Britten Represents Australia With First Super DIRTcar Series Victory

Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / PETER BRITTEN RACING – WEEDSPORT, NY – The standout driver from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia has been working vigorously for his first Super DIRTcar Series victory. The day finally came for Peter Britten on Thursday night at Sharon Speedway behind the wheel of his self-owned No.21A Big Block Modified.

“To cross the line at the end in first was such an amazing feeling,” said Britten. “Going to America is on an Australian’s priority list. It makes me proud to know that I represented Australia well.”

Britten’s four-day race week kicked off Tuesday night at Eldora Speedway in New Weston, Ohio.

“It was a good race,” noted Britten. “We had a few issues in time trials. Started sixth in the heat race and managed to pass a couple cars to make it to the redraw. Getting into the redraw is pretty important.”

Britten redrew third for the 75-lap main event.

“I was pretty competitive during the feature,” he said. “One restart didn’t workout quite so well for me so I lost a few spots. At the end (Stewart) Friesen and me were trading slide jobs and I was able to maintain the better of him. It was a really fun race. To be at Eldora, pulling slide jobs and running up against the wall is what it’s all about. We all raced hard and it was enjoyable.”

Britten capped off the night with a fifth-place finish, his second fifth-place of the year with the Super DIRTcar Series.

Wednesday evening was the All-Star race for the Big Block Modified regulars at Eldora.

Britten had a good battle with Max McLaughlin in the heat race and was able to slide him and pull away with the heat race win.

“The worst possible scenario happened,” Britten said. “They inverted 14 cars for the feature so I started 14th.”

Britten noted the track being extremely dusty early on in the feature.

“I couldn’t see a thing,” he said. “We went into turn one, I couldn’t see any cars around me. At the beginning I basically just tried not to crash. The first half of the race I just drove around the bottom trying not to wreck my car.”

Once the dust started to settle the second half of the race, Britten was able to pick up some momentum.

“I was pretty conservative and was able to pick off a couple of cars,” he said. “The luck wasn’t our way for the feature. Sometimes that happens.”

Britten finished 14th for the All-Star 20-lap main event.

After Eldora, Britten and the team traveled back East to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, where Britten had made a few trips to earlier in the season.

“We were a little off in time trials, a little loose,” he said. “I tightened up and was able to pass a couple cars in the heat. I knew I had a pretty good car after the heat race.”

Britten picked off a few cars and qualified fifth from his seventh-place starting spot.

After making a few tweaks to the car, Britten rolled off on the outside of the tenth row for the main event.

“From the moment the race started I knew I had a pretty good car,” he said. “It was a little difficult to get going because of the dust. The track was amazing for passing though. To be able to come from 20th and get the lead as quick as we did, you obviously have to have a racetrack that’s conducive to passing.”

Britten mentioned the struggles of coming through a full field.

“Normally you start passing and once you get up to the top-ten you usually lose your momentum because you’re obviously racing against faster guys,” he noted. “That never really happened. The further I made it to the front I kept picking them off one by one. I drove by (Matt) Sheppard a lot easier than I thought I would. No one really had anything for me.”

Super DIRTcar Series flagger, Dave Farney, gives signals to the top drivers so they know how much of a gap they have.

“I kept looking up at Farney and he kept giving me gap signals and the gap kept getting bigger and bigger so that was starting to get me nervous. I kept looking up at him and he kept showing I was pulling away from people so I thought ‘alright I can do this.’”

Once Britten got into heavy lapped traffic he began to get more nervous.

“Sometimes lapping cars can cost you a chance at winning, which has happened to me before, so I was really trying not to get caught behind a lapped car for too long.”

“To cross the line at the end in first was such an amazing feeling to win my first Series race. It’s still sinking in,” he laughed.

Britten may have captured his first Super DIRTcar Series victory but he also made history by being the first Australian to win on the Series.

“America is known for the toughest breading ground for racing,” he said. “Going to America is on an Australian’s priority list. It feels good to be able to represent for the modified guys. It’s really cool to be able to do that. It makes me proud to know that I represented Australia well. I’ve shown the American’s what us Australian’s are capable of.”

Britten also noted that his mother, Jane, who still lives in Australia but occasionally makes the trip to see Britten, was able to be there to witness her son’s first Series race.

“It was cool for her to be here for my first win,” Britten said. “I don’t know if it’s coincidence or not but whenever she’s over here I seem to always get a win when she’s around. Even if that win is once a year, she’s here. I always seem to race better when she’s around. It seems to put me in a better place and I race better. It was great that she was there for it.”

Britten’s final race of the week was on Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

The night opened with a makeup feature where Britten rolled off in 13th. Unfortunately due to motor issues Britten pulled off early.

“The car fired off but it just started losing power to the point I couldn’t keep up so I pulled in,” he said. “We didn’t really see anything wrong. We changed ignition boxes and that seemed to do the trick.”

Britten started eighth in his heat and drove through the field to finish second.

“It started hitting on all cylinders again,” he noted. “That felt good knowing the motor was running again.”

Britten lined up on the inside of the eighth row for the main event.

“We were good enough to be able to win but unfortunately couldn’t make the pass,” Britten said. “We had a really good car. It would have been really nice to get another win but it wasn’t quite meant to be. Starting as deep as we did is always tough.”

Despite the DNF in the makeup feature, Britten was able to maintain his point lead.

Next on slate for Britten is Autodrome Drummond on Monday and Autodrome Granby on Tuesday with the Super DIRTcar Series in Canada then back to Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Friday.