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THE Victorian Modified Sedan Title will be held this weekend at Horsham’s Blue Ribbon Raceway.
Thirty cars have nominated for the event including defending champion Aidan Raymont and the best of the best of the Victorian Modified Production Association.
Raymont took out the T-Bar Nationals event held at Toowoomba on the weekend and is coming into the Title in good form.
Continue reading Modified Sedans Descend on Blue Ribbon Racewayby Mark Cowin
Horsham Motorsports Club is proud to announce the running of the Modified Sedan Victorian Title at Blue Ribbon Raceway proudly sponsored by Horsham Auto Wreckers on April 6.
After the hugely successful Australian Title held at the raceway last season the club was pleased to be offered the chance to hold the title at the last minute after issues with another Victorian facility and in a very short time had secured sponsorship to hold the event.
With nominations in excess of 30 competitors coming from across Australia to compete for this prestigious title including current Victoria 1 Aiden Raymont coming down from Queensland to try to hold onto his crown. After a long and busy season the ‘mods’ have put in a ton of laps at tracks across the country and it has taken a toll on some of the cars but all the teams are working overtime to be ready. With Raymont wanting to hold onto his title and any number of challengers aiming to bring the title back to its home, with issues at the last round of the VMPA series the cars of Daniel Simpson, Matt Gerlach and the super fast little LJ Torana of Graham West have had a lot of shed time to iron out the wrinkles from various bumps and bangs but have all got their eyes on the target. Not to be outdone the cars of Micheal Hayden, Aaron Bunton and Kye Walters, are not to be ignored.
With the absence of the winner of the final round and the Di Watson Memorial at Premier Speedway, David Smith, due to family commitments the field will again be wide open. The controversy of the final being shortened by nine laps still leaving questions among the drivers that will be settled at the drop of the checkered flag at Blue Ribbon Raceway.
Following on from the success of the Australian Title last season Horsham Motorsports Club has put a lot of effort into finding sponsors for the event and the business community has come to the party with the event being predominantly fully sponsored and with the support of the speedway community it will be a huge night of racing.
Also on the program will be the Victorian Mini Sprints and Production Sedans. The mini sprints are virtually smaller versions of the popular Sprintcars but powered by motorbike engines and with their size and low weights they can get around the race track as quick as any of the other classes.
The Production Sedan competitors have had a long season showcasing the best drivers in the class with seasoned drivers and rookies running bumper to bumper with basically stock and equal cars depending on skill and nerve and will, as usual, put on a spirited display for the local fans on what will be a big night of racing for all classes.
by Mark Cowin
Extreme temperatures ahead of Saturday nights action did not phase the enthusiasm of Blue Ribbons regular fans and competitors alike with the running of the Robin Thomas Memorial for V8 trucks, the Les McMaster memorial for Limited Sportsman and the return after more than two decades of the SDAV Hotrods.
The extreme weather pushed the track crew to the limit and the clubs decision to push the start time back for the safety of the competitors and fans alike and gave the crew more time to prepare the surface. The positive attitude of the drivers was bought out in a comment, “its dirt not blacktop lets give them a show”, and that’s what they did.
Limited Sportsman
With the prestigious Les McMaster Memorial on the line Sportie drivers were focused on the goal from the drop of the flag and with the challenging conditions of the night it was going to be survival of the fittest. Two fields of sporties were split into three heats each and with previous winners Mark McDonald and Jock Baker aiming at taking the trophy home it was not going to be easy with Adam Mckenzie, Craig Ansell and Travis Matthews showing good speed.
In the heats Baker showed a clean pair of heels to the field taking the win in all three of his heats without giving up the lead at any time and showing how to set up his car on a track that was hard for the low slung cars to get around. McDonald was not to be denied taking a second and a first before secoming to a flat tyre in the third heat and a DNF. McKenzie and Aston took the remaining heat wins to put the question mark on the final.
After a track resurfacing the drop of the flag saw the SA 1 of Baker get the holeshot on the field with the cars of McKenzie and Aston in pursuit. With Baker moving further ahead the racing in the midfield became intense with positions changing continually until lap 7 when the 74 of Stevens dropped from the race followed by the 13 of Carpenter on lap 10 and the 27 of Matthews in the final laps. Jock Baker took a convincing win over a fast finishing Adam McKenzie and Mark McDonald finishing a close third from a start in the mid field.
V8 Trucks
Robin Thomas’s legacy with Blue Ribbon Raceway is long and varied and the V8 trucks was one of them, truck drivers in the club look to this as the high point of their season and with new trucks coming into the class the competition was intense.
With the drop of the flag in the first heat it wasn’t long before Luke ‘Redda’ James took his usual position up high on the wall at the head of the field and Wes Bell and Nathan Bird in pursuit until the truck of Bird suffered engine issues and was out for the night. The second heat saw James again running high and taking the win in a green white chequer finish over a fast finishing Fletcher Mills and Brendan Jackson making for an interesting third heat and final. Heat three was one of the best fought races in recent meetings with Fletcher Mills in the 44 and James in the 57 trading paint and positions all race long with James taking the win with a low pass over Mills followed by Bell in the 22. The final of the Thomas Memorial looked to be a barn burner and James took the lead over Mills, Bell. Entering turn two the truck of James took a right turn and hit hard into the wall and suffered a broken steering box and was out for the night, a very rare occasion for Redda. On the restart Mills and Bell battled as did Jackson and Carman changing positions throughout the race. Mills took the win over veteran Bell with Carman in third ahead of Jackson.
SDAV Hot Rods
With over two decades passing since the last visit of the SDAV to Blue Ribbon Raceway competitors and club members were excited at seeing these cars on the wide open spaces of the speedway. After their Victorian title in Bairnsdale the week prior the members had a lot of work before getting to Horsham and new Victorian 1 Stan Marco Snr wanted to stay out in front of the pack. Heat races saw the 84 of Shannon Meakins take a flag to flag win in a car that was not rebuilt until 9am Saturday morning before making the trip after a big roll over in the title followed by Stan Marco Snr and Jnr taking the minors. Heat two saw Stan Snr take the lead on lap 3 from Phil Jenkins and held the lead to win over Stan Jnr and Shannon Meakins. Stan Marco Jnr, showing the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with a flag to flag win over the hard charging Meakins and Stan Snr chasing the duo home for a strong third. The final for the hot rods again looked to be very tight with Meakins and Stan Marco Snr battling wheel to wheel for the entire race with some extremely close passes right to the flag with Marco Snr taking the narrowest win over Meakins followed by Stan Marco Jnr, Kali Hovey, Phil Jenkins and Russ Hovey in a great return to Blue Ribbon.
Production Sedans
Production sedans had a run at the track in the paddock sponsored by Alice Mobile Car Detailing, with local driver Ryan Queale wanting to prove his mettle in front of the home fans. With Australia 2 Dehne Sparrow in the field it was going to be a hard ask for the competitors and it came to pass with Sparrow taking two heat wins and a second and winning the final. Adam Wilson took the win in the third heat but did not finish the final with Shane Hammond in second Zak Calderwood in third and Queale a creditable fourth place in a great effort.
Horsham Motorsports next meeting will be held on April 6th proudly featuring the Victorian State Title for Modified Production Sedans and support classes.
by Mark Cowin.
Blue Ribbon Raceway will come alive on Saturday night with Open Wheel action and celebration as Horsham Motorsports Club hosts the Les McMaster Memorial for Limited Sportsman and the Robin Thomas Memorial for V8 trucks supported by the SDAV Hot Rods Production Sedans and Street Stocks.
Limited Sportsman
Limited Sportsman drivers from across the state will converge on the Kalkee track in search of a win in the prestigious Les McMaster Memorial that has previously been won by Jock Baker and Mark McDonald among others and both have shown great support for the event and have battled hard over the years to take the victory. Both drivers are nominated and will be sure to battle again for the trophy that personifies the class that Les had a hand in progressing until his passing and the legacy that the trophy brings to the class. Not to be out done by the guys newcomer Katelyn Worthy and Jenny Godfrey will be trying to show that they can give as well as the guys and will be out to prove that point.
V8 Trucks
Horshams own V8 trucks will again be out in force to compete hard for the Robin Thomas Memorial trophy on the wide open spaces of the Track in the Paddock, and they need it. Celebrating Robin Thomas, a stalwart of the club over many years as a Jack of all trades and a, I’ll get it figured out, type of guy and a man that held many positions within the club, from a volunteer to President and grader driver to V8 truck driver these guys have shoes to fill, big ones. With Luke ‘Redda’ James, Fletcher Mills and Wes Bell all keen to secure the win the field will be spread track wide all race with Redda on the high line as usual wearing the paint off the wall and a flock of screaming V8’s in close pursuit. For those that have not seen these trucks in action it is a sight to see these drivers wrestling the big race trucks around the circuit.
SDAV Hot Rods
After an absence of over two decade the SDAV hot rods are returning to Kalkee to become reacquainted with the wide long track and will definitely put on a great show. With names such as Marco, Hovey, Jenkins, Meakins and West, names that show a long lineage in hot rods, in the line up for their Thunder Down Under series the long history of this club can not be denied. Only one driver in the current crop can claim any racing knowledge of the track and that is Phil Jenkins who has been racing ‘hot rods’ since the earliest days and throughout the transition to today’s high tech machines from the backyard racers of yesteryear. Beginning in the early 50’s the ‘A Grade’ hot rod has grown from a cut up 30’s model Ford or similar car using side valve V8’s through the years to 6 cylinder and finally small block V8’s today. The Hot Rod was the catalyst for many other forms of racing including Sprintcars and Super Rods of today and are a light weight version of the Heavy Hot Rod more commonly seen in the West of Victoria and South Australia. After his victory in the State Title last weekend, Stan Marco Snr, who’s Father also Stan Snr dominated hot rods through the 70’s and 80’s, will be looking to continue his winning ways on Saturday night. There will be 4 Marco cars in the line-up on Saturday night. A unique feature of the appearance of the SDAV cars will be the use of an original restored SDAV car from 1973 as a pace car for the night. This car ran against many of the drivers in Saturdays meeting driven by Maurie Moss throughout Southern Australia and is a great contrast to today’s cars. It is still demonstrating on track and owned and driven by Leanne Shanks and Mark Cowin of Beulah who restored the car.
Production Sedans
Proddies will be making an appearance with a nice field in what has been a very busy schedule racing across the state for these teams. After a hectic Title held at Hamilton recently and the absence of the interstate and intrastate teams this could be the time for the locals to shine. Sophomore driver Ryan Queale has shown promise this season with some nice finishes and tempered with some dissapointment getting tangled up in other cars issues, Ryan is more than determined to put on a good showing for his legion of local supporters. Team Queale has put together a very professional squad with their team uniforms and dad Shaun is doing his best keeping the car pointed in the right direction as well as, of course, keeping other teams cars on track as is the family atmosphere of the class. Ryan will have to contend with the teams of Sparrow, Calderwood and Wilson among others that will keep him honest. Street Stocks will also be putting on a good showing in their own way with tight and very entertaining racing that will have the fans on their feet all night.
by Mark Cowin
Horsham Motorsports Club’s first foray into the world of competitive tractor pulling drew one of the largest crowds seen at the Kalkee facility in recent seasons.
With a week of clear weather allowing the volunteer crew to build and prepare the specially built racing surface to the specifications of the Down Under Tractor Pulling Association the scene was set for a fantastic day of pulling. Saturday morning dawned cool and a brief but significant rain shower fell on the speedway grounds sending the track crew out again to remove any standing water from the track surface and to build a third track to ensure great conditions for pulling.
First out on the track were the vintage tractors some of which were unhooked from farm equipment that morning and given a scrub up and trucked directly to the track while some of the restored tractors were given a polish and set loose. Some of these old machines were completely stock while other had been tinkered with and turbochargers and fuel systems which were tuned for better performance. There were two classes, under 100hp and over 100hp and all the tractors ran three heats and it was great to see these competitors actually getting their front wheels off the ground as the sled pulled them to a stop. One of the highlights was the appearance of Graham Pickering in his Pietsch 4WD 871 powered beast which, with the concrete wall being the thing stopping him, would have probably kept going until he hit the Murray River. As this is a non competition event no measurements were taken but full pull of 100mtrs and more were made by many of the tractors.
Modified events got underway and were run on two of the three tracks which kept the officials and track workers very busy as the track needed to be smudged or smoothed out after each run. Pro Stock Open tractors had two competitors in the event, the Cornfoot brothers Norm and Brendan both finding the going hard with mid to three quarter track runs and Brendan not making a third run giving Norm the win on the day and closing in on the season lead.
Pro Stock tractors saw the local crew of Hicks and Wilkens with Red Devil driven by Chris Hicks against Old Smoke driven by Ainsley Magee both make three pulls with Red Devil taking a commanding win which included a massive pull of 112.581 on its third pull and keeping it well ahead in the season standings.
The big bangers of the Open class saw the three engined Plum Crazy pitted against the mighty four engined Coyote. Unfortunately Coyote suffered a gear box issue and was not able to compete in the first two pulls which saw Plum Crazy and Doug Williams pull a 113mtrs in the second of their three pulls. After battling all night to get back on track Coyote hooked and the sound of 8000+ HP rang around the track, unfortunately it all came to an end at half track when a fuel fire engulfed the left rear engine and driver Peter Mann shut down and the fire was extinguished and Peter, unharmed, but dissapointed to not be able to put on the show for the fans, Coyote still has a commanding lead on the season and promised to be back next time.
Super Modifieds put on some of the closest racing on the night with David Cornfoot on $crap Value and Matt Reeves on Disorderly Conduct swapping wins. With $crap Value taking the first pull by less than a metre and both full pulls Disorderly conduct took the second and $crap Value the third and taking the win by 7 mtrs and keeping the season lead by a small margin.
Limited Modified saw almost half their pulls over the 100mtr full pull mark with Shillberite taking the win with two full pulls over Full Throttle with one full pull and Flat Stick with a full pull and a 99.263 close in third Full Throttle retaining top spot on the season followed by Shillberite and Flat Stick.
In Two Wheel Drive trucks Sudden Impact and Chilli Town Thunder battling all night with the full pull of the Land Cruiser, Sudden Impact, helping take the win and retain top spot in the standings.
Over on the Mini Track Mini Modified, Super Mini Mods, Outlaw and Open minis showed thats it not all about size. These tractors may be small in stature but with fuel injected, super charged and normally aspirated V8 engines they are a sight to be seen and the action was intense.
With three runs in the mid 90’s Little Willey took the win over 2 Tuff, Set The Sled and within 8 mtrs of each other and the unfortunate Mid Life Crisis who had the misfortune to lose the front right wheel mid run on the third pull. Little Willey retains the season lead handily over Set The Sled.
Super Mimi Modified were represented by Success 11 driven by John Cameron with three strong pulls and retaining the season lead.
Outlaw Minis saw four competitors who had a tough go at it with only Stampede and Blown Income making three pulls the best being Blown Income with a 99.727 in his third run. After missing his first pull, Tommy’s Toy finished big with a 103.414 on his third pull and Russell Palmer in Stone Cold had a blower backfire that locked his engine causing it to make, in his words, some not nice sounds. Stampede holds a slim lead over Blown Income in the standings.
Rough Justice had three pulls in the Open Mini Class including a mighty 113.767 to keep the top spot this season in this class.
The large crowd showed their appreciation by staying throughout the evening and many made their way to the pits and onto the infield of the speedway which was a feature of the venue to allow fans to get up close to the tractors and talk to the drivers. There was a positive response from the participants and the fans and even the early morning rain and the wind, that cleared out for a beautiful evening, did not dampen the enthusiasm of all involved. The Down Under Tractor Pull Association has stated they will be back next year.
