Motorsports fans from across the state the came to witness Horsham Motor Sports Club member, Mark McDonald, take the Victorian Limited Sportsman championship from the defending champion Mick Rizzoli of Ballarat.
Rizzoli and McDonald were the favourites from the start of the night. Rizzoli won all three of his heats, while McDonald won two heats to come a very close second the Minyip man Adam McKenzie.
The feature race was stopped early when Horsham driver Adrian Christian met with the wall in the first lap. Rizzoli lead most of the race with McDonald close behind him. McKenzie worked hard to push his Limited Sportsman into third position by lap 13.
The 30 lap race almost seemed decided, but quickly changed after lap 25 when McKenzie pulled in field with sparks and flames shooting from the rear of his car. With only one lap to go, the defending champion Mick Rizzoli met with the concrete wall and his hopes were dashed as his car was too damaged to finish the race.
Mark McDonald lead the remaining field of cars that had been whittled from 18 down to 10 for the last two remaining laps, followed by Kahn Aston in 2nd and Bowen Donkers in 3rd.
Retiring speedway veteran Kevin Baker, from Horsham, successfully finished the race in position 7 – the same number displayed on his race car.
Saturday night also saw the running of the Blue Ribbon Raceway Street Stock 1000. Street Stocks require minimal modifications of a normal going street car only for safety, are one of the few speedway classes that can race in either direction around a racetrack.
The South Australian brothers, Mark and Steve Gartner, lead the feature race that they had previously came first and second in only three years ago.
Steven Gartner lead the field for the first 15 laps around the track before the race was stopped and the field raced in the opposite direction. After the restart, Mark Gartner adapted quickly to the change of racing direction and won the race after 10 laps in the lead. Previous Australian Champion Robbie Faux from Mildura worked hard during the race to divide the South Australian brothers to take 2nd, Steve Gartner finished in 3rd and Horsham driver Luke James finishing in 4th.
The Robin Thomas Memorial V8 Truck also featured on Saturday night. The annual race was run for the second time in memory of the late Murra Warra man, Robin Thomas who was an instrumental member of the club since it found a new home at Kalkee. He also played an important part in the creation of the V8 Truck class.
The race was made quite memorable when Robin’s truck led the precession of race trucks around the track before the race began. Luke James who had only just finished 30 laps in his Street Stock won the race with Robin’s son, Dean Thomas, coming 2nd and Jaryd Carmen coming 3rd.
Support classes for the night were made very interesting when the local 3 Litre drivers raced against Modified Production Drivers getting some practice in before next week’s Victorian Title.
Visiting Queenslander, Rodney Pammenter in his Modified Production was dominant all night, but local Horsham drivers Graham Gerlach and Steve Ellis took turns in their smaller 3L Litre Sedans making the Pammenter work for his time out front of the field of ASCF Open Sedans.
Hamilton driver, Karen Ferguson was in tune with the track in the ASCF Ladies races winning two of the three races. HMSC member Emma Wilken and Alison Chrystie also did well with Emma winning one race and Alison earning a second position.
Blue Ribbon Raceway will feature it’s third Victorian Title race for the racing season when it hosts the Victorian Production Sedan Title on the 2nd of May.