Avalon Raceway’s run with the fickle weather continued last night when the Great Southern Showdown for Sprintcars was run following a major revamp of the format and also the field changed significantly. History will show Eureka Sprintcar Series regular Brett Milburn outrun the field to win the $5,000 first prize ahead of John Vogels and Matthew Reed in front of a healthy crowd that braved the wet conditions.
Milburn also secured the bonus as his win also enabled him to win the overall Great Southern Showdown when he finished runner up on Saturday night at Simpson Speedway.
“I am just wrapped for all the guys, this one is for them,” beamed feature winner Milburn.
Withstanding several challengers from the likes of Stephen Bell and then Vogels, Bell earned the win with slower traffic playing a big part in the outcome.
Bell closed on Milburn mid race before tagging the rear of the leader and dropping several spots in the process. Vogels then had his chance at the leader in traffic but Milburn would not be denied winning from Vogels, Reed, Sydney’s Glen Saville, Domain Ramsay, Bell, Darren Mollenoyux, Rhiannon Burleigh and Michael Cunningham.
Charles Hunter was one driver who failed to finish after contact with another driver put him into the turn 2 fence while Dennis Jones and James McDonald came together while they were dicing for position also.
“I can’t thank the fans enough for their support tonight,” said Avalon Raceway’s Jeff Drew.
“When we were deciding what to do Matthew Reed and John Vogels both agreed that we had to put a show on for all the fans that had come along. The infield was a mess and it was hard to get cars started but with the V8 Dirt Modified’s being as good as they were and the 19 Sprintcar teams that decided to run I think we still gave the fans a show.”
Heavy rain hit the venue mid afternoon and the Avalon Raceway management was forced to pump water off the racing surface in an attempt to get any meeting staged. With fans queuing to get into the venue management decided to persist with attempting to run the program.
With time moving quickly a decision was made to still run a Sprintcar meeting of sorts despite the event not being the Victorian Sprintcar title or carrying Eureka Sprintcar Series points. Once that decision was made, 19 drivers joined the V8 Dirt Modified’s in hot lapping the track to get it back somewhere close to where it needed to be to conduct the $5,000 to win event.
Hot laps begun with the sessions also doubling as time trials and as a result Stephen Bell timed in quickest with a 15.914 second lap being the best of the 19 contestants! Heats were set according to time trial results with John Vogels winning the first heat while Milburn was too good in the second.
The V8 Dirt Modifieds were set to contest the Max Trotter Memorial and were fantastic as their efforts early in the evening set the tone as the track was worked back into racing shape.
Despite being a V8 Dirt Modified rookie, experienced racer Mick Kiraly looked set to upstage his fancied rivals in the feature until he ran out of tear offs allowing the speedy Lloyd Hobson to make the winning pass in turn four on the final lap! Kiraly held on for second ahead of Scott Cannon and Aaron Trotter. Kiraly, Trotter, Hobson and Darren Clarke won heat races while a great field of Modifieds was on hand to contest the emotional event.
Website; www.avalonraceway.com
For more info contact Jeff Drew 0418 160 985 / Gavin White email gwxp@speedway.net.au