It was a cool, calm and collected approach that Cameron Pearson carried into the recent Australian Late Model Title at Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway; an approach that ultimately allowed him to achieve his new mantle as Australia #2.
While he recently experienced a challenging run throughout the USA vs WA Invasion Tour over in Western Australia, the Healesville-based racer refused to let his nerves or expectations get the better of him.
The opening night of competition was an almost flawless one for Pearson, who came out on top of his first heat race before backing up that result with a second-place finish in heat race two.
These results saw him qualify in pole position for the first of two preliminary feature races, which he then went on to lead for the entire distance to clinch his maiden Valvoline Raceway win.
Despite the fact that he was topping the points heading into the second night of competition after what had been a brilliant start to his Australian Title campaign, Pearson understood the importance of not getting ahead of himself, with another tough night of racing in store.
No doubt by virtue of his composure, the 19-year-old racer’s campaign once again couldn’t have gotten underway in a better way, winning his third and final heat race and pipping Callum Harper in the pole shuffle to earn the pole position start for the 40-lap Australian Title-deciding feature race.
While he was quick to take the lead off the starting line, remaining there for the opening five laps, Pearson committed to running the bottom of the track – a decision that initially proved costly as he slipped all the way back to seventh.
Managing to keep out of trouble during what had become a race of attrition, Pearson had made his way back up to second place with 12 laps remaining and it was there that he remained until greeting the chequered flag and securing a hard-fought runner-up finish.
“I’m absolutely stoked with second in an Australian Title feature race that had a little bit of everything,” Pearson said.
“The team and I were in high spirits after our night one performance, but we made sure that we didn’t psych ourselves out too much.
“We just broke down the event and took it one race at a time, which allowed us to focus on the task at hand and it definitely all paid off,” he said.
Pearson will no doubt be riding a wave of confidence heading into the remaining major events this season, which includes the NSW Title on March 9 back at Valvoline Raceway, followed by the Easternapolis on May 4 at Valvoline Raceway.
Well within contention for the Victorian Late Model Club Championship, currently sitting second in the point standings just one point off the lead, Pearson also plans to contest the remaining Club Championship rounds.
“The whole team is really looking forward to the rest of the season and this Australian Title result has definitely given us some added drive as complete the rest of the season,” Pearson said.
