PHOTO: M&L Speedway Photography
Speedway fans came out in force on Saturday night to Kalkee’s Blue Ribbon Raceway to see the return of the Eureka Sprintcars.
Over 1500 people flocked to the quarter mile dirt track north of Horsham to see the “Big Banger” Sprintcars race the 14th round of the Eureka Garages & Sheds series.
It was the first time in six years since the Sprintcar Racing Association raced at Blue Ribbon Raceway and this time they brought their 410 cubic inch V8s.
Dennis Jones of Hazelwood, showed the field how in the first heat with an impressive win. He was almost five seconds faster than ACT driver David Mckay, and 10 seconds faster than and Brendan Scogie of ACT in third.
In the second heat the Tasmanian Tim Hutchins dominated in front of Rod Matthews of Ballarat and Tim Van Ginneken of Warrnambool in second and third position respectively.
PHOTO: M&L Speedway Photography
Sam Wren of Ballarat just got home in the third heat narrowly in front of Jordyn Charge of Melbourne and Brett Milburn of Mornington.
Even closer was the fourth heat when Brayden Parr of Melbourne, passed the finish line only one tenth of a second quicker than Correy McCullagh of Warrnambool and Jacod Smith of Allansford.
The ‘A Main’ Feature race starting positions were decided with Parr and Hutchins leading the field after the top six ‘shoot out’ time trial. The ‘B Main’ race decided the rear of the field with Van Ginneken claiming the win and current series championship leader Milburn following.
Hutchins displayed his intentions early on the field during the ‘A-Main’ earning the ‘holeshot’ being the first into the turn. Within five laps he was beginning to lap his competition with Parr and Jones following closely behind following his every move.
Parr tried every racing line to catch-up to Hutchins and had an exciting 17th lap when he scrapped the length of the wall on the home straight with sparks flying.
Parr got even closer to Jones in the following lap and Hutchins responded by pushing harder to keep his lead and ‘wheel standing’ the length of the back straight.
It almost looked like the 30 lap race would go without incident, but with seven laps to go, Charge and David Aldersley of Altona had a coming together that allowed the field to regroup under a yellow light.
Hutchins drove away from the pack when the race restarted with seven laps to go and would race the remaining laps of the race uncontested to claim the win. Jones placed second and Parr in third.
Supporting the event was the Blue Ribbon Raceway V8 Trucks. Horsham’s Luke James once again dominated the field winning three of the four heats. Fletcher Mills also of Horsham drove hard to hold out ‘Redda’ in the third heat, to be the only other V8 truck victor of the night. Mills also claimed 2 second positions and a third while Horsham’s Tim Driller was consistent earning a second place and 3 third positions.
James also raced in the Street Stocks and deserved two heat race victories. Visiting driver Wade Fell from Mildura followed James all night earning 2 second positions. He finally got a break in the third heat race to interrupt James and claimed a win. Horsham’s Jamie Collins was consistent placing third in all three heat races. The final race was won by James followed by Fell in second and Collins in third.
PHOTO M&L Speedway Photography
A mid week cancellation of speedway racing at Hamilton gave Blue Ribbon Raceway an opportunity to host the Three Litre Sedans. Daylsford’s Will Lamb once again governed the field, only once being beaten by Lennie Clarke of Bendigo. Clarke intruded Lamb’s dominance to take the second heat win. Mick Boyle claimed a second and a third position in the heat races. Ballarat’s Zac Swanson was also reliable claiming 2 third positions.
The final race was raced over 15 lap was won by Lamb followed by Clark in second and Boyle in third.
Racing returns to Blue Ribbon Raceway on April 29th featuring Formula 500’s and Super Rods.