Chaos in the Top End: Chariots of Thunder 2025

It’s called ‘the Build-Up’.  The transitional period of weather in the Northern Territory between the dry and wet seasons, occurring in the months of August to October.  However, the same could be said for Australia’s season of Speedway.  With the Northern Territory’s season occurring during the offseason, Northline Speedway’s final two events of the NT Titles and Chariots of Thunder acts as the build up for a new season of Speedway for the rest of Australia.

​My second trip to Darwin would be for the final and most important event of the Northern Territory’s speedway season; the Chariots of Thunder.  Consisting of three nights at Northline Speedway, some of the best Sprintcar and Wingless drivers would also make the trek to the tropics, making for some seriously competitive racing. 

Teams and drivers from all over Australia would bring the heat, including 2023 Chariots champion from Tasmania, Jock Goodyer, last year’s winner Matt Egel from South Australia, Dayne Kingshott and Jason Pryde from WA, Lockie McHugh and Brodie Davis from Queensland, Eddie Lumbar from NSW and Jamie Veal and the Storer brothers from Victoria, to only name a few Interstate entrants.  

New Zealand speedway phenom Michael Pickens would also make the show, but like the Pennsylvania Possie, the Northern Territory faithful would be rooting for their home drivers such as Zack Grimshaw, Chris Harrison, Jet Thompson and Mark Phillips.

​The Wingless field would be stacked as well, Aussie champion Tyson Martin would begin his ‘Australian tour’ at Northline and would be joined by the O’Connell brothers from Queensland, Bailey Heinrich from SA, as drivers such as Jake Warren from Victoria took part in multiple rounds of Darwin’s season.  

The Top End Wingless cohort is a strong bunch, with Matthew Sealy, Jamie McInnes and Daniel Goldoni making up part of the roster.  Blake Walsh claimed his second NT Wingless Title the week prior and looked to be the favourite.

Northline Speedway was opened in 1982 to replace Darwin’s Bagot Park Speedway that had closed a year prior.  The 400-metre dirt/clay surface and its facilities sit right alongside Hidden Valley Raceway’s turns 2/3/4.​​  Interestingly, the track can get quite dusty (probably thanks to the fine dirt used in the surface) yet still provides multiple lanes of racing from bottom to top at the same time.

​​In only his fifth 410 show, Luke Storer would grab Quicktime with an 11.380 second lap as fellow Victorian Dane Court also impressed with the third quickest time.  Jordyn Charge, who dominated last year's Sprintcar season in Darwin split the pair in second.

In the Wingless feature, Blake Walsh controlled the race as fierce battles in the midfield occurred behind.  Unfortunately, both Daniel Goldoni and Kyle Wiseman would end their races in the fence, with Goldoni out for the rest of Chariots.  Casey O'Connell and Blake Scarey would round out Night 1's Wingless podium.

The Sprintcar A-Main would be one of pure chaos and endurance.  Five red flags and two open reds, allowing teams to fill up the cars with fuel and make adjustments, meant it took almost one hour to complete the 30-lap feature.  Matt Egel, Jy Corbet, Chad Pittard, Jamie Veal, Jock Goodyer, Michael Pickens, Zack Grimshaw and Glen Sutherland would all be victims, with the latter two of Grimshaw and Sutherland ending the Chariots of Thunder campaign in the infield on Night 1.

Lockie McHugh would weather the storm to take victory once again at Northline, as Jordyn Charge finished second and Dayne Kingshott snatched up third.

The second day would be cooler with some cloud cover (thank goodness), and although lap times were slower during Friday night's hot laps, they were just as close with Jy Corbet going Quicktime with a 12.515 second lap, as Brodie Davis brought the track to a halt when he flipped on his second timed lap.

Night 2 would be the night of the high stakes Pope's Challenge to honour Bob Egan, who was instrumental in the transition from Bagot Park Speedway to Northline.  The polesitter of the A-Main would be given a choice to start from the back, and if they come from the back to win the feature, they'd take home $65,000.  The top eight starting positions and pole sitter for the A-Main would be decided in the 'Dash', where Jock Goodyer ran away from Jy Corbet to grab pole, and thus deciding to take on the Pope's Challenge.

During night two's Wingless feature, Casey O'Connell took a massive lead, so large it looked as if he had fallen to the back of the pack instead.  The last thing he needed was a yellow, which is unfortunately what he got, yet still had the pace to take the victory ahead of Blake Walsh and Tyson Martin.

Unlike the previous night, the track was fastest on the bottom, meaning passing was difficult, which didn't help Jock Goodyer attempting to move from the rear to the lead.  After a long time coming, Jy Corbet was back in victory lane, with Steven Loader grabbing a surprise second place finish, and Lochie McHugh staying consistent in third.

Unlike the Sprintcar Classic and Aussie Titles, the overall winner of the Chariots of Thunder would be the highest points scorer across the three nights.  In the Wingless division, Casey O'Connell lead on 689 points, Tyson Martin followed on 682 points, with Blake Walsh close behind on 680 points.

Lochie McHugh lead with one night left on 653 points, as Luke Storer trailed by only five points, with Dylan Menz in third, a further six points back.  This top three would also sweep the fastest three positions during Hot Laps, with McHugh going Quicktime with an 11.779 second lap around Darwin's bullring.

Casey O'Connell pulled away once again in the final Wingless feature, as brother Cody moved into second place.  Behind, John Egan was fending off the likes of Blake Walsh, Tyson Martin and Zane O'Tool until with two laps left, Jake Warren stopped on the backstretch bringing out the yellow.  The pack bunching up one last time failed to deter the top three, with Casey O'Connell pulling away to his second straight feature win, and the overall Wingless Chariots of Thunder crown.

For the final race of this year's Chariots of Thunder installment, it looked to be a battle between McHugh and Goodyer, and that's exactly what we got.  When the track opened up clear of any lapped traffic, Goodyer used the high side, driving around Lockie McHugh, taking the lead at halfway.  Brendan Guerin's rollover would bring out the first stoppage, with eight laps left, and soon after Jason Pryde would do the same.  An open red and the moment that turned the points tally on its head, Lochie McHugh ending his consistent run in the fence, as Jordyn Charge also got collected in the crash.  Dylan Menz and Chris Harrison getting together would bring out another red flag, making it four in the span of five laps.

Jock Goodyer put on a clinic of restarts to pull away and win the final A-Main of this year's Chariots of Thunder, as Jamie Veal finished second.  In the midst of all the late race chaos, Daniel Storer, who climbed through the field and eventually the wall, bringing out the racing ending caution yet somehow continued would snag a third-place finish against all odds. 

With Lochie McHugh and Dylan Menz crashing out of the final race, as well as Jock Goodyer and Jy Corbet falling victim to incidents during the Night 1 feature race, the winner of Chariots of Thunder for 2025 would be the team and driver that had achieved the most consistent results.  And that would be non-other than Luke Storer and Perrett Family Raing, who had impressed with Quicktime on Night 1, and multiple heat wins throughout.

With the end of Chariots of Thunder comes the end of Northline Speedway's season, but as seems to be tradition with the final night of racing in Darwin, the party was just getting started.  The 'Build-Up' is complete. Get ready for a brand-new season of Australian Speedway.

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