DEAN BRINDLE WINS KNOXVILLE WORLD CHALLENGE QUALIFIER ON NORTH ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND
by: Thomas J Schmeh

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (Feb. 26, 2007) - Dean Brindle of New Zealand won Saturday night’s Pacific Toyota New Zealand Sprint Car Grand Prix at Willie Kay's Blue Chip Speedway in Mount Maunganui, North Island, New Zealand, thus qualifying himself for the Knoxville World Challenge during the 2007 SuperClean Knoxville Nationals. Others qualifying on Saturday for the $10,000-to-win international invitational to be held at the Knoxville Raceway on August 10, are fellow New Zealanders Jamie McDonald, Kerry Jones, Allan Wakeling, Ben Finemore, and Havard Daniels. The fifth and final qualifier will be the Saturday, June 2, Fountain Tire Alberta Sprint Tour Classic at the Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Those eligible for the ’07 Knoxville World Challenge after the first four qualifying events at Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada; Ruapuna, South Island, New Zealand; Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia; and Mount Maunganui, North Island, New Zealand, are:

AUS: Grant Anderson, Stephen Bell, Steve Bricknell, Ashley Cook, David Cook, David Craft, Ron Dalton, Luke Dillon, Phillip Down, Max Dumesny, Mitchell Dumesny, Robbie Farr, Trevor Green, Allan Haynes, Gerry Hoekstra, Charles “Butch” Hunter, Tim Hutchins, Dylan Jenkin, Steven Lines, Troy Little, Ian Loudoun, Carl Ludeman, Kerry Madsen, David Magilton, Ricky Maiolo, Bryan Mann, James McFadden, Brett Milburn, Darren Mollenoyux, Daniel Morton, David Muir, David Murcott, Daniel Newnham, Domain Ramsay, Matthew Reed, Danny Reidy, Darren Russell, Ken Sartori, Troy Shiells, Brett Smith, Glen Sutherland, Quentin Tanner, Brooke Tatnell, Jamie Veal, John Vogels, Todd Wanless, Bruce Williams.

CAN: Alain Bergeron, John Burbridge, Fred Cade, Jamie Collard, Ryan Coniam, Bob Crawford, Jeff Daniels, Jim Davies, Keith Dempster, Gary Evans, Mike Ferrell, Tom Huppunen, Kevin Job, Dick Mahoney, Warren Mahoney, Joe Middlemiss, Rob Middlemiss, Mike Parent, Kyle Patrick, Fred Pigeon, Steve Poirier, Jim Price, John Riegling, Glenn Styres, Daryl Turford, Adam West, James Whittaker, April Wilson, Rick Wilson, Tim Zack, Stan Zanchin.

NZ: Dean Brindle, Greg Clemence, Graeme “Skinny” Colson, James Dahm, Havard Daniels, Paul Donovan, Steve Duff, Colin Entwhistle, Glen Everett, Ben Finemore, Karen Forsey, Jim Fortune, Kevin Freeman, Lindsay Gilbert, Tony Gollop, Raymond Griffen, Andy Gudgeon, Peter Huijs, Kerry Jones, Laz Mazaros, Aaron McConachy, Jamie McDonald, Brad Mosen, Shay Oliver, Michael Pickens, Greg Pickerill, Tom Rusher, Ron Salter, Bradley Tyrell, Allan Wakeling, Steve Walling, Carl Wilson, Peter Wilson, Rodney Wood.

USA: Brian Brown, Craig Dollansky, Dean Jacobs, Ricky Logan, Paul McMahan, Daryn Pittman, Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart.

According to Knoxville director of racing Ralph Capitani, “Drivers who compete in one of these qualifiers and are invited to race in the fourteenth annual World Challenge at Knoxville will be inversion-eligible. However, any international drivers that enter and compete at the SuperClean Knoxville Nationals will be invited to race in the $10,000-to-win event, they just won’t start up front if they haven’t competed in one of these five qualifiers. Americans can qualify for the Knoxville World Challenge by competing in one of the three overseas qualifiers in Australia or New Zealand.”

Those interested in learning more about the Knoxville World Challenge, SuperClean Knoxville Nationals or Knoxville Raceway are urged to visit the track’s web site at www.knoxvilleraceway.com.