Drouin Speedway Club have held their latest race meeting (on February 21st) with the Victorian Junior Standard Saloon title up for grabs, the Race for Dougo for Open Standard Saloons, and a mini feature for Street Stocks, along with some freestyle Motorcross performances. Southeast Melbourne racer Hunter Carey claimed top honours in the state title Jack Yeomans winning the Drive for Dougo and Leigh Gooding claiming victory in the Street Stocks.
The crowd was entertained by the freestyle MX riders with high flying jumps and flips and twists bringing new people to the speedway complex on Jindivick Road in Drouin West, a place many people new to Drouin were still unawares of.
Junior Standard Saloon competitors each competed in three of the four qualifying races to earn points to determine their starting position for the title race. Catani racer Nathan Miles got his meeting off to a great start leading every lap on his way to defeating his teammate Hunter Carey and greater Bendigo based racer Tylor Claridge, Miles setting a new ten lap record for the category on his way to a near ten second win. Earlier contact between Liam Callanan and Ethan Start resulted in Callanan coming under the scrutiny of Stewards for the incident.
Coming from the second row in heat two, Miles again led every lap in a much closer affair as Will Hickey finished less than a second behind him. Ethan Start and Elouise Bruce were two of a number of drivers who hit the concrete wall during qualifying, Starts car was the complete opposite of the drivers name after hitting the wall in the first race, their day was over. The race was the second to run start to finish without a caution period in succession. Without Miles in the second heat Carey was able to get the better of Hickey earn himself a qualifying race win, and his team’s third win out of three.
Hickey then won the final heat race getting the better of Carey in the closing laps of ten and winning by half a second with Miles back in third. A twenty-lap title race awaited ten starters and unfortunately for Miles, his race would last one lap and a little before a flat tyre outed him from the title chase leaving Hickey leading the first five laps with Carey, Drouin member Cooper Irons, Nikolas Pritchett, and Liam Ingram in the top five positions.
Ingram and Claridge passed Pritchett on lap nine with Carey taking the race lead at the halfway mark of the race where he led Hickey, Irons, Ingram, and Claridge. On lap eleven Claridge moved up two spots passing Ingram and Irons, and with five laps to go, Carey still led Hickey and now Claridge. Carey held a small margin on Hickey, however looked comfortable to get to the end in front. Carey then crossed the line to claim Victorian title honours with Hickey crossing the line second. Unfortunately for Hickey, a technical infringement disqualified him from the race seeing Claridge elevated to second and Bunyip racer Cooper Irons into third. Ingram and Pritchett rounded out the top five spots.
After the race, the new Victorian champion Hunter Carey acknowledged his team owner Miles Motorsport’s, his fellow competitors for their results, his supportive family, the Victorian Speedway Council and Drouin volunteers and officials and he also passed on his empathy to his teammate Nathan Miles and fellow racer Will Hickey. Carey is soon to be over age and wont be able to run with the Victoria number one plate as he moves into open aged racing.
Open Standard Saloon competitors in the Drive for Dougo race honouring Stephen Douglas the late friend of many and cherished late husband of Sandra who passed away in race competition a few seasons back now. Local club member Matt Leek got the racing underway with a victory ahead of Kane Gibson in a race ran without stoppage. Jack Yeomans then won the closest race of the day winning by just 0.004 of a second from Andrew Miles taking the lead on the very last at the latest possible moment.
Yeomans then won the very next qualifier ahead of Brodie Robertson with Andrew Miles the youngest of four brothers that compete in the class winning the last qualifier. A twenty-lap distance in the Drive for Dougo final began with Miles the first competitor to suffer mechanical issues and pull out of the race. Yeomans led Robertson and Owen Cecil at the five-lap mark. At the ten and the fifteen lap stage of the race Yeomans still led Robertson, Cecil, Leek, and Gibson. Robertson had a serious attempt at trying to snatch the victory, however Yeomans won by 0.419 of a second with Cecil in third, Leek fourth and Gibson fifth.
Street Stocks held a small feature with Neerim racer Leigh Gooding the pre-event favourite. Gooding finished the first of three qualifiers first across the line only two be hit with a penalty for a race infringement, handing the win to Matthew Bishop. Gooding then secured the win in the next two races to set up the ten lap final where Gooding secured the days feature win in front of Stephen Brook, Dylan Wilikinson, and Stacie Riches.
New track records set
Vsc Standard Saloons
20 Laps – Jack Yeomans – Rosedale – 6:52.643 – 21/2/26
Vsc Junior Standard Saloons
10 Laps – Nathan Miles – Nyora – 3:27.450 – 21/2/26
Drouin Speedway returns to action on April 12th when the Ladies Standard Saloon Victorian title will be held, along with Limited Sportsman’s visiting, Open and Junior Standard Saloons and the Ramp racing returns.
Drouin Speedway Club acknowledge and thank these wonderful supporters.
Alberni Engineering
Ampworks
ARP Earthworks
Baw Baw Shire
Big Ben
Bowens Pakenham
Bunyip Motors
Bunyip Tyre Service
CBM Media
Compact Drums
Drouin South Excavations
Drouin Tyre and Battery Service
Elite Auto Care
Elite Cranes and Transport
Image Worx Photography
KF & CO Hair Studio
Keena Fencing
Latrobe Waste and Recycling
Leigh and Anne Gooding
Local Print
Miles Mechanical
Napier Photography
Norstar Steel Recyclers
Orton Motorsports
Pakenham Radiators
Pakenham Towing
PGR Group
Plendrive
QuickTime Automotive
Railway Hotel
Richard & Ron Owen
Robin Hood Inn
Scott Irons & Family
Sky High Media
STR8 Bricklaying
Soul Wax
TJE Fabrication
TNT Autos
Total Autos Pakenham
Triangle Trophies Moe
Pakenham Town & Country Tennis Courts
Visual Signage Solutions
Wilkar Constructions
Written by
Dean Thompson
Dean Thompson Media
For Drouin Speedway Club
