There was plenty of action at the Bairnsdale Speedway last Saturday night, with over 80 drivers competing, with three big events highlighting the evenings racing after over 50 millimetres of rain had soaked the track prior
to race day.
Damien Miller from Melbourne’s southeast took the win in the sports sedans series round final after his brother lost a wheel whilst leading, causing the final stoppage of the race.
Local ace, Mal Siely won yet another King of the Rock final in the limited sportsman, while Ella Sheedy from Bunyip won the latest ladies standard saloon series round, with Josh Thomas and Tyson Cull also amongst
the winners.
With 40 sports sedans on hand for the state series round, drivers arrived to see earth moving equipment busily trying to provide some sort of clay topped track for the night’s racing events. Volunteers had been working since 7am, and were busy right up to the scheduled 5pm start to provide a safe racing surface.
During the night, the grader came out twice more after a round of racing to continue to clean it up. Drivers were passing on that the track
was “two lane”, however it was a bit of a rough ride
with so much water in and under the clay.
Andrew Mitchell a winner in a junior title event less than 12 months earlier at Bairnsdale had a close victory in the first of 12 qualifying races for the sports sedans. Mitchell inherited the lead from David Donegan after his car shut down, holding out Jason Berger for the win. Heat two was difficult for many with Robert Garlick, Danny Cox, Josh Service, Shane Simpson, Michael Maninix and Broderick Stray amongst those that broke something during the race, with Ian Thomsen taking the victory. Rhys Meakins made exciting high side passes to win heat three and Brendan Miller smashed the field in heat four by more than eight seconds.
Simpson a casualty in round one losing a wheel with a broken front right end, came out to win heat two in a close finish with a terrific smile on his face. Jack Brennan not so smiley after a gentle rollover, where great effort from competitors in the pits helped get the car back on track for round three. Matt Shankland won a great battle next up with Harry Cecil, Damien Miller ran away from the field in the third heat of the round before his brother Brendan won a second
time in qualifying.
Donegan then won the opening heat race in round three in front of Cecil, before Brendan Miller became the only driver to win all three of his qualifiers, with Dale Smith picking up a close victory ahead of Shankland. Rounding out the third round of racing, Damien Miller won his second qualifier. Bradin Claridge, Cox, Tamika Simpson, and Marucs Griffith all made the transfer from the last chance qualifier into the feature race final.
The final (30 laps) featured 20 drivers, from as far afield as Rutherglen, Dederang, and Bendigo. When the green flag dropped, It was Damien Miller out of the blocks quickest and into the lead. On lap eight Brendan Miller made the pass on his brother assuming the control of the race.
Shankland was the first of the front runners to exit to the infield race car graveyard, and at lap 15 the Miller brothers sat first and second with Cecil, Donegan and Thomson in tow. Cars were being lapped continuously, and others were breaking just as fast and when Brendan Miller lost a wheel on lap 20 the officials pulled the pin with Damien Miller the winner form Cecil, Donegan, Smith and Nathan O’Brien.
Competition as always was hot in the King of the Rock for limited sportsman, an event that has been held for more than 35 seasons. Darren Adams would get the first win of the nights racing when he out gunned Victorian champion Craig Ansell. Tannah Lee in his rookie season of open wheel racing then took out the next two races, firstly ahead of Katelyn Worthy and then a last lap turn four pass on Siely.
It then looked very likely Tannah Lee would go on to win his first ever King of the Rock. He led the
first eight laps, however started slowing a little, a couple laps before pulling into the infield. It left the veteran, Siely to defeat Adams and Worthy.
In the Victorian ladies’ standard saloon state series, Sheedy had the best night possible. She clean swept the night, with three heat race wins and the feature win to top it all off. She won the 15-lap final in front of Bree Walker, Caroline Allen,
and Breanna Lee.
In support class racing Tyson Cull won all three races the open standard saloons, before winning the final by a massive margin ahead of Kieran Mills, Brodie Ardley, Blake Smith and Gus Argoon.
Whilst in division two hot rods, Trent Wilson won the first heat in his freshly purchased car, Beau Stuchbery won the second heat after his best mate Kyson Liversidge on his debut made for certain he got a mention in media by rolling his car over in turn one. In the final Stuchbery and Wilson were both leaders before suffering mechanical issues leaving Thomas to battle with Keven Stoopman, who was sent to the rear of field for causing a stoppage. He charged through the field to finish just behind Thomas with Andrew Cormack third in front of Craig Cormack.
Racing is on again this Saturday night with the Victorian SRA 360-LS sprintcar title supported by limited sportsman, division two hot rods, and junior
standard saloons.
