Highline Magazine Edition 10

Who is Highline Magazine Editor: Brett Swanson Contributors; Kaylene Oliver, Grant Woodhams, Ray Reed, Andy Ticehurst Artist/layout; Andy Ticehurst / PRM Group Photographers: Brett Swanson – Pirate Media Kieran Swanson – Pirate Media Matt Hines – Jigsaw Photography Andy Ticehurst – PRM Group Rachel Cooper - Inaction Photos Leigh Reynolds - Inaction Photos You – The Speedway fans Facebook Contributions / Criticism welcome.

High Line Magazine Brett Swanson 0410 198 138 brett@piratemediagroup.com.au

Front Cover: Veteran photojournalist Geoff Rounds caught this brilliant shot of South Aussie Daniel Pestka moonlighting in Dave Challons’#45 at Warrnambool’s season ending Easter Trail.

Inset: Team 111’s Rachel Cooper is the inaugural Iron “Woman” 55 winner.

Inside cover: Two old style hard and fast racers in Alan Pitcher #29 and veteran Ewan McKenzie show why Super Rods are such a popular division in Victoria’s South West. Here the pair run very close and very sideways at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway.

OUR VIEW......

With Highline Editor Brett Swanson

Wow!!! What a season we’ve just had which in reality still isn’t over with many smaller club run country venues still to complete their seasons.

Big story out of the last couple of months was the record breaking Street Stock Title at Victoria’s Redline Raceway of which you can read more in this issue.

It seems ironic that while the “budget” class is absolutely smashing it in terms of events and competitor numbers, driven

largely by a few people in Victoria, at the other end of the Speedway Sedans Australia (SSA) spectrum the headline category of Super Sedans are in something of a slump.

Is this a direct result of the growth of Late Model numbers in Australia? Those pushing the Late Model barrow would like to think so.

Will the two classes ever merge? Probably not, there are too many technical differences between them to ever merge them. Maybe they could start by allowing the Supers to become left hand drive because in many ways under the skin the chassis technology and suspension geometry is almost identical. But probably the biggest stumbling block will be the politics of the two camps. We all know what people will do when they are in a perceived position of power and don’t want to relinquish that control they think they have.

Street Stocks or “Streeties” as they are known are a truly national category although thanks to the presence of RSA Street Stocks in NSW, there are only a half dozen SSA Streeties in the harbour state. But that is changing, and from all accounts the difference between the two categories is not insurmountable. I bet there are a bunch of RSA streetie drivers that wished they were part of the history making SSA Aussie Title held at Redline Raceway, and then of course as you can read elsewhere in this issue, NSW driver John Lodge defeated a top quality field to win the Victorian Streetie Championship Obviously, the way to go would be to just to determine that one will be “the” category and the just a week later. other will cease to exist. But what about all the Conversely with the Super Sedans competitor money that competitors have got tied up in their respective cars? You can’t just tell them that numbers are down, the number of races are they are no longer able to race. Time will be the down and the jewel in the crown, the National determining factor here just like it was in the Super Sedan series is no more.

past with the massive Grand National Sedans.

I’m sure glad I don’t have to make the decision one way or the other or have any money tied up in either class.

mance gain but primarily for the added safety aspect.

Most safety improvements over the years have come as a result of accidents and injuries beSpeaking of Late Model Sedans it was very sad cause until something happens, we generally to see the circumstances surrounding the death don’t perceive it to be a safety or potential safety issue that needs to be resolved. of American racer Charlie Floyd. Our condolences go out to Charlies family and friends.

Australian safety standards thankfully are much Probably the only negative aspect of Late Mod- better than those in the USA. Many series over there do not mandate the use of triple layer els is that they can still race on pump fuel or suits or even gloves. I’ve seen it for myself avgas etc., as an alternative to methanol. I’m when competitors running in UMP Modifieds not saying that Charlie Floyd would have surraced without gloves. In my mind the one thing vived his accident and catastrophic fire if he you do want is good gloves because if you are had have used methanol, in fact I don’t even on fire you need your hands to undo your belts, know whether he was running pump fuel, avgas or methanol, but from what I’ve seen it sure remove the steering wheel etc. and to pull yourself from the car. seemed like a non methanol fire and if it was, then the use of methanol may have saved his The Americans say is it is unconstitutional to life. take away your right to choose. It is your right to decide whether you want to wear gloves or Sprintcars, Speedcars, Super Sedans and Wingless Sprints have mandated the exclusive a triple layer suit instead of a single or double layer suit or to use a seatbelt in a road car, use of methanol not just for the slight perfor-

or even wear a helmet on a road bike in some states. I call bullshit! I see it as a simple solution. It is your right to choose whether you want to race with this series or that series. And if you chose to race with us you have to wear the safety gear as specified, gloves, SFI rated overalls etc. otherwise it’s your choice not to race with us.

Simple.

Let’s not wait until someone here gets burnt in Late Models or some other class before we change the rules. Let’s keep ahead of the game.

On a positive note Highline is soon to depart on our first Indiana Sprintweek. A full 7 nights of 410 Wingless Sprintcars. Can’t wait for that. Also trying to get to a couple of Hell Tour Summer Nationals Late Model events and the Kings Royal at Eldora. Let’s hope the weather is good and we get the opportunity to bring you some great photos from the world of old-school Sprintcar racing in a special edition of Highline Magazine.

RISK MANAGMENT FAILURE Part 1

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graphix, the impact does not appear that seust as we were about to close off this issue of Highline Magazine, came the vere yet the driver is already half way out of the news about two incidents of concern to car early on. the sport.

Thankfully he emerged relatively unscathed One was the collapse of a grandstand at Macs and wasn’t hit by any other competitor.

Speedway QLD which injured seven people No official word has been forthcoming about (see report elsewhere) and then this stunning crash that left a V8 Super Modified racer laying the cause of the incident i.e. failure of the safety equipment, race car structure and design or on the race track after being ejected from his whether it was purely that the driver had accar at Wahgunya speedway also on Saturday cidentally forgotten to secure his belts or had May 21st. secured them incorrectly or some other reason was at the cause i.e. arm restraints unhooked By coincidence my editorial had been about safety and then these two “freak” accidents oc- the belt latch. curred.

Events like these have a huge bearing on the cost of racing insurance which affects us all As you can see from this sequence of photos and what about the effects on friends and famicaptured by Sara Flowerday from SF Photo-

ly of the driver as they watch their loved one being thrown from his car?

Ultimately it is the drivers responsibility to ensure he has taken all of the precautions he can to ensure his/her safety but it sure wouldn’t hurt to have an official cast a quick eye over all competitors before they head out the pit gate.

RISK MANAGMENT FAILUREart 2 P

A

WORKPLACE Health and Safety Queensland investigation has begun at Macs Speedway (Queensland) following a grandstand collapse on Saturday night (May 21st), a spokes-

The venue was insured and a permit issued by Speedway Australia, although the track was due to be inspected next week. It is believed that the venue has not been inspected for many years. The state of disrepair of the venue is evident.

Initial emergency service “first responders� were called to the scene following the collapse of the aging infrastructure mid-way through the scheduled race meeting.

The question remains about where does Speedway Australia and or Speedway Australia Queensland stand in regard to insuring and permitting a race meeting at a venue that obvi-

man said.

ously had some spectator safety concerns?

It can be confirmed that a total of seven people were injured with four people requiring track We also believe the permit was issued to the side ambulance assistance. venue as late only a week before the event.

Three were taken to hospital with broken bones, lacerations and bruising. A 38-year-old It will be interesting, post the well overdue Speedway Australia track inspection report, to man and 14-year-old girl remained in hospital in a stable condition with multiple broken bones see if the venue meets all the requirements and is able to continue to operate. following the incident.

The man, who has a broken leg and wrist, and girl, who has a broken wrist, were in a stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Eureka to Millburn...

Images: Pirate Media Group

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father Wayne Milburn with a photo shoot for his fathers’ V8 Selfstarting Wingless Sprintcar concept as featured in an earlier edition of Highline, Brett stated with some frustration that people continually commented that he’d run top three in the Eureka series so many times so why hadn’t he won it?

rett “The Jet” Milburn has long been a top contender on Victoria’s Sprintcar championship circuits with a frustrating run of near misses in the prestigious Eureka Garag- “If it’s that simple, go buy a car and do it yourself!” Was his biting comment. es and Sheds SRA series.

Milburn has also come close to winning the equally prestigious Avalon Raceway Essendon Ford track Championship and the brand new car that goes with it.

Prior to the season start while assisting his

After so many close calls however, Milburn has finally completed the best season of his life not only winning the coveted Eureka Series but also taking the Avalon track championship in an absolute nail biting finish with multiple SRA series champ John Vogels.

“Well finally we have finished off a eureka Sra Series on the top step.” Milburn posted on his facebook page. “Finished off a great series with 11 top 5’s and made all the A-Mains without running a B-Main.”

Milburn was quick to thank his hard working crew for their dedication.

While Milburn secured the Eureka series before the final round at Simpson, the Avalon track championship was not so straight forward. In the final round at Easter, it really came down to Milburn and a resurgent John Vogels.

The track title would not be determined until the final race of the track season had been “All their hard work has paid off especially for run and it was almost, but not quite a case of whoever finished ahead of the other would the whole team, WAZZA (Warren Cox) has win. Milburn had a slight advantage over Vodone an awesome job keeping this car rolling the way it has. Dennis Sorraghan, Rich- gels but it was only a slender margin. ard Johnston and Ben Sterling have put in a great effort keeping the car reliable, clean Things were looking good for Milburn when and fast. Thanks to all who have helped out, Vogels only qualified 11th in the B-Main. sponsors and supporters David Dickson from However things fell right for the Simpson Essendon Mitsubishi, Adrian Parr from Parr speedster who managed to grab a second place finish by races end. Still Milburn would motorsports, Paul Farrell from Mid-West imports, Pete Hobbs from Hobbs trenching, start the feature from 9th with Vogels 16th.

Neil Sixtus from Better bin hire, Brad Thomp- If Milburn finished ahead of Vogels the title, and the car, were his. If not Vogels needed son from Thomos race graphics, Craig to finish a few spots ahead.

Featherstone from Pro coate, John Cooley from Cool chassis and the guys from U-raceIncredibly, on the opening laps Milburn got it. A great effort by all.” Milburn thanked.

shuffled back and then next thing you know Milburn gets caught up in a mess triggered by another car and along comes Vogels who is unable to avoid his rival and they collide.

Vogels re-starts while Milburn has only slight damage but is unable to restart and becomes the races first retirement getting classified as 18th and last. Vogels started at the back of the pack but had 29 laps in which to secure those few precious positions to take the prize while Milburn watched on from the infield.

Despite his best efforts Vogels was unable to really progress through the field running most of the race in 14th place, the position in which he ultimately finished.

Sadly for Vogels, but luckily for Milburn, after a bit of a nervous wait and having to sit out the A-Main he was confirmed to have won the Avalon Track Championship.

Milburn and crew can now go into the off-season justifiably satisfied .

Oldfield goes Back to Back....

Image: Pirate Media Group

Jason Oldfield quite simply put in the drive of his life and left it all on the track as he pulled out all the stops to race from position thirteen to win his third WA Street Stock Title, the second in as many years.

straight and from here he began to pull away.

Kempton, Ameduri and Genev continued to battle it out for the lead.

On the restart for a spun Drew Ogle, Ameduri appeared to slow, with Oldfield had a solid run in his heats and he was able to grid up in position Damien Amato getting involved, the thirteen for the final, with the front row duo, who were running second and fourth, dropped back to seventh and being made up of high point’s man tenth respectively. The yellows came Jace Kempton and Daniel Ameduri. out a lap later as Tim Coxall, who was running third, clouted the front The initial start saw Kempton go straight wall, while Ameduri and Amwide, allowing fourth place startato had some on track altercations er Ethan Genev to stick his nose during the yellow flag laps. through for the lead before Ameduri Kempton would now lead away powered around the outside to stick Genev and Peter Herbert, who had his own nose in front.

Kempton had other ideas and raced come from position nine on the grid to be sitting in the third place. back into the lead on the back

SSA SEDANS

Meanwhile behind him Jason Oldfield had also been working his way through the field and would be sitting in fourth place on lap fifteen.

Cody Avins and Damon Lyall would cause a yellow on lap fifteen, and the ensuing restart gave Oldfield the opportunity to gain third place and set out after Kempton and Genev.

Peter Herbert moved past Genev for third on the restart, then Genev came undone in turn two.

Up front the battle was still raging.

Kempton had a half lose in turn two and this gave Oldfield the opportunity he needed, ducking underneath to grab the lead The top three closed on each other, with on lap twenty six. This Genev looking underneath Kempton for time the move stuck, but the lead and Oldfield going high to make it Kempton wasn’t giving up three wide. Kempton pulled away but Oldfield made the move stick for second and the easily, the duo still side leading duo began fighting it out for the lead. by side two laps later.

Oldfield put his red #1 machine on the highline and powered around Kempton, just 0.039 seconds apart on lap eighteen, then he made his move for the lead and grabbed it, but it was all for nothing as moments later the yellow lights came on for a stranded Paul Joss who was stuck after contact with Ameduri.

The yellows came out once again for what would be the final time when Amato got a flat tyre, allowing Oldfield to lead away for the final six lap stanza. Kempton made a slight mistake

and touched the wall, letting Oldfield pull away and allowing Herbert to close on him for second, but in the end it was Oldfield who crossed the line 2.908 seconds ahead of Kempton and Herbert. Former two time champion Wayne Thomson was fourth from

position ten while Paul Briggs held on for fifth after starting sixteenth.

Jason Oldfield has now become the fourth man to have won three WA Street Stock Titles, emerging from his car absolutely exhausted and hardly able to stand in front of a screaming crowd.

OFFICIAL Result – 35 laps: 1. W1 Jason Oldfield, 2. W55 Jace Kempton, 3. W44 Peter Herbert, 4. W15 Wayne Thomson, 5. W12 Paul Briggs, 6. W13 Drew Ogle, 7.

W27 Damon Lyall, 8. W83 Daniel Ameduri, 9. W11 Cody Avins, 10. W9 Marty Kelly, 11.

W42 Matt Herbert, 12. W18 Jack Favero.

DNF: W81 Damien Amato (29), W3 Luke Fraser (27), W16 Jack Barnewall (26), W69 Paul Joss (24), W28 Tim Coxall (22), W4 Ethan Genev (19), W82 Matt Amato (6), W6 Hayden Norman (1). Total Time: No Time.

Winning Margin: 2.908. Fastest Lap 19.274 W1 Jason Oldfield.

Victorian EASTER TRAIL....

Images/Story: Pirate Media Group

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Since 1989 it has been the domain of the three current tracks although in 2001 Warrnambool had scheduled an additional night, the final of which was rained out. However, in its modern form of Avalon, Mt Gambier and When the trail had four nights of racing Garry Warrnambool, no-one has won all three. The Rush twice took three wins from four. In 1982 closest anyone has ever gotten was Max Dumesny in 1997 & 2006 and Robbie Farr in Rush – Portland and Mt Gambier but was 1998 all with two wins and a wash-out. beaten at Warrnambool by Bill Barrows before taking the final at Avalon. Then in 1988 This year Mt Gambier’s Steven Lines was Rush won at the Melbourne Speedbowl, Mt looking strong especially after winning both Gambier & Warrnambool over consecutive features at Avalon and his home track of Mt nights before Max Dumesny chipped in for Gambier. the win at Bendigo. o one in the history of Victoria’s Easter Sprintcar Trail has ever taken a clean sweep of all the events on the one weekend.

Heading into Warrnambool’s final round he was looking solid for the prestigious overall prize of a Geelong Harley-Davidson Street 500 but would have to work overtime to achieve both ambitions.

But back to Warrnambool - McFadden got the jump after a start recalled and led Veal, Darren Mollenoyux, defending Easter Trail Champ Grant Anderson and the resurgent John Vogels.

Warrnambool mates James McFadden and Jamie Veal would start the final from the front row on a dry track with Lines back on the fourth row. And it’s not like either of these two guys had been slow in the previous two races. McFadden had been leading Veal at Avalon with only a couple of laps to go when he tangled with a lapped car and spun back to about 7th place. Veal should have won the short blast to the chequered flag but Lines put on a blistering performance to elbow his way through to the lead only for Veal to retake it before Lines pulled a desperate outside run to take the chequer in a thrilling finish.

Lines was struggling to make any progress as we all expected him to go straight to the top and motor past at least a few cars. The reason would become clear later as an engine issue killed his chances of creating a unique piece of Easter Trail history or at the very least winning the Harley-Davidson for overall winner.

After Eureka Garages and Sheds Series winner and Essendon Ford Avalon Track Champion Brett Milburn destroyed his car in turn three and then later Jye O’Keeffe upended after Jack Lee and Daniel Pestka spun in front of him, Lines’ engine woes became apparent as he sat under the stoppage and The following night on a hooky track that saw revved an engine that clearly wasn’t running on all cylinders. Reluctantly he retired to the wheel-stands galore Lines backed up his infield.

Avalon win with an all the way victory.

After the restart McFadden again led Veal until Veal attempted a slide job on his friend that only succeeded in slamming McFadden into the wall and destroying the NQ25.

Officials then correctly deemed Veal to have been the primary cause and sent him to the rear for the restart, something that didn’t seem to upset too many in the crowd but which was seen as a controversial move by others.

Despite not being able to make any inroads on the leaders over the closing laps, Veal still secured enough points from 8th place behind winner Anderson, Mollenoyux and Lee (from the B-Main) to win the trail overall and the Harley-Davidson along with it.

By virtue of qualifying for the feature Veal also scored his second consecutive, USC Victoria, Parr Motorsports, Premier Speedway Track Championship.

Most impressive debut at Warrnambool was that of Adelaide’s Aidan Hall who took to the hooky track like a duck to water. Hall, I’m told is not short of self-confidence and his first heat speed was astonishing. In his second heat on a slicker track he looked the complete opposite. Clearly he enjoys a fast hammer down racetrack. Hall was impressive again in the finals coming from the B-Main to just miss a top five finish in the Feature.

SSA SEDANS

The Spencer Race Engines 2016 Australian Street Stock Championship held at Redline Raceway on March 11 – 13 was built on a MASSIVE platform of competitors as being potentially the biggest ever speedway event in Australian speedway history.

Spencer Race Engines Australian Street Stock C

Championship.

Story: Brett Swanson Images: Inaction and Dean Miller Photography.

139 nominations had been received and 137 competitors actually took part in the record breaking Championship. Never before had so many drivers raced at a single event and the build up to the race, which included a record equalling competitor from every state and the Northern Territory, had fans abuzz with anticipation.

Beare’s victory however, denied another piece of history being made, that of McClure becoming the first 4 time winner of the event.

Instead, Beare now equals the record of McClure and Tasmanian Todd Auton with 3 wins each.

Behind the almost inseparable duo came Mark Gartner in a storming finish to third ahead of Morris Ahearn (The big fella having Often the expectation from such a build-up and the reality are vastly different. BUT NOT battled on with no power steering), Warrnambool youngster Steven Watts and young IN THIS CASE! West Australian Hayden Norman who’d qualified as the second last starter in the 20 car The 40 lap final again proved to be historic and capped of a fantastic carnival of “Street- field after finishing third in the B-Main. Both Watts and Hayden would be elevated a posiie” speedway in the most fitting way possition after post-race scrutineering found a mible setting yet another record with the closnor technical irregularity on Ahearns car and est ever finish in any Australian speedway he was stripped of his fourth place.

Championship. A margin of just 0.019 seconds separated the two main protagonists - erstwhile race leader Brad McClure and winner Anthony Beare -as they crossed the finish line side by side and both spun after taking the chequered flag.

Practice

The title event kicked off with scrutineering on Friday morning and after a marathon of scrutinising the assembled machinery, cars hit the track for a two hour practice session.

Amazingly 113 drivers, including most of the local entries, took the opportunity to get some practice laps in and some of the interstaters immediately showed they would be ultimately competitive.

due to his undoubted speed. McClure and dual champion Robbie Faux also went for good money, with Faux actually backing himself to win. Lenny Bates Jr was another top contender according to the money outlaid as was Mick Dann.

Under clear and sunny skies the tournament tipped off for real with a MASSIVE grand parade that literally stretched four wide completely around the track, in a sight that has McClure set the quickest time in official prac- never been seen before. tice and the three times Champion, was the The marathon opening night of heat racing only driver to break the seventeen second barrier, with the top fifty seven drivers sepa- action however was halted two heats early after heavy fog descended on the venue with rated by less than a second. a few heats remaining.

From there nearly 500 guests attended the Calcutta and heat draws which themselves proved a marathon affair as expected with 139 drivers up for the draw and subsequent bidding. Top money went on Beare, partly due to his automatic start in the feature regardless of outcome of his heats, and partly

The thickness of the fog made viewing extremely difficult, forcing officials to call the night short of its intended thirty six qualifying heats after heat thirty four.

A good portion of the night also had a heavy mist or light rain falling, but despite all of this,

a huge crowd was on hand to witness history, as 137 drivers started the two night program.

prominent position throughout the race until the power steering hose came off while in second place.

The crowd were not disappointed with what they saw, with brilliant racing, spectacular crashes and several disqualifications, scattered throughout the night.

Mark Gartner led all the way to defeat Daniel Drewett and Corey Bauld, before Matt Nelson beat Lenny Bates by a car length in heat four with West Australian David Padmore third.

At the end of the thirty four heats which were completed, defending Champion, Beare, and two times Australian Champion, Faux, would be tied on points, with Beare leading courtesy of a quicker lap time. Both drivers went through the night undefeated.

ROUND ONE

The night started with Matt Templar recording a good win accounting for Peter Herbert and Eugene Bennett.

The lead swapped hands several times in heat five as Robbie Faux and John Lodge drove door handle to door handle. In a thrilling finish, Faux would win by a mere 0.138 with Lodge trying everything to pass the two times Australian Champion, while Jason Oldfield would finish third.

Heat six would see Damon Thomson suffer a flat tyre while leading. He wouldn’t be a stranger in that regard, with Chris Stewart, Mark Purdie and Aaron White suffering Daniel Ameduri would start his campaign with a win, with the West Australian account- a similar fate. Richard Bansemer downed ing for Steven Watts and Rhys Heinrich. Ka- Hayden Norman by a car length with Dale sey Staker from New South Wales was in a Riley Jnr a distant third.

Anthony Beare easily won heat seven, while Troy Russell had a good win in heat eight.

Brooke Ferguson came from position five to win heat nine in another close finish, defeating Scott Mason and Warren Vanzetti.

At this point the misty rain from the overcast conditions set in, keeping the track damp, which produced some great racing.

Plenty of drama filled heat ten, with Mick Dann lasting just three laps with mechanical issues. Evan Wakefield suffered a flat tyre while in third place, while Mark Jennings went from first to seventh after also suffering a flat tyre. Kye Walters would win after starting from position eight, with David Donegan and Travis Hutchison filling the minor placings.

Hayden Organ and Jacob Vuillermin were both sent to the rear of the field for separate first lap incidents in heat eleven. Justin Brumfield then sort about thrashing the

opposition, winning by more than half a lap, with Stuey Robinson and Nick Hill finishing second and third.

The final heat of the opening round (heat twelve) would see Kieran Norman also suffer a flat tyre while leading. Eventually Michael Clark defeated Brad McClure and Corey Sandow.

ROUND TWO

After the opening round went relatively smoothly, the second round would see plenty of action and drama.

Jason Duell would lead all the way in heat thirteen, with Sam Brumfield and Mark Carlin filling second and third.

Heat Fourteen saw the first of three spectacular rollovers, with Megan Forrest rolling in turn two. After the debris was cleared Lenny Bates would take the win from Richard Bansemer and Mark Gartner.

Jack Bishop also rolled in spectactular fashion in heat fifteen, also in turn two. Ricky Throckmorton would eventually take the win from Corey Bauld and Damon Thomson.

Heat sixteen had five drivers fighting for the lead, which was reduced to four when mechanical dramas stuck Peter Herbert with two laps remaining. Robbie Faux would take the thirty six points, while Matt Nelson and Matt Templar followed closely behind.

Multiple lead changes also occurred in heat nineteen, with the 2000 Australian Champion, Daniel Barton, holding off the defending Champion Anthony Beare for the first six laps, before Beare assumed control with a narrow win over Barton and David Barrie.

After several stoppages Brad McClure would win heat twenty, while heat twenty one provided much excitement with five drivers fighting for the lead. Morris Ahearn would prevail narrowly from Mark Jennings and Mick Heat seventeen replicated the race previous, Dann. with five drivers fighting for the lead throughout, with multiple lead changes. Jason Old- Former Australian Junior Sedan Champion field would narrowly down Darren Brumfield Brock Atkins led all the way in heat twenty two, with Jacob Vuillermin and Kye Walters and Dale Riley Jnr. recording comfortable wins in heats twenty After two false starts, which saw Jayden Blo- three and twenty four respectively. meley and Kasey Staker penalised, Rhys Heinrich came from the back of the field to ROUND THREE win, narrowly defeating Mark Purdie and Darren Brumfield would win heat twenty five, Donald Irving. while Dean Jenkins blew a power steering hose on his way to victory in heat twenty six.

The misty rain had cleared, but now fog had appeared at the track as the event was drawing to a conclusion on the opening night.

Jacob Vuillermin won an eventful heat thirty one, with Mitchell Johnston disqualified and several other drivers hitting the fence.

Nick Hill also felt the wrath of the Chief Steward in heat thirty two, as he too was disqualified. Craig Buchanan led early before being over-run by Shaun Henry and David Barrie in the concluding stages.

Robbie Faux would win heat twenty seven, with a narrow victory in which only four cars finished. The heat that followed turned out to be a thriller with Lenny Bates just holding off Dale Riley Jnr, Benjamin Riley and Mark Gartner with the quartet separated by 0.813. Visibility started to deteriorate as the fog rolled in, but not before Anthony Beare just Heat twenty nine also provided a great race defeated Brad McClure with Morris Ahearn and brilliant finish. Jack Barnewall, Hayden finishing third.

Norman, Jason DeGoldi and Rhys Heinrich David Donegan spectacularly rolled in heat raced very closely throughout with Heinrich thirty four in turn four. Matt Atkinson would suffering a flat tyre two laps from the finish, then go on to win the heat when racing redemoting him to fifth by race end. sumed, only to be disqualified for racing Jamie Lock easily accounted for the opposi- with his visor up, and putting his arm out the tion in heat thirty defeating Peter Bryant and window. This gave Paul Hayes the win over Jason Oldfield who recovered well after be- Brock Atkins and Jason Faux. ing sent to the rear of the field earlier in the Heat thirty five came out on track but never race. took the green, as conditions got worse, forc-

ing officials to suspend the final two heats of racing until Sunday.

On a new day under a clear sky, Cade Cox and Scott Mason finally got themselves into the win column to complete round 3.

ROUND FOUR

ceeded to spend lap after lap side by side in an enthralling race that saw the two take the chequered flag side by side with Donegan making it a fairy tale ending by narrowly getting the win. Walters himself was unsure as to who exactly had won but it was a masterful drive both both.

The final round of 12 heats was largely uneventful with Darren Forrest, Jamie Lock, Scott Bull, Steven Watts, and Chris Stewart finally proving the potential they had that had been missing until now.

Michael Clark, Troy Russell and Scott Purdie won the next three heats before the last heat which was to be an interesting battle between Brad McClure, Anthony Beare and the luckless Mick Dann.

In heat 42 the irrepressible Robbie Faux completed a clean sweep of all his heats guaranteeing himself a front row start for the final.

As expected McClure quickly worked his way to the front with Beare soon on his tail and the pair of title contenders raced that way to the finish. The result secured the outside pole for Beare and a row 2 start for McClure.

David Barrie won heat 43 before the field rolled out for heat 44.

Incredibly David Donegan had straightened out his battered Falcon but not his body and then he and young turk Kye Walters pro-

C Main

The C Main ended in a controversial finish when leaders Mark Jennings and Scott Purdie made contact in the back straight on the last lap, causing both to spin. Purdie was

sent to the rear of the field leaving Jennings and Darren Forrest to transfer.

main event.

“That was probably a silly move by Purdie as if he’d just stayed behind we would have both been through to the B-Main.” explained Jennings from the infield.

Tasmanian Corey Bauld gave his fans a final momento by winning the 2nd Non Qualifiers event from Scott Purdie, Scott Bull and Ricky Throckmorton.

The controversial part was that when a very similar thing happened in the A-Main between Beare and Ahearn, neither car was penalised.

NQ 1

Between the C and B mains was the first Non Qualifiers race.

Mick Dann finally got a win ahead of Clint Purdie, Darren Matthews and Brendon Green.

B Main – 20 Laps:

The B Main was a very entertaining affair, with Jason Duell, Shaun Henry, Hayden Norman and Matt Templar advancing to the

NQ 2

A Main – 40 Laps:

In a pre-race interview prior to strapping in, pole-sitter Robbie Faux stated his strategy was to cruise the first 20 laps and then go from there. Personally I doubted that the irascible Faux could restrain his natural speed and talent and not go hard from the drop of the flag but that is exactly what happened.

Faux did hold the lead through the first lap, and was under siege as the yellows came on for a spin between Mark Gartner and Shaun Henry. On the resultant restart, Faux again came under instant pressure from Beare who took the lead, with Faux and McClure running side by side.

A lap later, it would be McClure who would take the lead, with Beare and Faux left to do the chasing. The race found a rythym, as Morris Ahearn joined the leading pack, with Michael Clark fifth and Rhys Heinrich moving to sixth after starting from position eleven.

McClure later revealed, “the race strategy went out the window once the green flag dropped.”

On lap ten, Ahearn moved to third, as Robbie Faux went back to fourth, with little margin separating the top four.

Jason Duell was making great progress through the field after winning the B Main, but his race was done on lap nineteen after he moved to twelfth place thanks to a loose battery clamp which caused a small fire in the cockpit. Two laps later the second stoppage occurred, when contact between Faux and Heinrich in turn one would see Faux spin and Heinrich sent rear of the field.

Jason Oldfield who qualified ninth for the final, went back through the field in the first half of the race and spun on the back straight, resulting in a further stoppage.

Placings of the top four remained constant until THE contact between Ahearn and Beare, saw Beare spin in turn four. The Chief Steward decided that it was a racing incident and left both drivers in their positions. On the resultant restart, Mark Gartner moved to fourth, deposing Faux who dropped to fifth.

McClure and Beare then opened a lead on the remainder of the field, with Gartner and Ahearn running side by side through the concluding stages.

With eight laps to go, McClure had opened a lead of 1.569 over Beare, but Beare clawed (nice pun Jason – Ed) his way back into the race, narrowing the margin to two car lengths with three to go. The pair levelled up with one and a half laps to go leading to the

most dramatic finish of all time, with a drag race to the finish line.

Mark Gartner would finish third in a great finish with Ahearn, while Steven Watts led the bulk of the field home for fifth after starting from position fifteen. Only 2.5 seconds separated the next eight drivers as they crossed the line in a blanket finish for the minor placings. Hayden Norman who finished sixth, also drove a brilliant race, coming from the back row in an extraordinary race.

After post-race scrutineering Morris Ahearn was disqualified for a breach of the Technical Specifications. All placings below are now official.

Official Result 1. S46 Anthony Beare, 2. V24 Brad McClure, 3. S125 Mark Gartner, 4. V52 Steven Watts, 5. W66 Hayden Norman, 6. V111 Robbie Faux, 7. V23 Shaun Henry, 8. V48 Michael Clark, 9. S148 Rhys Heinrich, 10. T188 Matthew Templar, 11. V15 Kye Walters, 12. T45 For Beare, he not only defends his title, he equals Brad McClure and Tasmanian legend Troy Russell, 13. T28 Dale Riley Jnr, 14.

Todd Auton as having won the Australian Ti- V7 Richard Bansemer (30), 15. V74 Lenny Bates (29), 16. V83 David Barrie (24), 17. tle three times.

W163 Jason Oldfield (23), 18. S98 Jason Duell (18), 19. V71 Jacob Vuillerman (4).

“I didn’t know I had won”, Beare said. “I DISQ: V4 Morris Ahearn (Technical Specdidn’t know I had won until the word came ification) Time: No Time. Winning Margin: through on the one way communicator”.

0.019. Fastest Lap: 18.441 V24 Brad McClure.

The finish capped off a title which befitted the hype and expectations.

The Go

olden Age of the front engine TQ!

In my opinion the front engine, pre roll cage, pre wing TQ (Three Quarter Midget) was the most exciting, and certainly the best looking of all the small engine, open wheeled divisions that arrived on the speedway scene in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

I can’t remember exactly where I saw my first TQ racing. It may have been at the old Windsor RSL speedway on the outskirts of Sydney in the early 1960’s.

and dirt, which they continue to do to this day.

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s there was small open wheel car revolution in Australia with several different categories or divisions emerging with different rules and specifications. There were Gnats, Micro Midgets, Go Karts, Junior Speedcars and several other variations on the theme, but my favourite division to watch were the front engine TQ’s.

Most were powered by motorbike engines, with Ariels, Vellocettes, Nortons, Triumphs, BSA’s and Vincents among the powerplants. It was pre the Japanese motorbike invasion, with the most adventurous of owners deciding to install 500cc speedway motorbike engines like JAP’s TQ racing started in Australia in the mid 1950’s but TQ’s were not a local phenom- and ESO’s under the front bonnet. enon by any means. TQ racing had been Each TQ in those days was constructed going on in the United States since the late 1940’s. In the US they raced both in- in a shed or a back yard by its owner, no doors and outdoors and on both bitumen factory builds or imports back then. And I was a dyed in the wool Speedcar fan and always have been, but the sight of TQ’s charging into the turn, three or four wide, was a site to behold. I was sold on them and loved watching them race.

some of the local clubs in different States also had plans of how to build a car. The South Australian Racing Drivers Association had a set of blueprints on how to build a TQ chassis, one that would accommodate an engine at the front. Some of the SA TQ’s were delightful cars to behold and their performance equal to their looks.

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s dirt track speedways were being built all over Australia, and the relatively small size of TQ’s which were generally inexpensive to build and maintain meant that a lot of tracks and venues were built with TQ’s as their main racing division. Some good examples of tracks that were TQ perfect included Bibra Lake in Western Australia, Bowman Park (Crystal Brook) in South Australia, Garfield in Victoria, and Kembla Grange and Heddon Greta in New South Wales.

And in those days not all speedways were ovals. Some tracks had a number of right and left hand turns, and the small 500cc

powered cars put on a great show at tracks like Salty Creek, near Newcastle in New South Wales and Darkan in Western Australia just to name a couple.

During the 1960’s the class evolved rapidly across Australia with both front engine and rear engine cars competing with each other on a regular basis. Some clubs and States were predominantly front engine, while

others were rear engine.

When I look back on those years there were some drivers who really stood out in the front engine cars.

Growing up in New South Wales I got to see two of the great guns of the front wheeled era in Ray Platt and Alan Streader, the battles between these two could probably fill a book. But NSW had plenty of classy TQ drivers who favoured the engine at the front.

Ray Glazebrook, Hunter Wilson, Col Barr, John Hawkins, Nev Doherty and Max Kiddle were just a few who raced on a regular basis in beautifully prepared front engine cars.

In South Australia in the early 60’s Bob Lane and Ray Foot were recognised as two of the TQ greats in their front engine cars. But there were plenty of talented South Australians who had great success with front engines including Jeff Holding, Greg Anderson, Peter Glassenbury, Jim Reese, Brian Klatz and Clarrie Launer.

In those times New South Wales and South Australia were the bastions of the front engine TQ’s with most Victorians, Tasmanians and Western Australians favouring the rear engine cars. Meanwhile in Queensland although there was a considerable smattering of TQ’s in the regional areas the main small engine open wheel class in Brisbane were the front engine Junior Speedcars, with an engine capacity of up to 750cc compared to the TQ’s 500cc’s.

In the 1965-66 title held at Myrtleford in Victoria the first five placegetters were in rear engine cars, with Sydney’s John Hawkins the first front engine car to take the chequered in sixth.

Such was the growth of the division with all States holding Championships that the first Australian Championship (1964-65) was held for TQ’s at the Point Pass Speedway, near Eudunda in South Australia on the 28th of December 1964. It was won by Adelaide based driver Bob Lane in a front engine car.

The Australian TQ Championships then continued every year until 1977 when they were renamed the Australian Formula 500 Championships and they have held that name ever since.

And by the early 1970’s front engine TQ were well and truly in the minority. Most of the remaining front engine cars evolved into what are known today as Compact Speedcars, while the great majority of the rear engine cars were to become Formula 500’s.

By the end of the 1960’s the front engine TQ’s had been overwhelmed by their rear engine brothers which offered generally lighter cars with better technology, superior engine plants and greater handling.

Both Compact Speedcars and Formula 500’s have enjoyed considerable competitor support in the years that have elapsed. Nowadays the Compacts essentially race in the three eastern states of Queensland, New

South Wales and Victoria, while the Formula 500’s enjoy widespread popularity in all States of Australia, and interestingly enough the majority of the 500’s these days could be described broadly as front engine cars.

CLUB INFO

Look and learn people..... with Ray Read

THE MENACE OF

MICROMANAGEMENT.

Over the past few issues, I have attempted to highlight a number of issues which I think should be addressed, or at least considered, about the logistics and science of running a Speedway.

“Strange words for Speedway?” you perhaps ask?

Over the past few issues, I have attempted to highlight a number of issues which I think should be addressed, or at least considered, about the logistics and science of running a Speedway.

“Strange words for Speedway?” you perhaps ask?

Possibly so, but I get back to the grass roots of the fact that Speedway these days needs to be run as a Business. And as a Business you need Managers. One of the best definition of “Management” that I have come across is “Getting things done through People.”

Now, Speedway clubs generally have a pretty standard hierarchical structure of people. You have a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer who usually make up the “Executive”. Following that, it is usual to have a Club Committee – a group in which (usually) the essential power of the club lies. From there, the next layer may consist of a series of small committees looking after such specialist areas as track, social, catering etc., as well as individuals whose responsibilities may be Social Media, PRO, area maintenance, etc.

The people who do these “Non-executive” jobs, and that includes the Club’s “Committee” have all been selected on the usual criteria of their personal abilities and expertise in specific areas and the trust of their members. That’s

what AGMs are about.

An interesting fact came out of my recent “Dark Side of the Moon” exercise on Facebook, and that was that a surprisingly large number of Speedway clubs seem to be experiencing significant problems with selected members of the Executive MICROMANAGING the lower echelon. Including, in some unfortunate instances, their own club committees, by by-passing the decision making process as required by the club constitution, and making (dare I say) a “Captain’s Call” Tony Abbott found out that, to his dismay, this was not a good practice which very nearly cost him his job (at that time)!

For anyone not familiar with the term: MICROMANAGEMENT: to try to control or manage all the small parts of (something, such as an activity) in a way that is usually not wanted or that causes problems.

And cause problems it does.

Let’s get basic here. If a person (or sub-committee) has been elected to a position, then they should be allowed to perform the duties of that position without the oversight, interference or general “… get approval from me first” attitude of another person. After all, we are all supposed to be intelligent and responsible adults. If they are in that appointed position, then let them do the job unhindered, and with the same level of trust that we would give to anyone else.

I would like to quote here a recent statement from Craig Swanson, now Club ex-President and “LEGEND” of his club: “ … I think the days of individuals thinking they own Clubs has to come to an end. Good leadership starts with consultation, not thinking you’re the boss and have the right to make big decisions without consulting with committee and members.”

I personally have seen a lot of damage done to both good people, and Clubs, as a result of excessive micromanagement. Essentially, it occurs when the individual appears to think

that they have the best knowledge of the (often specialist) task, and needs to tell the delegated person how to do it.

Noted Psychologist and Author, Elizabeth Eyre says in her article “Avoiding Micromanagement:”… “Micromanagers take perfectly positive attributes – an attention to detail and a hands-on attitude – to the extreme. Either because they’re control-obsessed, or because they feel driven to push everyone around them to success, micromanagers risk disempowering their colleagues. They ruin their colleagues’ confidence, hurt their performance, and frustrate them to the point where they quit.”

From my own experience, part of being a good manager (one often lost on those of the micro variety), is LISTENING. Managers fail to listen when they forget their employees have important insights – and people who don’t feel listened to become disengaged.

If you are a micromanager, work hard on those delegation skills and learn to trust your staff to develop and deliver.

So, for the micromanaged, where do we go from here? Perhaps some more words of wisdom from Elizabeth Eyre: (I have altered to text somewhat to fit the Speedway environment.)

“As for those who are being frustrated by being micromanaged, well, things are a bit complicated. Likely as not, you’re being held back in your development – and probably not making the progress in your job that you could be if you enjoyed workplace independence.

But there’s a certain amount that you can do to improve the situation: * Volunteer to take on work or projects that you’re confident you’ll be good at. This will start to increase his confidence in you – and his delegation skills. * Make sure that you communicate progress to your boss regularly, to discourage him or her from seeking information just because he or she hasn’t had any for a while. * Concentrate on helping your boss to change one micromanagement habit at a time. Remember that he’s or she’s only human too, and is allowed to make mistakes!”

As with all of my comments, I sincerely hope that people take them on board, and if you see something that you can improve in your club as a result, please do so.

RUBBERDOWN.COM.AU

K C I L C HERE

Superb Sounds @ Victorian

Images: Pirate Media Group

Late Model Championship

S

ydney’s David Doherty came south recently and snatched the Victorian Late Model Sedan Championship at Alexandra Speedway, but no doubt the man who won the crowd’s heart was second place finisher, event sponsor and quasi local Justin Pearson.

What was so thrilling about Pearson’s performance you ask? Well, it was his heavy right foot and spectacular style, but more so than anything it was the incredible noise that emanated from his huge 510 cubic inch engined rocket which ran without mufflers. Beautiful!!

The only downside to this awesome sound was that there was no way he could sneak Pearson in the Healesville Directional Drilling VIC25 absolutely thrilled the crowd and a up on a competitor and cut a cheeky passing good portion of his own employees who were manoeuvre. But who cared. The beast was simply awesome to hear at full noise. on hand with his raucous rendition of old school speedway sedan action.

Seventeen cars made it to race day with drivers from Western Australia, South Australia, New Zealand, New South Wales and of course Victoria attempting to steal the big win.

In six heat races; Doherty and Justin Pearson both took two wins apiece with Michael Holmes from WA & Chevy Edwards locally from Eildon both popular in the wins they took; as was Justin Pearson with his staff cheering on from a business marquee.

starting positions in the top eight shootout before the title race.

The shootout began with the fifth through to eighth qualifiers up against each other with the top two moving on into the next shoot out. Nathan Disney & Todd Bayley held out Scott McPherson and Chevy Edwards and Unfortunately veteran Graham Forte (# 7 moved on to compete with Cameron PearEchuca Metaland) from Barmah in New South Wales had engine concerns after hot son & Michael Holmes. The latter two were laps and had no option except to park his car able to hold out the others and move into the battle for pole position with Doherty and Jusfor the night and watch everybody else. tin Pearson.

In the only heat race that had a stoppage, Justin Pearson from his outside position Justin Pearson proved to be too strong. At let rip around the outside of Doherty in turn the start of the race defending title holdtwo and went on to win pole position from er Ben Nicastri had a taste of the concrete wall in turn four and found himself bouncing Doherty, Cameron Pearson and Holmes setting a fastest one lap time of 17.437 just .002 around in front of the field and Matt Crimmins unfortunately was innocently damaged faster than Doherty’s earlier best one lap time. when he had nowhere to go.

Excitement for the thirty lap ‘Healesville DiA win in the last heat would secure Justin rectional Drilling’ Victorian title was massive Pearson on equal points with Doherty with the fastest lap time recorded determining the as the crowd got right behind the local hero

who had put himself on pole position.

After pre-race ceremonies, the race began with Doherty from the prized outside starting position taking the lead quickly with Justin Pearson slipping behind Holmes into third ahead of Cameron Pearson and Disney.

Doherty led Justin Pearson, Disney, Cameron Pearson and Chevy Edwards on lap twenty with Nicastri now in seventh and just ten laps to go.

With Cameron Pearson dropping out of the race after blowing an engine & Brock Edwards breaking a tail-shaft, Nicastri moved into the top five behind Chevy Edwards & then a race incident on the back straight between Justin Pearson & Disney occurred where Disney was left on the infield before coming to a halt close to the track.

By lap five, fifteenth placed starter and defending champion Nicastri, had moved into twelfth spot. On lap seven after Holmes exited the race thinking he had a flat tyre, Doherty was still leading from Justin Pearson, Disney, Cameron Pearson & Bayley before he dropped out of the race not long after Stewards couldn’t call it so it was deemed a race incident and both drivers put back hitting the concrete wall. Chevy Edwards to second and third spot and a re-start renow moved into the top five. quired.

Doherty was still leading at lap ten with Justin Pearson chasing. Nicastri had moved up The field were now bunched up for the final to tenth after Crimmins pulled infield having five laps after running twenty five without a stoppage. Doherty kept his composure to broken his differential just as the lead drivers were catching up to him as they worked fire out to the lead once more with Justin Pearson leading the chase. Justin Pearson through traffic. continued his assault with numerous big

dives up the inside of Doherty down into turn three drawing equal with the Sydney sider each time. However, as they accelerated off the corner Doherty would drive away back into the lead only to have Justin Pearson repeat the attack on the next lap.

When the chequered flag finally fell it was Doherty from Justin Pearson, a controversial Disney, Chevy Edwards, Nicastri, McPherson, Bruce Mackenzie, Liam Heaton & Kristen Vermeulen with all on the lead lap accept for the young Kiwi, Vermeulen.

With the continued growth of the class in Victoria and the Australian Championship scheduled for Warrnambool next season, expect to see numbers improve locally and a huge turn out for the national title.

Sprintcars SSA SEDANS

Victorian Street Stock Title...

Portland Victoria

In between the Historic National Title and the historic NSW Title, John Lodge from New South Wales created more history at the Southern 500 Speedway, Portland when he won the Victorian Street Stock Title, becoming the first driver from New South Wales to win a Street Stock Title, either State or National.

Lodge who showed plenty of speed in the National Title, led every lap in the Victorian Street Stock Title, which again was hampered by the weather, with a further two rain delays on the Championship night, after the Title was subjected to three delays on night one.

Lodge defeated South Australian duo Rhys Heinrich and Sam Brumfield, with Darren Giacometti fourth. Dean Jenkins would be fifth, with Jayden Edwards and Brooke Ferguson finishing sixth and seventh respectively after finishing third and fourth in the B Main.

Defending Champion Brad McClure, did not qualify for the A Main directly and elected

to start from position twenty one, finishing eighth after thirty five laps, but never seriously challenged the leading pack.

Australian Champion Anthony Beare, would not be able to replicate his heart stopping win of the week before, when he suffered mechanical dramas after just six laps. With Beare and Matt Nelson out, and with McClure still at the back of the pack, even at this early stage the race looked destined to crown a new champion.

Lodge continued to lead Heinrich, Chris Whatmore and Brumfield as drivers further back in the pack continued to fall by the way side.

Chris Whatmore would suffer a flat right rear tyre while in third with fifteen laps completed, as the charge of Jayden Edwards from the B Main started to become evident, with the South Australian moving to fifth place.

In the concluding stages, Lodge’s car started

to overheat as the fans stopped working, but he had a sufficient lead that he was able to record the biggest win of his career, downing Heinrich, Brumfield, Giacometti, Jenkins and Edwards.

RESULT A MAIN - 35 Laps: 1. N128 John Lodge, 2. S48 Rhys Heinrich, 3.

S55 Sam Brumfield, 4. V72 Darren Giacometti, 5. V4 Dean Jenkins, 6. S87 Jayden Edwards, 7. V184 Brooke Ferguson, 8. V1 Brad McClure, 9. T24 Ben Riley, 10. V18 Ricky Throckmorton, 11.

V15 Kye Walters, 12. T44 John Riley, 13. V7 Richard Bansemer (31 laps), 14.

S5 Steven Watts (23), 15. V42 Chris Whatmore (15), 16. NT75 Justin Brumfield (13), 17. W16 Jack Barnewall (12), 18. S46 Anthony Beare (6), 19. V161 Matt Nelson (2), 20. V23 Shaun Henry (1), 21. V74 Lenny Bates (0). Time: No Time, Winning Margin: 1.020, Fastest Lap: 16.047 N128 John Lodge

BRETT SWANSON

Kids Royal

Article By Highline Editor

Brett Swanson Images By Inaction

& Iron Man 55

Sure it’s a bit of a play on two of the biggest Sprintcar races in the world, Eldora’s KINGS Royal and the Iron Man 55 at I-55 in Pevely Missouri, and sure the infield track at Avalon raceway is nothing like the high banks of two of the world’s fastest dirt speedways, but who knows, one day one or two of the guys and girls who contested the inaugural KIDS Royal and Iron Man 55 may one day cut laps in a racecar at either or both of those legendary race tracks.

To say the running of the inaugural KIDS Royal and Iron Man 55 for dirt go-karts was a huge success would be an understatement. Some brilliant racing throughout all the classes, not just the two headline divisions, and a couple of frightening flips and acrobatics by drivers and a surprise result in the seniors category will get those who weren’t there, wishing they were.

As concept creator Graham Keats, himself a former Australian champion said as the hardware was about to be handed out to the top four placegetters, “It’s all about the kids.”

The main focus was on the kids and each junior driver received literally a bucket load of goodies (It was all contained within a bucket) before the day even started. A commemorative T-Shirt, an inaction duck and a host of other stuff was distributed courtesy of the generous supporters and sponsors.

The weather turned on a treat with plenty of sunshine but a very strong wind early on which actually flung the Yarra Valley Speedway Kart Clubs ezy-up from the infield across the track and into the outside wall. Thankfully the heat race that was on the track had not yet started and were still down in turn four when the marquee blew across the racing surface.

Many people arrived early and stayed overnight on the Friday with the kids having a great time playing together and then many families also stayed on Saturday night after the race were the adults had a great time playing.

Kids Royal.

For the Kids Royal a stellar cast was assembled including American Ira “Gator�Mattice. The World Champion was on his 3rd trip down-under racing under the Keats umbrella.

Four heats were contested with results determining the line-up for the 2 Qualifiers.

Bailey Stephens, Luke Geering (2) and Jack Laneyrie won the heats. In the qualifiers Geering beat Laneyrie and Kaleb Sims and Todd Martin

beat Angus Giffin and Luke Seivwright in the other qualifier.

Two 2nd chance qualifiers were then run to set the back half of the grid with Max Curran, Cooper Stuart, Tahlee Trotter graduating from the 1st race and Mattice, Chris Temby, Lewis Williams and Ben Hickson doing the same in the 2nd race.

For the non-qualifiers a Silver Crown event was run which was won by Tyler “Billy-Ray� Scott from Alisha Fielder.

Somewhere along the line the format for the USA/AUS Challenge Cup got changed and it was Sievwright who took the win from Geering, Laneyrie, Stephens and Riley Amato.

So the line-up was set with Geering and Sievwright on the front row followed by Laneyrie, Stephens, Amato, Giffin, Todd Martin, Sims, Curran, Mattice, Temby, Stuart, Williams, Trotter, Hickson, Seb Ardley and Zoe and Dan Smith.

At the green Geering went to the front and never looked back as Sievwright made and error and was 5th by the end of the opening lap. The top half dozen then put on a great display of tight close racing swapping positions behind Geering. Meanwhile Gator was trying to move forward but was stopped when the exhaust bracket came loose and was hitting the rear brake rotor sending sparks out the back which looked exciting under the darkened night sky. Some quick work rectified the issue and he restarted albeit at the back.

The recently crowned Aussie Champion Laneyrie held down second spot until dropping out on lap 22 absolutely devastated.

The battle behind Geering never abated one iota and as they crossed the line after 30 laps Geering had won from Todd Martin, Amato, Sievwright, Stephens, Temby, Trotter, Mattice, Sims, Ardley and Williams who were all on the lead lap.

For our American visitor it was a tough race. After the rotor issue he was then making his way through the pack and then in turn 1 the kart shut off and he got hit by another kart and got hit in the leg. After medics checked him out they said he could restart so he went to the rear and went back to working his way through the pack where he got up to 7th then got caught up in a wreck that ripped off the nose cone. Again he had to go to the rear with 8 laps to go he went back at it on the outside passing many Karts and was able to finish 8th. Gator came off the track and said he “ain’t never had so much bad luck in his racing career.” His leg was a bit bruised but he would survive to race another day, in fact at his final meeting at Gatton he took the win becoming the first American to win a race under the SKAA banner.

For the presentations Geering happily donned the royal cloak and crown as King Luke the 1st.

Iron Man 55 The adults event would have a similar format to the Kids Royal with three qualifiers followed by a series of Challenge Cup Dash’s and of course C, B and A Mains.

Just like the Kids Royal there was an International flavour with Leah Blaney (Daughter of Sprintcar ace Dale) and Kiwi visitor Elizabeth Blackwell both in the field.

Rachel Cooper got her campaign off to a great start winning the opening qualifier from Mitch Gladman and Tasmanian Ben Jackson.

team 111 entries until his engine seized.

Ben Hodge and Liam Aunger followed Loft across the line.

The final qualifier saw multiple retirements including Keats himself (seized engine), organiser Troy Scott, Brodie Miles and Kieran Swanson and Stevie Smith who were both eliminated after a coming together while racing hard for position. Tyson Martin won from Aussie Champ Bard Cuneen and Corey Clifford.

V8 Dirt Modified racer Brett “Boots” Clarke won the first dash elevating him into dash 2 which was won by Jackson. Gladman won dash 3 and then Loft earned pole by winning dash 4 from Cooper, Tyson Martin and Galdman.

A demon start by Gladman (jumped start, who said jumped start?) saw him lead early until his kart slowed but such was the gap Between running around and helping that he still held on for second. with everything else, Troy Scott also won the C-Main leading Keats all the way with The second qualifier saw Jason Loft leading Swanson and Stevie Smith making it into from Leigh Reynolds in the second of the the B-Main.

Using his skill and speed and a fortuitous start (again, who said anything about a jumped start?) Keats balsted to the lead by the end of lap 1.Toby Smith and Blackwell both held 2nd for a time until Dillon Ghent took the position. Rod Sievwright took 3rd with Swanson in a standard engined kart working from 7th to 4th and into the A-Main against more powerful machines. Kris Trotter and Blackwell were also in the main event.

So the line-up for the other main event was now set with Loft on pole from Cooper, Tyson Martin, Gladman, Hodge, Cunnen, Jackson, Clifford, Aunger, Clarke, Gordon, Loghnan, Keats, Ghent, Rod Sievwright, Swanson, Kris Trotter and Blackwell.

and Martin.

Gladmans engine issues resurfaced and from lap 12 onwards he dropped through the field before eventually retiring.

The opening lap had not been kind to Swanson either who was taken out of the event on lap 2 when Gordon spun in front of him leaving the dejected youngster a mere spectator. Still to come from the C-Main to the A-Main with less than a dozen career races under your belt with a standard engine is something to be proud of.

For the first 40 laps any yellow flag laps were going to count towards the tally.

This happened a couple of times until lap 25 when the reds flew after Tyson Martin was thrown from his kart which somCooper was keyed up and the moment ersaulted through the air. Marti quickly the starters hand flickered she went and jumped up and righted the kart which beat Loft into turn 1 and from there was never headed. Gladman too made a great was sadly too damaged to be restarted. start and was into 2nd from Loft, Cuneen

“Lofty and I were racing hard and we tried to go through some lapped karts together and then I don’t know what really happened,” explained Martin as he caught his breath on the infield.

The talented youngster was almost in tears as he spoke of letting his dad down who did so much work to allow him to race. Clearly he was being extremely hard on himself as he had driven flawlessly until that point and it wasn’t his fault that he’d wrecked.

Another late race caution set things up for Loft to throw out a last challenge for the win and Cooper later admitted she was tiring. However with just a couple of laps still to run she knew Loft was there, she could hear his kart and she told her self “No, don’t let him beat you,” and then she dug deep and with a steely (iron man – steel, get it) determination took the biggest win of her racing career.

Victory lane was an emotional scene as Coopers’ daughter Julia stopped taking racing photos and celebrated with tears in her eyes at her mothers’ triumph. Thankfully Kim Scott, another

member of the inaction photos crew picked up the camera to get capture those lifetime memories.

Behind Cooper came Loft, Aunger, Keats and Hodge who were all involved in a tight battle that was not resolved until they crossed the line.

The whole concept and meeting was deemed a great success with congratulations also needing to go out to Bailey Stephens for winning the Junior Standards, Brock Bohdal for taking out the 4 Stroke Juniors and Max Black who won the Sub-Juniors final.

We’ll let creator Keats have the final word on the event.

“Well what an event!!! The inaugural Kids Royal went off with a massive hit.

Thank you to all our competitors and parents and guardians that helped it be what it was!

Thanks to all our traveling teams from Queensland, Tasmania, NSW, New Zealand and America!!!

is on offer and once again was there at the chequered flag to be crowned King of the Kids at the Royal.

I would like to thank all the officials that made the event possible it was an awesome effort by all.

But while Luke was leading the pack he didn’t have it easy as the top 7 drivers were bumper to bumper lap after lap and rarely put a foot wrong with such close and fast racing.

Turbo Todd martin crossed the line in second place right on the rear crash bar of Geering while Riley Amato (3rd ) had his hands full from USAUS Challenge Cup winner and pole sitter Luke Sievwright home in fourth. Luke Sevy also taking the fastest lap of the juniors at 14.5 just 0.3 of a second off the fastest Modifieds of Rachel Cooper and Graham Keats 14.2 in the final.

Thanks to the volunteers on quad bikes flags pit and grid marshals lap scorers canteen staff photographers announcers and any one that helped lend a hand throughout the event.

An especially big thank you to the YVSKC (Yarra Valley Speedway Kart Club) and committee for taking the event on board and taking the chance on something new.

Once again thank you to our American family And to our Kids Royal competitors what can we the Mattice’s. While Gator didn’t have the meeting we were hoping for he qualified through say but Wow !!! the second chance race and was involved in almost every incident on the track. Never wantWhat fantastic racing on a challenging track ! ing to give up Gator kept fighting through the Congratulations to who I think is Australia’s field only to find himself off the rear each time. greatest junior speedway karter of all time Luke Geering! Luke has won everything there

After the final caution Gator found himself in 16th place with 8 laps to go and worked his way up to 8th at the chequered flag.

To all our remaining Junior drivers thank you for the efforts you and your teams have put in to making this events successful one !

Lastly thanks the Drew Family and Avalon Raceway for allowing us the venue to hold the Kids Royal for 2016.

Hope to see you all and more back in May 2017 for the second running of the Kids Royal !!!

e l a n i F A R S S @ r a l u c a t c e Sp

n o s p Sim

Simpson speedway in rural South-West Victoria is a small, quaint, egg shaped speedway that could easily be overlooked as just another small time country venue where the locals come out and race their sedans before an audience of mainly friends and family.

But Simpson is “the little speedway that could”, running high profile events and providing some of the most exciting races ever seen while the cows graze in the surrounding paddocks.

Over the years this venue has produced some great racers such as the Rankin family, Mal, Rob, Tim, and Terry, Johnny Vogels, Jeff Judd, the Lock brothers Phil and Murray, David Cook, Darryl Nelson and many, many others across various divisions.

straight continues its downward direction until the tight radius and narrow turn three appears. The track then climbs quickly uphill to turn 4 and continues to rise over the hump towards the start-finish line and then starts to drop gently into turn one.

The tight nature of the small end and its uphill nature when addSimpson is a real drivers’ track with its egg shape added to an up and down hill nature. ed to 900 Running counter clockwise for most divisions horsepower Sprintcars means keeping the nose on the turn one and two is a much wider radius ground is extremely difficult. Throw in some corner that runs gently down-hill. The back

rain in the lead-up to the race and you’ve got a tacky clay track just waiting to test the best and thrill the crowd. Oh and the rain can also make the track a bit rough as if there wasn’t enough going on already.

go all out for the win and not have to worry about points racing. Milburn had been easily leading the previous SRA event until crashing out leaving Corey McCullagh to take his maiden Sprintcar feature win.

McCullagh was back but a pre-event back injury could hamper his speed especially when added to the rain affected track surface.

Local hero John Vogels is always tough at his home track and Warrnambool’s Darren Just before Mollenoyux is as quick as anyone but the Easter the man who showed them all how to get the SRA series elbows up and take the win was Warrnamheaded to bools Tim Van Ginnken.

Simpson for the finale of Driving the Harry Droste owned V36 Van the 2015/16 Ginneken demolished the opposition with Champion- an outstanding drive to take the win on a ship where wild hooked up race track that tested all the it would be drivers during the night giving the spectators a no holds plenty of action to watch and some of the best wheels stands seen for some time. barred event as Brett Milburn had already sealed the championship and could simply

Such was Van Ginneken’s performance in the main event he lapped the field up to sixth place and took the win from second placed Mollenoyux by over eleven seconds.

While Van Ginneken was in a league of his own in the Eureka A Main the battle between Mollenoyux, Milburn, McCullagh and Vogels raged all race long.

At the drop of the green Mollenoyux wasted no time to jump into the lead leaving Luke Walker in second place but it was not long before the action heated up when Vogels had the save of the season, his ride stood up on the right front wheel in turn three on the first lap and he somehow saved the car from rolling but he would lose eight positions by the time he crossed the line for the first lap.

One lap completed and the caution lights were when Walker hooked up down the main straight into a big wheel stand only to come down and hit Glen Sutherland that would put both drivers out of the race.

The attempted restart didn’t get a lap in when Dobson who was making an outside move on turn four was hit by another car

sending him into the wall and out of the race leaving fifteen sprintcars to complete the next twenty nine laps.

picked the pace up by over half a second per lap.

With Van Ginneken gone and lapping cars Mollenoyux was keeping his composure and Mollenoyux lead the restart from Van Ginholding a comfortable second place while the neken who had made ground on the first lap and with the demise of both Walker and action between Milburn, McCullagh, Lacey and Vogels excited the crowd and commenSutherland leaving him in the box seat to tators. With this battle going on Mollenoyux challenge Mollenoyux. was keeping just out of reach of these drivers. McCullagh who won the previous round Mollenoyux was in control trying to run a at Simpson wanted another podium finish conservative pace that was suitable for the hooked up track conditions that was getting when he moved past Milburn to take third a little rough, Van Ginneken was closing on place with twelve to go, Vogels was relentless in trying to take fifth place from Lacey the leader but the real interest was Vogels who was on his way back through the field to while Jacob Smith was now moving into the catch the trio of Milburn, Nick Lacey and Mc- picture.

Cullagh that were racing each other hard.

As the laps wound down back up front and Just over one third race distance and Molle- Van Ginneken was gone with over three noyux left a gap going into turn one and Van quarters of a lap lead from Mollenoyux but Milburn was not done yet and wanted third Ginneken didn’t require a written invitation to take to opportunity to go thru for the lead. place back from McCullagh, two to go and Milburn accomplished his mission to take Once in the lead Van Ginneken moved his car up track and poured on the coals on then third place back while Vogels demoted Lacey

to sixth place.

But on the night the best man won with a brilliant drive, Van Ginneken a clear winner

who just happened to pick up $5000 for his efforts from Mollenoyux, Milburn, McCullagh, Vogels fifth and the last car on the lead lap Nick Lacey home in sixth.

In victory lane celebrating his first Sprintcar major, Van Ginneken thanked car owners the Droste’s who were not on hand to watch their car race as they usually are. He then jokingly told the crowd that if anyone saw Harry (Droste) tell him the win was only worth a $1000.

Van Ginneken’s confidence however didn’t transfer over to the Easter trail but not long after that he headed west to drive the Steve Crabbe owned WA56 to the West Australian Sprintcar Championship at Kwinana, a track that is absolutely nothing like the Simpson egg.

Congratulations TVG.

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