With heavy rainfall threatening to bring the night to a premature end, the Victorian Wingless Sprints were lucky to complete Saturday night’s running of the annual Front Row Challenge at Simpson Speedway, and it was Luke Weel who powered to victory.
Mastering the tricky track conditions, Weel showed his speed from the outset, making his way up to third in the early stages of the 25-lap feature race, after starting from the inside of the third row, and going on to claim his fifth feature-race win for the 2016-17 season and the fourth consecutive win.
After starting from position seven alongside Alex Thomson, Mitchell Broome and Thomson also impressed, finishing in second and third place respectively.
Mick Uebergang and Rhys Baxter rounded out the top-five finishers, with Tyson Bartlett, Jeremy Beddison, Marc Evans, Bhoe Paterson, Jaidyn Job and pole-sitter Shaun Lyness completing the remaining finishers.
A crowded infield saw Mathew Symons, Ashley Armistead, Matthew Balcombe, Raymond Klemm, Michael McDonald, Warren Sell and Michael Skene retire at various stages of the feature race. The most serious of the retirements was Klemm, who had crashed heavily and severely damaged his car. He was taken to hospital for observation over the night but was released the next morning.
Photo: Robert Lake Photography
Six different drivers achieved victory in the earlier heat races, including Broome, Symons, Weel, Lyness, Balcombe and Uebergang, with Lyness’ second-place finish elevating him to the top of the points and awarding him pole position for the feature race. Opting not to start from the rear of field for the Front Row Challenge, the birthday boy struggled in the feature race and went on to finish down the order.
It was McDonald who set the pace in the B main to secure his transfer spot into the feature race, along with fellow transferees Sell, Evans, Job, Baxter and Klemm.
In other Victorian Wingless Sprint news, Saturday night also saw youngster Todd Hobson visit victory lane for the first time since joining Wingless Sprints last season, after winning a club show at Rosedale Speedway.
Battling with Paul Drew for the lead in the 20-lap non-stop feature race after Drew got the jump on him off the start, second-place starter Hobson later managed to drive under the leader when he ran wide, with the pair drag racing before Hobson was able to pull away to claim his maiden feature-race win, after previously scoring a number of minor podium results.
Finishing behind Drew in third was Rhys Crawford, with Wayne Hurford, Ben Grey, Travis Watt, Ricky Mills and Scott Angus completing the finishers.
Following this weekend’s Australian Championship at Carrick Speedway in Tasmania, the next showing for the Victorian Wingless Sprints will be the fifth round of the Super Series which is to be held at Portland’s Southern 500 Speedway on the Saturday night of March 4.
For more information about the Victorian Wingless Sprints, visit their website at www.awsr.com.au/vic. You can also LIKE them on Facebook by searching Victorian AWSR Wingless Sprintcars.