Sport
19 May, 2023
Wimmera winner at Blue Ribbon
Submitted by Dean Thompson, DMT Sports Media for Horsham Speedway Drivers Club Wimmera’s number one entertainment venue the Blue Ribbon Raceway held their second-last weekend of racing for the season on Saturday night with a terrific turn out...
Submitted by Dean Thompson, DMT Sports Media for Horsham Speedway Drivers Club
Wimmera’s number one entertainment venue the Blue Ribbon Raceway held their second-last weekend of racing for the season on Saturday night with a terrific turn out.
Wingless Sprints were doing battle for the Wingless Classic, along with the Kev Baker Challenge for the Limited Sportsman, as the feature events.
Wingless Sprint car counts were large, and this meant three qualifying races happened in each round.
Kahn Aston from Mount Gambier was the first winner of round one, and a second South Australian, Sam Martin, won straight after.
Jeremy Pearson rounded out the first-round winners.
Cameron O’Brien won the opening second round qualifier, leading all the way before Horsham Motor Sports Club committee member Steven Hateley took victory in the fifth qualifier, and Normie Moore from South Australia claimed the last qualifier.
A last chance qualifier for those that did not accumulate direct feature race qualification during the heat racing was held, with Hamilton's Chris Ansell, South-west born and bred Jake Warren, Wimmera locals Robert Whiteside, Blake Walsh, Mark Hutchins and Tyler Bish finishing in the top six and making the big feature race.
Sam Martin led lap one before Hateley took control of the front of the field on lap two of the twenty lap final.
James Rodda from South Australia was an early exit from the race after qualifying in third spot.
Making his way through the field was Walsh, from the second-last grid of the 20-car field, and moving up on him with was Ansell.
As drivers like Marcus Fraser, Rick Bailey and Whiteside all exited the race, Hateley continued to lead.
At the chequered flag Hateley secured a home track driver victory by just .375 of a second, with Nate Trewin of South Australia coming in second place, followed by Jeremy Beddison - the last feature winner at Blue Ribbon Raceway and also a Wimmera local - then came Pearson and Walsh rounding out the top five.
Pre-event, Limited Sportsman Kev Baker Challenge favourite Nathan Baker pulled out due to injuries he was still recovering from, and handed the car over to Adam McKenzie.
With racing at Darlington cancelled for his other class of racing, South Australia's number two driver Dylan Aston arrived in the pits with his Limited Sportsman and started rear of the field for qualifying.
Dillon Siely from Bairnsdale claimed victory by a massive 10 second margin in the first qualifier before Wimmera racer Nathan McDonald pipped him at the post in the second, having passed him on lap seven of 10.
Anton then tore from the back of the field to the front in the final heat race, winning from McKenzie by almost six seconds.
With the Kev Baker Challenge turning the qualifying results upside-down and putting the top drivers at the back of the line-up for the feature race, top qualifier Dillon Siely began from last.
McDonald, Anton, Andrew Wilson (the last feature race winner at Horsham for the class), Troy Curran, Stephen Purchase, Thomas Baker, McKenzie, and Craig Ansell, from back to front was the line-up.
On lap six, Anton moved to the lead with Tom Baker in behind him and Ansell in third spot.
From there Anton was never headed as he went on to a big win, six seconds to the good, and claimed the prestigious victory in front of Baker, McKenzie, Wilson, and Curran.
Australian Motor Contest Association Nationals were in town and competing in a series event with a dozen cars arriving to do battle.
Heat race wins went to Neale Peachey, Rodney Bassett from Tasmania, and Paul Sullivan of Bacchus Marsh.
Justin Richardson, who has been a front runner all season, then won a hard fought feature event from Mildura’s Darren McCarthy, Sullivan, Peachey, and Garth Stevens in the 20-lap final.
The competition portion of the racing was rounded out by the V8 Trucks with benchmark Luke James taking a win in the first heat race, then the second and rounded that out with a third.
There was no stopping James all evening as he led every lap in the final to win by two -thirds of a lap ahead of Wes Bell, Steven Hateley, and Donald Timms.
Blue Ribbon Raceway returns for this season's final spin of the wheel on King’s Birthday weekend.
This weekend is Mick Fitzgerald Aggregate Weekend, honouring a former Horsham Club president. Wingless Sprints, Junior Sedans, Production Sedans, Limited Sportsman, and the Blue Ribbon Classic V8 Trucks and Vintage are all classes slated to compete across both days.