Corey McCullagh, Jay Dickson and Trent Susol showed off their commensurate skills before a packed house at Redline Raceway Saturday night February 4th for the big double feature of the return of the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series and the prestigious Chivers Memorial for Standard Saloons.
On a hot afternoon that turned into a beautiful evening, the near capacity crowd were witness to a packed program of 30 hard and fast action packed events.
Wary of killing off the track surface in the afternoon heat, the club elected to run all the heats for the Standard Saloons and Open Sedans and a brief hot lap session for Sprintcars before unleashing the 900 horsepower winged wonders later in the program. As a result the track held up extremely well with very little maintenance – credit to the hard working track preparation team.
Round 10 of the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar series had helped drag the huge crowd in and after some bruising heats it was last round winner Corey McCullagh who became the first repeat victor of the season beating home Tim Van Ginneken and pole sitter Brad Warren in the Bruce Stephens entry.
McCullagh struggled early on but the top six time trial proved pivotal.
“I’m glad we ran that time trial because I was able to try a few things and they worked.” Explained McCullagh. “Prior to that we were a little ordinary.”
For Van Ginneken it was a solid result and with Glen Sutherland hitting the wall and failing to finish, Van Ginneken now holds the series points lead.
Warren was a little disappointed with third place having started on pole and winning the first start, only for a caution to fly and for McCullagh to get the jump on the next attempt but for Warren it was a great result who stated “After tearing up a couple of cars this season, third is like a win for us.”
Things got off to a bad start when Adam King spun in front of the pack in the first corner of the first heat and Matt Reed rolled in the pile-up that followed. From there, other than David McKay hitting the pit gate wall, things went pretty smoothly for the Sprintcars.
The other major event was the Chivers Memorial for Standard Saloons and the final proved to be a beauty and after winning the pole via the pole shootout, Nyora’s Brad Hill bowed to the crowd’s pressure and took the $300 to start at the rear from where he raced back to a seventh place finish from twenty second. Another caution may have made a huge difference.
Non-the-less the action was still frantic at the front with Micheal Ardley leading Scott Whittle in the confederate Charger until Ardley started to fade back through the pack. Whittle took over at the front and looked solid until Jay Dickson found his rhythm and rocketed to the lead which he maintained until the end with Whittle holding second ahead of Jacob Vuillermin, Shane Stewart, Brendan Eames, Ardley and Hill.
Dickson, Hill (2), Cathal McCaughey, Hayden Clifford, Whittle (2), Ardley and Stewart won the heats while John Barwise scored the B-Main win.
Open Sedans became the domain of the V8 Powered ex Super Sedans with Susol getting the win after Sean Lister’s car failed following a restart. Lucas Conder brought his hard driven six cylinder Commodore home second just ahead of Henry Barron in the aging ex Des Birkin Corvette.
Gordon Angus added to the spectacle when he rolled around 2/3rds race distance.
Susol, and Lister both scored two heat wins each while Corey Knox, and Conder won the others.
Belmont Speedway Drivers Club thanks the following supporters:
Ipta Fibreglass – Spencer Race Engines – Trax Racewear – A.Y Electrical – Hennessy Transport – Dean Miller Photography – Rock Solid Productions – Bryant’s Sales & Service – I C Weeds & Gardening Geelong – Automotive Suspension Ballarat – Australian Racing Products – Whitehorse Truck Centre – United Forklift & Access Solutions – Lister Automotive – Revolution Racegear – SPW Engineering – Allsport Trophies – Steve Forte Metal Fabrications – S.D Canvas – Johnny Dyno Engines – Metowu Mechanical Services – Motorsport Hauler – Pedder’s Suspension – Norman Street Automotive – Duo Mobile – Burson Autoparts – BMS Automotive – UBC Web Design – Bulleen Towing – WBW Metal Fabrications – Dann’s Auto Wrecking – Jeff’s Auto Detailing – Autoparts Professionals – Leejay Trailers – IG & JL Greville – FMP Group – True Design Homes – Cylinder Head Shed – Natrad Ballarat – PP Designs – Power FM
Written by
Brett Swanson
DMT Sports Media
For Belmont Speedway Drivers Club t/a Redline Raceway