan Trewern came through B-main 2 and started from position 20. OFFICIAL RESULTS 1. V92 Jarod Waters, 2. W15 Luke Fraser, 3. QA9 Joel Berkley, 4. W21 Matt Noakes, 5. W2 Branden Fraser, 6. W14 Laurie Dowsett, 7. V17 Brad Wicks, 8. W46 Jason Batchelor, 9. VA17 Dylan Barrow, 10. Q9 Gary Pagel, 11. W36 Sam McAuley, 12. V33 Daniel Simpson (39), 13. W12 Aydan Trewern (39). DNF: W84 Jamie Higgs (34), W6 Paul Stevens (34), V46 Kye Walters (28), A1 Brock Atkins (28), W8 Calon Ball (28), W3 Brendan Selleck (23), Q28 Aidan Raymont (21), V61 Matt Nelson (15), V32 Brody Chrystie (7). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 3.305. Fastest Lap: 18.625 V92 Jarod Waters.