History will be made this Saturday night at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway when both the open and 360Ci Sprintcar titles will be decided on the one exciting night. For the first time ever the venue will complete an all Sprintcar program with a pair of titles on the line at the completion of time trials, heats races, dash events and the championship finals.
“We definitely wanted to have the open (410Ci) Victorian Sprintcar title this year and then when the option came up to host the 360Ci title we jumped at it,” said Avalon’s Jeff Drew.
Despite looking and sounding the same, the 360 Sprintcars produce slightly less horsepower than their 410Ci counterparts yet the racing produced is generally just as exciting. Over 35 cars will contest the open title featuring drivers such as defending champion Tim Rankin and former winners Matthew Reed, John Vogels and Stephen Bell.
“A strong field will contest the open title while close to 20 cars will compete for the 360 title. Not many people realise that Jamie Veal is the defending 360 titleholder and drivers such as local Domain Ramsay will contest both divisions on Saturday night,” explained Drew.
While Veal opts to contest the open title, the door is wide open for a new 360Ci champion with the likes of South Australian Colin Brooks and Victorian’s Harley Bishop, Darren Hickman, Phil Lock and Tony Moule among the leading contenders.
Warrnambool’s Darren Mollenoyux has recently leapt to the Eureka Sprintcar Series point lead and will be keen to add the state crown to his list of achievements following a runner up finish in the title to Rankin in the 2011 edition.
Fellow Warrnambool racer and Boxing Day winner at Avalon, Jamie Veal will also be keen to recapture his early season form that saw him scorch to four A-main wins. Brett Milburn, Nick Lacey and Mike Van Bremen seem to be also among the leading contenders.
Joining the interstate brigade will be popular New South Wales racer ‘Fast’ Eddie Lumbar along with Mount Gambier’s Glen Sutherland.
Also in the mix is speedy New South Wales racer Jeremy Cross who upstaged the Victorian’s in last weekend’s most recent Eureka Sprintcar Series round when he defeated Mollenoyux and Jack Lee. Hauling into Geelong from Dubbo, Cross is keen to continue his winning streak and add the Victorian Sprintcar title to his list of achievements.
Jeff Drew also confirmed Saturday night will also see the Essendon Ford Sprintcar Track Championship continue with current leader James McFadden interstate ensuring Stephen Bell, Jamie Veal and Tim Rankin all have a great opportunity to close the gap.
“The season is drawing to a close and we still have several marquee events remaining but we are confident that this Saturday night Sprintcar fans will see some great action.”
Public gate will open at 3pm with Sprintcars beginning their engine starts from 6pm this Saturday night.
Admission:
Adults $30
Concession $20
Child 12-16 $10
Child 5-11 $5
Child Under 5 Free
Website; www.avalonraceway.com
For more info contact Jeff Drew 0418 160 985 / Gavin White email gwxp@speedway.net.au