After taking the top honours at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway earlier last season, Dayn Bentvelzen was hungry to repeat the feat even earlier this time around, managing to do so in last Saturday night’s Victorian 2018-19 season opener for the class.
With over 50 cars nominated for the Halloween-themed event, clinching first place was no easy task for Bentvelzen; however, getting his night off to the best possible start with a win in the opening heat race certainly set him up for a strong feature-race result.
Photo: Robert Lake Photography
Getting the jump on front-row starters Marcus Green and Geoff Cook on the opening lap, Bentvelzen drove a composed race throughout the 25-lap feature race, utilising his knowledge of the Avalon Raceway track to steer his way to victory.
Having made his way up to third place from fifth by lap two in what was his first outing in his ex-Mick Parry Maxim car, Luke Weel was in prime position to take over the runner-up spot when Green retired to the infield with three of the 20 scheduled laps to go, but with time quickly running out, he couldn’t quite get close enough to launch an attack on Bentvelzen, ultimately coming home in second place.
Photo: Robert Lake Photography
Next across the finish line in his Lightning McQueen designed car was Cook, who delivered one of his best drives to date to place third, followed by veteran Wayne Logue and current Victorian Champion Travis Millar, who did well to power forward from his eight-place starting position to round out the top five aboard the Fitzpatrick Autosports car.
Completing the top-10 finishers were Carly Walsh, Aron Lawrence, Jordan Abbott, Peter Logue, who was the highest-placed B main transferee, and Matthew Hurley, while remaining finishers consisted of Scott Irons, Brad Foster and Andy Hibbert, who made his debut in the Mat and Renae Eastham-owned Victory Lane Racegear car.
Experiencing a disappointing end to their nights and joining Green on the infield was earlier heat-race winner Robert Stevenson, along with Alex Thomson and Shaun Lyness, while Chris Temby was unable to start the feature race after securing the final transfer spot in B main two.
One of the notable exclusions from the feature race was 2013 Australian Champion Brett Milburn, who narrowly missed out on a transfer spot into the feature race in B main one. Milburn will be looking to make amends in his next race meeting as he prepares for the Australian Championship later this season, where he hopes to regain the crown.
It was Hibbert who came home first in B main one, ahead of Thomson, while Peter Logue was victorious in B main two ahead of Temby.
As testament to the level of competition in the class, there were no repeat winners in the earlier heat races, with wins being shared between Bentvelzen, Lawrence, Green, Irons, Millar, Cook, Temby, Stevenson, Foster and Wayne Logue.
The next outing for the Victorian Wingless Sprints will be this weekend at Nyora Raceway, with drivers battling it out over two nights of racing on Saturday and Sunday in the Nyora Nationals.
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.
