Martin Tops Opening Round
By Phil Michell Motorsport Media
The opening round of the Ninety-Eight Apparel Murray Bridge Wingless Sprint Track Championship last Saturday night provided some of the best Wingless action seen at the venue for some time and when the chequered flag fell on the finale it was Australian Champion Tyson Martin who emerged victorious. Despite his win Martin didn’t have it all his own way as he was put back two spots for spinning out the lapped car of Andy Thomas on a lap 18 restart but he fought back superbly as he charged around the outside of both Joel Chadwick and Ryan Furler in exciting fashion, bashing the wall with his right rear American Racer on several occasions.
After starting on the front row with Martin, Chadwick held on to finish second ahead of Furler, with James Rodda and youngster Josh Rusby completing the top 5. Mason Merritt, who put in a stunning late charge just missed the top five while Anthony Tapley, Austin McDonald, Declan Bolitho, and Darryl Knuckey rounded out the top 10.
Earlier the 33 drivers were divided into three groups with a total of six heats throughout the nights. Leanne Turner, Jack McCarthy, James Rodda, Austin McDonald, Brett Ireland, and Joel Chadwick all collected a heat win.
Following his opening heat win Jack McCarthy was the main casualty of the night as he was caught up in a back straight melee dropping his second heat race and forcing him into a B-main start. In the last chance qualifier, his night didn’t get any better as he spun in turn 1 bringing out the caution and he was then unable to race his way back into a transfer spot.
This weekend will see the Wingless teams head towards the south-east for the opening night of the Tolmer Speedway season. A total of 23 drivers will take to the Bordertown high banks with the battle between Australian Champion Tyson Martin and Rylan Furler, who are set to renew their early season rivalry, bound to be the highlight of the evening. But when you add in the likes of hard chargers such as Brett Ireland, Thomas Walkom, Jordan Kervers, Austin McDonald, and Michael “Spike” Spoljaric the Wingless action should be of a high quality.
Two drivers who will be extremely keen to impress on home turf will be James Rodda and Benjamin Altus. For the inexperienced Altus, it will be his first run of the season while Rodda will hoping to continue his stunning early season form, coming of a heat win and a top five A-Main result at Murray Bridge last Saturday night.
The format for this Saturday night will include 2 rounds of heats, as well as a B Main and an A Main of a least 20 laps for the top 20 qualifiers.
Next Event Details: Saturday 24th October 2026 – Opening Night, Tolmer Speedway, Bordertown. Nominations (23): A1 Tyson Martin, S7 Melissa Crouch, S8 Darryl Sloan, S10 William Caruso, S17 Brad Kirtland, S18 Brett Ireland, S19 Michael Spoljaric, S25 Hayden Jericho, S26 Rylan Furler, S27 Jordan Kervers, S30 Matthew McCallum (ROF 2), S33 Lachlan Evans, S38 James Rodda, S39 Benjamin Altus (ROF), S49 Darryl Knuckey, S52 Declan Bolitho (ROF Late), S58 Austin McDonald, S81 Kahn Aston, S82 Caleb Evans, S88 Cameron Brooks (ROF 3), S92 Thomas Walkom, S97 Leanne Turner, S99 Michael Busby.