Nyora Raceway held their latest race meeting on April the 1st and with five classes and three major events on the programme the crowd was treated to some sensational action from start to finish with Mildura’s Jake Drewett winning in Modified Sedans, Geelong’s Scott Whittle in Standard Saloons and Wonthaggi’s Owen Schnoor in the Mini Sprints.
Modified Sedans have a wonderful history in Nyora and still Nyora is the club with the second most registered cars in the class in Victoria and to have them run locally thrilled the fans cheering on the cars owned and driven by Wayne Ramsdale , Rusty Felsovary, Russell Bent and the Perry McCowatt owned racecar.
The Di Watson Memorial doubling as the Ramsdale Wreckers Cup was on offer and the driver who took to the track best was Jake Drewett winning first heat of the night with beautiful tip in’s into turn one.
Matt Nelson won the second heat from the prime pole position, with Drewett taking a win in the third heat. Brock Atkins then won the fourth heat before Daniel Simpson won the fifth and final qualifying run.
The fastest heat race was the third won by Drewett where every lap put down was less than seventeen seconds whilst Kye Walters in the fourth heat set the fastest one lap time in qualifying at 16.532 seconds.
Drewett made the perfect start in the twenty lap feature race and from there did everything he needed to do to put distance between he and the others fighting for position. Eventually last year’s winner Daniel Simpson realised the goose was cooked and he finished three and a half seconds behind Drewett at the chequered flag. Walters was third then Graham West and Russell Bent.
In Standard Saloon racing the Miles Mechanical supported Miles Cup is one of the major blue ribbon events for the class each season in Victoria as it honours the Miles family long associated with Nyora. Six qualifying races for the feature were won by Morwell’s Daniel Stewart, Bunyip’s Mitch Blencowe, Jacob Vuillermin with the fastest heat qualifying time in the third of 2 minutes 35.287 seconds, Nick Chrystie, Cameron Dike who recorded the fastest one lap time in qualifying with a 18.819, and then Chrystie won a second heat race putting him at the front of the field for the final.
Vuillermin took the early race lead over his front row starting race mate Chrystie. Dike was the first of the favourites to finish in the infield unable to continue whilst Whittle in a big V8 powered Ford soon assumed the lead from Vuillermin.
Other fancied racers such as Daniel Stewart and Dale Morrison ended up out of the race and Shane Ardley who put in a great run in the top three and four for much of the race also failed to finish. Whittle’s best one lap time in the feature would be the fastest for the class all night clocking a 18.643 on his way to a win over Vuillermin, Chrystie, Jay Dickson and Bradley Hill. Aaron Price won the Burson’s Automotive Hard Charger award moving closest to the front of the field from a number of positions back at the start of the race.
Mini Sprint racers were competing for the Geoff Moule Memorial to honour a man who had started a revolution with his race chassis for the class and was a long time Nyora member. Light and nimble, the Mini Sprints set lap times in the 15 second bracket consistently, however in heat three Andrew Burleigh put down a 14.844 to be the fastest in the qualifying rounds won by Brad Lowe the current Victorian Champion, Owen Schnoor and Burleigh. Lowe led home the fastest qualifying race with just 2 minutes and 5.448 seconds required to run eight laps.
The final over fifteen laps finished with a great result for the class as Owen Schnoor who had been knocking on the door for a feature win joined his father Darren on this season’s winners list taking the victory by just .472 of a second at the finish line ahead of Burleigh. Lowe was third then Darren Schnoor and Kyle Stathopoulos.
In the SDAV Hot Rod class competing for points in the Thunder Down Under series Jason May would chase down and pass Shannon Meakins to take the win with Stan Marco, Jamie May and Phil Jenkins rounding out the top five. Earlier picked up two of the three heat wins with Kali Hovey the other winner.
Early in the feature race Graeme Briggs made contact with the contract wall and his stricken car bounced back in front of the pack behind him and Hovey had nowhere to go and both racers finished there and then.
Lewis Williams won the Junior Standard Saloons ahead of Karsha-Rose Russell and Blake Smith.
Nyora returns on Sunday the 23rd of April with Dirt Modifieds the headline act, along with Ladies Wingless Sprints and club classes.
Nyora Raceway Inc also would like to thank their supporters for 16/17:
Ramsdale Wreckers Pakenham – Miles Mechanical Pakenham – Total Autos Pakenham – Tooradin Sports Club – Fun City Entertainment Complex – Moe Recyclers – ARP Earthworks – All Care Exhausts Pakenham – Bass Concreting – John Duff & CO, Shell – Omni Fluid Handling Solutions – Flatout Trailers & Fabrication – CBM Photography – Onsite Rental Group – Mornington Motors – Peninsula District Towing – Somerville Motor Body Works – EPH Construction – Fun City Sunshine – Yarra Valley Speedway Kart Club – Ultimate Awards – BAM Inspect & Build – Pakenham Accident Repairs – Phoenix Lubricants – BGN Auto Glass Pakenham – Cheap Tyres Morwell – QP Lubricants – Affordable Auto Salvage – Ripper Sticker – Kool Freighters – Taylor’d Fabrications – Russell Steel – Polish N Shine – Heartfelt Candles – Dandenong Pest Control – Narre Warren Flooring – ANZ Carpentry – Stephenson Transport
Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Nyora Raceway Inc