It was a case of repeated fortunes for Carly Walsh as she raced away for the win in last Saturday night’s second round of the Salt Electrical Ladies in the Dirt Series, presented by Telstra Warrnambool, at Laang Speedway.
Building on her win in the opening round, Walsh once again showed her expertise in a field that had vastly improved numbers from the first round at Nyora Speedway one week ago. Such was Walsh’s domination in the feature race, she led all 13 laps to record an impressive victory.
Walsh started on pole position after winning both of her earlier heat races with her opening heat won from towards the back of the pack. She led the field away from the drop of the green flag and was dominant throughout, leading every lap unchallenged.
Coming home in second place was Alisha Fielder. Improving on her fifth-place finish in the opening Ladies of the Dirt Series round, Fielder had a consistent night with a pair of sixth-place finishes in her heat races and capping the night with a well-deserved second-place finish.
Completing the podium was Brony Van Ginneken. The wife of 410 Sprintcar racer Tim Van Ginneken put in a stirring performance after driving like a cat on a hot tin roof from the rear of the field, after she had collided with the wall during the early stages of the race.
Rounding out the top-five finishers was Elira DeGrandi followed by Bianca Klemm, Kim Abbott, Lisa Hood, Samantha Millar and Rachel Cooper. The Non-finisher for the event was Bree Hall who rode out a spectacular flip which resulted in the race being declared, while Brittany Kuypers who was a non-starter in the event.
Meanwhile in the Open class, rookie Alex Ross continued his impressive season by winning his second feature-race when he took out the annual 50 lapper event ahead of Chris Temby in second and Victorian Champion Travis Millar in third.
Ross, who started from the third row within the field marched his way forward and hit the lead within the final 20 laps of the feature race. From that point, he took control of the race and despite being shadowed in the final number of laps by Temby had too much for the remainder of the field and went on to record a good win.
Second-placed Temby basically mirrored Ross’s moves through the field before getting locked in a battle with eventual fourth-placed Bhoe Paterson. With 15 laps to go, Temby made his move on Patterson and set out, albeit unsuccessfully, chasing Ross.
In perhaps what can be described as one of the drives of the night, Travis Millar came from deep in the field to record a third-place finish. What made Millar’s driver more memorable was the fact he was still running sixth with only a handful of laps remaining.
Paterson, who led the field for the opening 30 laps drifted back to cross the line in fourth and fifth was Luke Schneider who had a very up and down race. Climbing to as high as second in the opening 20 Laps, spent the rest of the race in defence mode, fighting off challengers.
Rounding out the top-10 finishers was Shaun Lyness, Carly Walsh who raced back to seventh from the rear, Clint McLaren, Steven Hately and Ashley Cook.
Raymond Klemm was credited with 11th followed by DeGrandi, Daniel Kelly, and Kuypers was the final finisher. Non-finishers were Tyson Benson, Glen Harris, Warren Sell and Van Ginneken.
Earlier heat races saw victories for McLaren, Millar, Halesworth, Ross, Paterson and Schneider.
The B main went to Sell over DeGrandi, Kuypers and Harris.
The next scheduled event for the Victorian Wingless Sprints is the third round of the Salt Electrical Ladies of the Dirt Series and a club show this Saturday night (May 5) at Darlington’s Mid-Western Speedway.
The Salt Electrical Ladies of the Dirt Series is a proud community supporter of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Donations can be made at https://nbcf-hostyourown.gofundraise.com.au/page/LadiesOfTheDirt2018
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.