The busy Christmas-New Year period in the state of Victoria over the past three nights has resulted in two maiden Wingless Sprint feature-race winners.
Wingless Sprint newcomer Mathew Mills and Bhoe Paterson were the two drivers who landed in Wingless Sprint feature-race victory lane for the first occasion, while veteran Peter Logue opened his 2018-19 season feature-race winning account.
Starting off on Boxing Night (December 26) at Bairnsdale Speedway, which is located within the east Gippsland region of the state, Logue scored the feature-race spoils after mastering the track conditions best.
Despite the best efforts to overhaul Logue, Viv Rockliff had to settle for second, while Peter’s son, Wayne Logue, completed the podium in third. Brad Foster, Ross Jarred, Jordan Abbott, Ricky Mills, Steven Loader, Thomas McDonald and Robert Johnson rounded out the top-10 finishers.
The following night (December 27), the Wingless Sprints headed to another Gippsland track in Rosedale Raceway, and it saw a surprise result with two newcomers to the class coming out on top. After stepping into the class from AMCA Nationals, the Mills brothers, Mathew and Jamie (pictured below), walked away with a 1-2 finish. With less than a dozen Wingless Sprint race meetings between, the Mills siblings proved too strong for their rivals. After finishing fourth the previous night, Foster managed to go one spot better and completed the podium finishers in third.
Finishing just off the podium in fourth at Rosedale Speedway was McDonald, who finished ahead of current Victorian Champion Travis Millar, Loader, Rockliff, Mills, Aron Lawrence and John Abbott in 10th.
Photo: Random Panda Photography
In Saturday night’s (December 28) annual Crossfire Shootout at the tight confines of Laang Speedway in the south-west of the state resulted in Paterson (pictured below) showing his rivals a clean pair of heals throughout the feature race. After topping the points at the conclusion of the heat races following a second place and a win, Paterson earned the right to start the feature race from pole position, and it was an opportunity that he certainly didn’t waste.
At the fall of the chequered flag, Paterson, who picked up a brand-new mini bike courtesy of Crossfire Motorcycles (Laang Park Motorcycles), ended up defeating Millar in second and former Crossfire Shootout winner Luke Weel in third. The latter had earned his feature-race spot via winning the B main and put in a hard-charging drive to round out the podium finishers.
The top-10 finishers were completed by Luke Cole, Clint McLaren, Mitchell Smith, Geoff Cook, Ben Doukas, Loader and Phil Micallef.
Photo: Michael Sheen Photography
With three nights of Wingless Sprint racing in a row out of the way, there will be a short break to bring in the new year. In the new year, the hotly contested three-round Summer Slam Series is set to commence this Friday night (January 4) at Mount Gambier’s Borderline Speedway (SA), followed by the second round at Hamilton’s Western Speedway on Saturday night (January 5) and then the third and final round at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway on Sunday night (January 6).
For more information about the Victorian Wingless Sprints, visit their website at www.awsr.com.au/vic or you can LIKE them on Facebook by searching Victorian AWSR Wingless Sprintcars.
