OFFICIAL RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AVALON RACEWAY
APRIL 15 2022
NATIONAL CHAMP KNOCKS OVER NIGHT ONE OF THE EASTER TRAIL
Jamie Veal was right there when it counted, to pocket the lead from NSW’s Troy Little who had led the opening 10 laps of the feature.
Super Rods were first to take to the Raceway on a fresh and greasy surface which was quick to roll into racing form. The surface provided a bit of a handful for the chunky V8s travelling in the clockwise direction with a few cars glancing off the turn 3 and 4 concrete.
Jamie May led the greater portion of heat race 1, but a few mistakes and a heavy push battling with Stan Marco Jnr would trade places in the closing few laps. Marco Jnr would get the upper hand with May falling back to third on a tricky surface with Daniel Hookway claiming second.
Dane Court displayed dominance in heat number two, winning by an astonishing 3 and a half seconds over Jason Kavanagh in second.
Sprintcar Time Trials was tightly contested as the track firmed up and some blistering times began being laid down. Bobby Daly set a flyer of 13.948s to claim QuickTime in the opening time session.
Jack Lee put the smack down in the time trial session number 2, setting a 13.305s in the V25.
Troy Little made the trek from NSW in the N20 and quickly made the trip worthwhile setting an epic 13.040s in time trial session 3 to claim QuickTime.
And in the final time trial session, and going fastest overall would be the National Champion Jamie Veal with the only car in the 12 bracket when he threw down a 12.743.
Avalon Raceway took the time to present their DW & DJ awards of Recognition of Service to Speedway to Kelvin Gray and Bob Whittle. Kelvin started his Speedway career way back in the 60s, driving himself, before travelling the country in the role of Chief Steward and now controlling Avalon Raceway as head Chief Steward for over 25 years. After National service, Bob decided to join the Speedway racing super sedans in Torquay, Calcium Park and Colac all round the state. Bob’s service giving back to drivers and being responsible for so many cars getting on the racetrack has always flown under the radar. Along with his wife Pat, the Whittle family have always gave back and now they will be immortalised in Avalon Raceway history.
The infield racetrack at Avalon was put to good use as the Victorian Junior Quarter Midgets across all their classes, got to race in front of a capacity crowd at Avalon Raceway and didn’t the kids lap it up.
The winged Outlaw Karts also got their chance to put on a spectacle around the infield Raceway in their showcase.
On a continually fast surface for the opening heat races, Northern Territorian Will Carroll made the most of his front row start storming away lapping in the 12 second bracket from Daniel Pestka and Johnny Vogels.
Tim Hutchins was locked down in heat race number two in a dominant display over Grant Anderson and Marcus Dumesney.
Matt Swan would lose the front end of the v73 after a career best qualifying effort and would go infield early in heat 3. Tate Frost was ripping the T62 leading every lap in the 12 second bracket as well. Frost would win from Andrew Hughes and Troy Little.
On a racetrack continuing to gain speed, Darwin’s Kale Quinlan put together an epic drive to pull away from Glen Sutherland and the National Champion Veal to claim heat race four.
Super Rods took back to the Raceway for another round of heat races and round one of the Super Rods Easter Trail. Howard Stansfield got the job done on the kid, Jacob Pitcher by almost a straight away following their front row start in heat race 3.
After dicing for the lead in heat 4, Court and Verhoeven got together with Dane Court spinning to avoid contact and having to come back from the rear. This allowed Stan Marco Jnr to put pressure on Verhoeven for the race lead before claiming the top step with a lap to run.
Launching into the main events, with a blistering set of times coming out of the C Main. Jamie Heyen ripped the top off it to dominate with a 3 second victory over Chris Campbell, Stephen Spark and Eddie Lumbar making up the 4 transferees into the B Main.
An opening corner incident in the 15 Lap B Main would see Chris Campbell and Darren Mollenoyux tangle and remove themselves from the remainder of the night. While Glen Sutherland worked on setting out to a comfortable lead, Eddie Lumbar would bring out a familiar red light tipping over the N36. Glen Sutherland would get the job done very narrowly over Grant Anderson, Jake Smith, and Michael Tancredi.
The Super Rod main event would be a long and gruelling one with Dan Hookway having a monumental up and over early into the event. Under the restart Dane Court and Stan Marco Jnr went to battle for the lead trading places.
The two would tangle and Court would have a big tumble and cause another red light on the raceway. After another couple cautions the cars eventually found a rhythm and 18 year old Jacob Pitcher would steal the lead with a corner to go after battling through dense lap traffic.
With the front row NSW VS Victoria set as Jamie Veal started from pole and Troy Little on the outside lane for the Sprintcar Easter Trail Round 1 30 lap Main Event. Little had the better of the two starts leading the opening 10 laps before a slight push in turn 1 and 2 allowed the National to champion to slide past and control the final 20 laps of the feature flag to flag.
Veal would win from Troy Little, Bobby Daly, Andrew Hughes, and Darwin’s Kale Quinlan for the top five. Outside the five was Tim Hutchins, Brett Milburn, John Vogels, Jack Lee and Will Carroll in the top ten.
A monster firework show would cap off an epic night number one of the Sprintcar Easter Trail as the cars and crews head down the road to Borderline Speedway Mt Gambier for round number two.
ENDS RELEASE…
Avalon Raceway Media