THREE racing drivers were lucky to walk away uninjured from a spectacular fiery crash at Carrick Speedway on Wednesday night when the fuel tank of one car ruptured causing an inferno that engulfed all three cars.
Queensland V8 super sedan drivers Mick Doblo and Graeme Elliott were competing in round 8 of the National Super Sedan Series, along with Devonport's Grant Hopkins, when the crash occurred on lap 29 of the 35-lap final.
The impact ruptured the fuel tank on Doblo's car, spewing highly volatile methanol fuel on to the track, where it was ignited by a spark from the exhaust.
The flames quickly engulfed Doblo's car and raced towards the cars of Hopkins and Elliott, erupting into a 20 metre high fireball.
In-field fire and crash teams were on the scene within seconds, extinguishing the flames in what seemed like a long time, but was in fact less than a minute.
Veteran Queensland driver Des Korn, who had retired from the race earlier, was watching the crash from the in-field and was the first on the scene, rushing fearlessly into the flames to assist Doblo from his car.
'I knew Mick needed to get out quickly and I still had my (fireproof) race suit on, so I wasn't worried about the flames,'' Korn said.
Doblo was upset about the crash and blamed other drivers for the fire.
''We're supposed to be racing with the best in the country in this series, but sometimes I wonder,'' Doblo said.
''I got hit from everywhere.''
Once the wreckage was cleared, the race was restarted, with Queensland's Wayne Randall, who was leading at the time, hanging on for the remaining six laps to win the round.
Randall, driving a car owned by Launceston's Steve Jessup, qualified on grid 3 for the final and started strongly to take the lead after only four laps.
Australian champion, series leader and Launceston-born driver Steve Jordan, also from Queensland, finished second to maintain his series lead, while former Tasmanian champion Steve Latham, of Hobart, put in arguably the drive of the night to storm through the field from grid 18 to finish third.
The second place for Jordan was his third consecutive runner-up result in the Tasmanian leg of the national series, also finishing second in round 6 at Carrick last Friday night and second in round 7 at Latrobe on Saturday night.
The series now takes a break before heading to Western Australia for the final three rounds in March.
However, the majority of series regulars will remain in Tasmania for another two weeks for two major non-series events at Hobart and Latrobe.
The field will have little respite as drivers head to Hobart tonight for Tasmania's longest-running speedway feature event, the Tasmanian Grand National, which also continues tomorrow night, before contesting Australia's richest speedway sedan event, the Latrobe Grand Prix, on February 3 and 4.
Tonight's racing in Hobart will feature nine heats of the Grand National from 7pm, with six more heats, a pre-final pole shuffle and a 50-lap final tomorrow night from 6pm.
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