Motorsport fans headed back out to Kalkee and the Blue Ribbon Raceway on Saturday night (March 4th) for the latest high octane event headlined by the Pro-Sprints, Unlimited Sedans and Junior 1200 Sedans and were treated to a terrific night of racing. Daniel Storer from Portland was the winner in the Sprintcar series round whilst Corey McDonald travelled from the north east of Victoria to win the Unlimited Sedan final and Arthur Hutchinson was awarded the victory in the Junior 1200 Sedan feature event after a post-race disqualification.

Sprintcar action came by way of the Sprintcar Racing Association C & H Trucking Pro Sprints with cars that compete with mostly LS3 Chevrolet powered race engines. Ten competitors greeted the green flag for the first qualifier with David McKay from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne taking victory in the first race of the night ahead of Steven Horton and Domain Ramsay. Portland’s Daniel Storer took victory in the second qualifier from Matthew Symons and Eddie Lumbar from Deniliquin.

In the feature event of the evening Storer began from pole position with Jordan Rae alongside and it would be Rae to lead the first lap. Five lap’s in Rae led Storer from Ramsay, McKay and Sam Wren. At ten laps the top five places remained the same and again at the fifteen-lap mark. Symons moved into the top five and it took until the last lap of the race for Storer to pass Rae and snatch the race victory by just .292 of a second. Ramsay was third, from Wren and Symon’s.

Victorian Speedway Council Unlimited Sedan’s returned to the track for their second appearance of the season being the ‘Lucky Seven’s Series’ with local Wimmera racer Danny Smith keen to impress against the competition. Corey McDonald from Mount Beauty had other ideas though and he was the first to win one of the qualifying races on the way to the final defeating Smith in the race after Tim Williams had led the first six laps. Sean Lister then won the second qualifier.

In the final Lister led from the front row with McDonald working his way forward from deeper in the field. McDonald moved into the lead on lap six of fifteen and went on to win the race by six and a half seconds in the non-stop final with Lister second, Peter Farley third, Smith and then Anthony McKean.

Speedway Sedan’s Victorian Production Sedan action seen many Horsham locals up against visiting drivers from the Portland, Hamilton, Colac and Ballarat areas. Portland’s Ian Calderwood took victory in the first heat of the night before Stuey Robinson won the second race. In the feature race Robinson took the lead on lap three of the twelve lap race and went on to win ahead of Darren Pumpa, Heath Riley, Belinda Taylor and Dean Hughes with Hughes the first of the Horsham based finishers.

A small field of Compact Speedcars attended with Mark Cecil from the Goulburn Valley taking victory in the first qualifier and Trevor Perry taking the win in the second. Only three cars started the final and Perry took the victory in front of Cecil and Aaron Stubbs.

The Johnstone family members of the Horsham Motor Sports club had put together a feature event with support from local businesses for the Junior 1200cc Sedans. Support from Tom’s Custom Creations, Ricochets Run, Grayz Creations and J & D Cleaning Services allowed for awards and prizes for the competitors which included their own daughter Rebecca competing.

Bryce Leek who had travelled via Wangaratta and then South-East Melbourne won the first heat race with Arthur Hutchinson from Hoppers Crossing the second. Leek then again won the third and final qualifying race prior to the feature event.

The Junior final was set up to be a terrific race with twelve competitors including six boys and six girls. Leek from the front row took the lead from lap one with Rebecca Johnstone the local racer the first car to pull infield disappointingly for local fans. Leek led Hutchinson, Riley Taylor, Chase Doherty and Ella Sheedy at the five lap mark.

Riley Taylor was first of the favoured competitors to exit the race and at lap ten Leek was leading Hutchinson, Doherty, Libby Ahearn and Dayne Murdoch. Hutchinson passed Leek briefly on lap eleven only for the lead to change straight back with Leek first past the flag on the final lap of the race followed by Hutchinson, Doherty, Ahearn and Murdoch.

Unfortunately, the race ended with the initial winner Leek disqualified by the stewards team from the finishing results. Hutchinson was awarded the win ahead of Doherty, Ahearn, Murdoch and Elizabeth Flavell.

Racing returns on the 22nd of April with Wingless Sprints, V8 Trucks, F500’s Stampede Series, JSPA Junior Sedans, Production Sedan’s and Limited Sportsman.

Horsham Speedway Club would like to acknowledge the following club supporters;
Ace Radio Network
Burson Auto Parts Horsham
Bondy’s Contractors
Bigham Truck Repairs
Carman’s Towing and Windscreens
Crop Opti
Dooen Hotel
Horsham Auto Wreckers
Horsham Injector Service
Johnsons Merchandise
Mick Harrison Signs
Millers
Petrogas Horsham
Simpson Fire Motorsport Safety
Westonvic Waste
Wilken Group
Wimmera Bakery Dimboola
Wimmera Bearings
Wimmera Mail Times
Wimmera Security Service

Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Horsham Motor Sports Club

Photos courtesy of Tanyas Speedway Photography

Blue Ribbon Raceway will open 2023 with a double header starting on Friday the 6th of January. For the first time the Club will host the Wingless Sprint Summer Slam opening night, in conjunction with the Formula 500 Dash for Cash. This is a three consecutive night series for both classes with Round 2 held at Simpson Speedway on the Saturday and the final night held at Premier Speedway Warrnambool, all three nights will be supported by the Junior Formula 500.

An annual series run on the first weekend in January every year, and big prizes up for grabs, this normally produces a large amount of cars for some very competitive racing in both classes.

On Saturday the 7th, the club will play host to the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series, Limited Sportsman, VSC Sports Sedans and Production Sedans. The 410ci Sprintcars are sure to put on a great show, with bigger engines than the 360ci Sprintcars that raced at our season opener, the lap times are sure to be quicker and the racing harder as the fight for the overall win for the night.

Limited Sportsman once again return to Blue Ribbon Raceway to compete in this seasons series that is ran at multiple venues in the western part of Victoria. The suport classes will be Production sedans, and for the first time the VSC Sports sedans.

Both days of racing are sure to be full of thrills and spills. Lets hope the weather plays in our favour, as it is still playing havoc on some venues and classes this season.

We look forward to seeing you trackside for two hard nights of racing.