There was plenty of action at the Bairnsdale Speedway last Saturday night with the stars of the show being Bryce Leek and Dennis Jones, who went home with state titles.
Leek, at 16 years old, has cemented himself as a star of the future in adult aged speedway after securing back-to-back junior 1200cc sedan and junior sedan state titles, while Morwell’s Jones, if he had not already done so, secured legend status in Victorian Speedway Council (VSC) sprintcars as he snared his fifth title.
Along with the terrific state title action, local young gun Beau Stuchbery won his first open aged standard saloon feature event, Tannah Lee won his first junior standard saloon final, Bree Walker continued her dominance in ladies’ standard saloon racing and Travis Ramsdale, the Victorian champion in unlimited sedans, continued setting records and racking up wins.
Six heat races were held in the VSC junior 1200cc sedan Victorian title with Leek continuing his winning ways after recently winning the junior standard saloon title victory at the Granite Rock circuit.
He took the first heat, setting an eight-lap record along the way, which will take some beating at future events.
Andrew Mitchell from Hampton Park secured a close hard-fought victory in heat two holding out Xander Baxter, the number two ranked racer in the field and Riley Taylor, the number three ranked racer.
Brad Marshall from Lysterfield won the third heat leading Chase Doherty all the way, with Will Fallon finishing in third.
It took until lap four for Leek of Barnawartha in Victoria’s northeast to hit the front in heat four, beating Mitchell and Ryder Taylor of Drouin.
Riley Taylor from Carrum Downs drove from deep in the field to take a win in the fifth heat race in front of Baxter and Brody Barton with Leek secured a clean sweep of heat racing, defeating Sheedy and Marshall in the last qualifier.
Off the front row in the final Marshall led Leek for the first four laps of 20 before Leek took over the race lead, Mitchell holding down third spot with Riley Taylor, Baxter and Doherty involved in early battles for track position.
Will Fallon was out of the race early as was Blake Beach, two drivers, many thought capable of a top five result.
The race would see, 11 starters go on to finish on the lead lap when the chequered flag fell, Leek finishing almost four seconds ahead of the runner-up Mitchell, followed by Baxter and Marshall who experienced late race dramas.
In the VSC Sprintcar title action, Adam Greenwood from Maffra stormed to the front quickly in the first heat and went on to secure victory ahead of Jones and Alistair Bastian from Ellaswood.
Jones then led every lap of the second heat race to defeat defending champion Nigel Laity, of Wiseleigh, and Koby Noonan.
Bacchus Marsh racer and former state champion Steven Horton defeated popular local Dillon Siely in heat three with Greenwood finishing in third spot.
With Bastian leading all the way in the final heat to secure victory in front of Travis Millar and Noonan.
A 35-lap title race awaited competitors with Greenwood and Jones starting at the front of the field with Millar, Bastian, Horton
and Noonan rounding out the top six starters. Greenwood shot to the front when the green flagged drop to start the race with Jones, Millar, Bastian and Siely amongst the lead pack.
Positions started to change around when drivers reached the 15-minute mark of the race with Greenwood leading Millar, Jones, Bastian and Siely.
At the 25-lap mark Greenwood led Siely, Jones, Noonan, and Horton with Greenwood looking to be on track to secure the big win.
On lap 33 however, Jones passed Siely and on the final lap he passed race leader Greenwood on the very last corner, allowing Jones to secure title five, finishing ahead of Greenwood, Siely, Noonan and Horton.
In the unlimited sedans competition in a state series round, Anthony McKean was declared winner of heat one despite Travis Ramsdale crossing the line first.
A penalty put Ramsdale back behind McKean, Troy Hutchison and Peter Farley.
Ramsdale bounced back quickly, setting an eight-lap record in the second heat on his way to victory in front of Farley and Peter Camilleri.
There was more of the same in heat three with Ramsdale winning by a huge margin ahead of McKean and Hutchison.
Ramsdale then set a 15-lap track record for the class winning the final ahead of Farley, McKean, Camilleri and Hutchison.
The standard saloons saw all important club points up for grabs for the local drivers, heat one saw longtime Bairnsdale member Jamie Curtis defeated one of the newer members of the club Gus Argoon, with Jack Braz third.
Jack Braz moved further up the field in the second heat, winning from Tyson Bretherton, his best race result to date in his short career, with Ashley Cormack was third.
Jack Braz led every lap of heat three to claim a win ahead of Beau Stuchbery and Andrew Cormack.
Curtis secured a second qualifying victory in the final heat race when he once more defeated Argoon with Ashley Cormack third.
In the final Curtis, Jack Braz, Stuchbery, Argoon, Ashley Cormack and Troy Cormack began as the lead six with Curtis leading lap one and two, before Stuchbery moved to the front.
Braz followed Stuchbery past Curtis before Curtis moved ahead of Braz and then out of the race the very next lap around the halfway mark.
Stuchbery went on to win his first adult aged final from Ashley Cormack, Tyson Bretherton, Braz whom had been penalised two places by stewards and Noah Greaves.
Junior standard saloons racing started with Cooper Joynson crossing the finishing line after being in the lead only to be penalised two spots by stewards, giving the v
ictory to Dyclan Sweet in front of Tyler McDermott.
Kaine Smith led every lap to win the second heat race in front of Tom Braz and McDermott, with Tannah Lee also leading every lap to secure a win in the third heat race.
Rounding out their night in the final, McDermott led from lap one with Kaine Smith and Joynson trailing.
From lap nine Lee put his foot down and on the final lap moved from third to first taking a terrific victory over McDermott, Johnson, Sweet and Braz.
Rounding out the nights action was the ladies’ standard saloon class with Elise Halliday getting away to a terrific start for the evening taking a four second victory in the first heat, ahead of Kate Stuchbery and Bree Walker.
Bouncing back quickly, Walker whose been quick this season in just her first season of open aged racing, claimed heat two from Simone Taylor and Stuchbery.
The three drivers went at it again in the third heat race with the result exactly the same, Walker, Taylor and Stuchbery.
Walker led every lap in the final, winning from Halliday, Taylor, Stuchbery and Breanna Lee.
Bairnsdale Speedway action returns on March 30 with the wingless sprints Gary Bowden Cup over 50 laps and the compact speedcars Keith Astrella Memorial.
