Story by: Adam Fenwick – [email protected]/@adam_fenwick
Rockingham, NC(November 10, 2011) — When Australian George Miedecke made the decision to move to the United States in order to race, he had one goal: be successful.
After Saturday’s UARA-STARS Late Model Series finale at Rockingham Speedway, Miedecke said that he believes he met that goal despite failing to find victory lane in UARA competition.
“Overall I think it was a successful year,” Miedecke said. “If I look at it objectively than you can’t be unhappy with it. But, man, I really want that win.”
Take away the zero in the win column and Miedecke’s year was very solid considering he’d never seen an oval track until April of last year. He finished second in the UARA standings to 2011 champion Brennan Poole and earned the series Rookie of the Year title while driving an entry owned by NASCAR star and fellow Aussie Marcos Ambrose.
All told, he collected nine top fives and 13 top 10s this season in UARA competition. He also won the 2010 running of the Bobby Isaac Memorial at Hickory Motor Speedway and finished second in his ARCA Racing Series debut for Venturini Motorsports at New Jersey Motorsports Park earlier this year.
That success aside, Miedecke has decided to return home to Australia in order to pursue opportunities in the popular V8 Supercars Series.
“I enjoy oval racing and I enjoy road course racing,” Miedecke said. “I’m probably a little bit better at road course racing than I am at this (oval racing). I think there are probably great opportunities for me back home, where as here I’m still an outsider.
“Being a racer is all about making the most of the opportunity you’ve got and when I get offered a good opportunity back home it’s sometimes hard to turn it down,” Miedecke noted.
That couldn’t be more true. Good luck George, we hope to see you again soon.