Wingless 50 Lap Mexicana de Shootout At Mildura This Weekend

Wingless 50 Lap Mexicana de Shootout At Mildura This Weekend

By Phil Michell

This Saturday night (May 7) will see one of the biggest ever fields of Wingless Sprints converge on Mildura as the annual newly named Mexicana de Shootout 50 Lapper is conducted at the Timmis Speedway. The event has attracted a field of 33 drivers with competitors from right across South Australia to be joined by racers from Victoria and New South Wales in what should be a great night of wild and wingless action.

The line-up will be headlined by current South Australian Champion Joel Chadwick, who is fresh from a runner-up result at the Motorplex in Perth, but he will have to contend with a whole host of highly talented drivers.

The tough South Australian entry list also includes Robert Heard, Brett Ireland, Michael Spoljaric, Spencer Taylor and Anthony Tapley, who have all been in great late season form, especially Heard who was a recent winner at Murray Bridge. Regular Sprintcar racer Dan Evans is another who can never discounted along with “The Prez” Darryl Sloan, Bronson Mauro and brothers Keir and Aaron Doe.

The local Mildura racers will also be out to impress with eight nominations including Travis Beasley, Jay Brown, Jason Bolitho and Sprintcar driver Terry Kelly. The remaining intestate contingent is also full of top class competitors such as Sam Wren (Vic), Jason Bates (NSW), Nathan Dicker (NSW), Shaun McClure (Vic) and Harley and Jay Nicolaisen.

CURRENT NOMINATIONS: Mildura (50 Lapper, 33 Cars): Saturday 7th May 2016: S1 Joel Chadwick, S3 Roydn Bailey, S4 Travis Beasley, S8 Darryl Sloan, V8 Shaun McClure, S19 Michael Spoljaric, V19 Sam Wren, S20 Keir Doe, S22 Daniel Obst, S24 Aaron Doe, S31 Casey Van der Stelt, S37 Anthony McMillan, N41 Jason Bates, S41 Bronson Mauro, S43 Jason Gantz, S44 Lucy Evans, S46 Spencer Taylor, S47 Anthony Tapley, S49 Daniel Evans, S51 Jay Brown, V51 Jay Nicolaisen, S52 Jason Bolitho, V53 Harley Nicolaisen, S57 Robert Heard, S63 Andrew Price (ROF), S69 Terry Kelly (ROF), S71 Brett Ireland, S73 Melissa McMillan, V75 Darcy McGlade, V83 Todd Hobson, S85 Trent Gravestock, S86 Angelo Halacas, N91 Nathan Dicker.

Leading into the 50 Lapper at Mildura this weekend the South Australian competitors have had plenty of track time with many of the drivers contesting three nights of racing in an eight day period in late April.

The events were conducted at the Murray Bridge Speedway and Speedway City with the first of the events at the Murray Bridge Speedway on April 16. Unfortunately due to time constraints the feature event was cut short but it was still an entertaining race with local hero Robert Heard defeating Jake Ashworth and South Australian Champion Joel Chadwick in the Hall Mechanical supported final.

Earlier in the night the heat winners in the Wingless Sprints included Roydn Bailey, William Caruso, Brett Ireland and Heard. Heat three saw the only roll over of the night as Greg Cunningham rolled in turn four after Brandon Forrester spun leaving Cunningham nowhere to go with the #82 tipping over after hitting the stationary car.

The following weekend (April 23 & 24) saw a double header event with meetings at Speedway City and Murray Bridge with Wingless Sprints once again providing some top class entertainment but the weekend was dominated by Jake Ashworth.

Night 1 at Speedway City saw Ashworth secure his third successive Speedway City A-Main event as he defeated Michael Spoljaric and Aaron Doe in the 25 lap decider. Fourth place went to Dan Evans followed by Victorians Adam Smith and Travis Beasley, while Keir Doe, Darryl Sloan, Robert Heard and Matthew Kennedy completed the top 10. The tenth placed result was enough for Kennedy to wrap up the Speedway City Track Championship.

On night 2 Ashworth continued on his winning ways as he claimed the final at Murray Bridge after starting from the third row. After leading the race in the early stages Brett Ireland had to settle for second, after Ashworth made the winning pass on the outside, while fellow Murray Bridge based racer Robert Heard was on the podium in third. Rookie Joel Heinrich continued to impress as he finished fourth with Anthony Tapley completing the top five in what was a close contest for the entire race journey.