Roberts, Hawkins, Cunningham, and McCarten first new season Wahgunyah winners

A terrific ‘Wyatt Mechanical’ opening race night was held for race fans as Wahgunyah Speedway entertained a healthy crowd to watch race drivers set about their battles for victory with the Super Sedan class the headlining event in a class Victorian point series event. Lucas Roberts from Bendigo claimed the win in the class whilst Aiden Cunningham from Henty won Junior Sedans, Scott Hawkins from Leeton won the Production Sedans and Danny McCarten from Albury won the Goulburn Ovens Sedans.

Whilst the Super Sedans did not have a large field, they had very strong competitors in attendance with Lucas Roberts a multiple times state champion in Victoria and elsewhere the driver to defeat. In three heats respected veteran Danny Amato a very close finish line nod ahead of Travis Ramsdale in heat one with a margin less than a second at .884. The four drivers all finished with 1.5 seconds of each other.

After the demise of Shane Belk in heat two, Lionel West then won the second heat by .803 in front of Roberts. Roberts then had an easier victory in the final heat race leading into a fifteen-lap final. Roberts led from start to finish in the final as he twice put some seconds between, he and second place drivers. West crossed the line second with Dave Mackenzie third followed by Ramsdale and Belk.

In track championship racing the Production Sedans began with a strong Scott Hawkins feature race win ahead of Rodney Anderson, Andrew Cunningham, Andrew Robl and his own brother Justin Hawkins. Leading into the final Michael Sayers claimed a win in the first heat race as he and Anderson swapped the lead in the early stages before Sayers claimed it back and won by .768 of a second. Earlier in the first heat a huge crash by Brock Cunningham left his car with massive front-end damage.

Andrew Cunningham was next to strike trouble in the Cunningham trio of racers when his car slid straight into the fence side on in turn one of lap one, his car sustaining front end damage also, whilst Nathan Hawkins had no power and pulled infield. Anderson then led every lap in the second heat race only just winning from Sayers with a margin of .437. Hawkins then one the last heat to set himself up for the final, a huge eight second margin.

At the start of the final several cars came into contact on the back straight with Jack Bear’s car making heavy contact with the wall. At the restart, Sayers began the final with Anderson behind him as the two who battled through the heats did so again in the final. Incidents involving Nathan Hawkins and Andrew Cunningham and others resulted in a Hawkins rear of field punishment from Stewards before soon after Cunningham gained the Stewards attention for contact with Hawkins as they waved Cunningham the enquiry flag to let him know they were watching.

Brock Cunningham’s night got worse as his car caught fire on lap five as Brendan Brewer parked his car up with engine overheating. Andrew Cunningham moved to second at lap eight of fifteen before hitting the lead on lap ten. A lap later Hawkins moved into the race lead after starting towards the back of the pack and led the field to the finish line.

With a number of new Corowa member Juniors now running in the Speedway Sedans Australia junior category, interest was high on what the future stars of racing would produce on their opening night on their home track. Visiting driver Cruz Abela claimed a win in the first heat by a second and a half with the first Corowa junior Kade Brockley finishing in fourth whilst other new racers Lucas Williams, Lilly Frost and Nirvana Lavender completed their first race laps at Wahgunyah, with Williams meeting the fourth turn fence to end the race early on lap seven.

Abela then won heat number two from Taijan Ussher after defeating Zade Ussher in the first heat and made a clean sweep in the qualifying races when he won the third again ahead of Zade Ussher, this time by less than a second. Abela then led the final held across twelve laps, from Taijan Ussher before he exited the race then Zade Ussher and Aiden Cunningham. Cunningham then moved into second on lap eight and first on lap nine and finished 1.473 seconds ahead of Abela, Zade Ussher, Brockley and Ethan Unternahrer.

In Goulburn Ovens Sedans racing the association members were competing in the first track championship round for their class also. Enough entrants were received to hold two heat races three times during the night to give each driver three heats. In the off-season Daniel Joosten’s car changed to a quick steer set up, however his first race was over even quicker, with rear differential damage before Ben Schmetzer won the first Schmetzer brother battle of the night ahead of Tommy by .654 of a second after taking the lead on lap seven of eight.

Nathan Shortis then won heat number two comfortably. Ryan Chant having moved into the class this season from Standard Saloons then won the third qualifier by a significant margin after early race leading Sam Schmedje slid washed up the track and out of contention to hand the lead to Chant who went on with it. Next came Shortis adding a second win defeating Ben Schmetzer by .791 of a second in the fourth qualifier.

Danny McCarten a two-time state champion of the class then out gunned Shortis in heat number five whilst Tommy Schmetzer claimed the last win in heat racing. McCarten and Shortis started at the head of the field for the feature event with the Schmetzer’s behind them and Marty Bassett and Chant on the third row. McCarten claimed the lead from the start of the race with Shortis chasing and Ben Schmetzer third. The only real significant change in position was Schmetzer into second on lap eleven, only to lose that spot on the last lap with McCarten winning from Shortis, Ben Schmetzer, Tommy Schmetzer and Marty Bassett.

Corowa-Rutherglen Speedway Club would like to thank the following for their support of this Speedway season.

Max Maclean Hardware

Club Corowa

Maverick Marine

Q.A Kitchens

Quantum Printing

Crowie’s Paints

Blue Shed Self Storage

Cellarbrations Wahgunyah

Hi Tec Oils Albury

McRae’s Wodonga

Abacus Energy