Not Your Average Speedweek

The yearly Sprintcar Speedweek in the southeast of Australia begins on Boxing Day at Murray Bridge Speedway, before travelling to Tolmer Speedway, Borderline Speedway, Avalon Raceway and finishing at Premier Speedway on New Year's Day.  

Unfortunately for me who was eager to photograph the entire Speedweek, I just wouldn’t be able to make the first night at Murray Bridge coming from Melbourne, and of course, I wouldn’t end my Speedweek until I’d also photographed the yearly Wingless Summer Slam.

So, my itinerary would consist of ten days, eight events at six different speedways.  As the Brandt Speedweek circus began at Murray Bridge, I would start at Avalon Raceway for their Sprintcar Gold Cup.  

Thirty Sprintcars took to the sun kissed Avalon Raceway, with Jordyn Charge and Jamie Veal the favourites after qualifying, as Chad Gardner and crew completed an engine change.  Charge, Dane Court, Daniel Pestka and Grant Stansfield all took the chequered flag first in their respective heat races.

Jordyn Charge and Jamie Veal would start on your front row, and it would be almost immediate drama.  ​A stack up between multiple cars caused Dennis Jones, Dane Court and Ashley Cook to all stop in Turn 2, with the latter two retiring from the feature.

Jamie Veal took the lead from Charge as they fought through traffic, and didn't look back.  With eighteen laps remaining, Bobby Daly found the Turn 2 wall bringing out the second and final yellow flag of the race.  It would be a battle for third between Will Carrol and a quick Parker Scott, who snapped up the final place on the podium with seven laps left.  Jamie Veal would once again win at Avalon, followed by Jordyn Charge and Parker Scott.

Soon enough, I was on the road to Tolmer Speedway to join the Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek circus.  In addition to the strong Australian cohort of competition, TJ Stutts, member of the infamous Pennsylvania Posse would also be competing, along with reigning New Zealand Sprintcar champ Max Guilford.

After engine starts and a thorough cleaning of mud off the cars, Todd Moule would grab QuickTime in Flight 1 by only three thousandths of a second ahead of Matt Egel.  Steven Loader was QuickTime in Flight 2 until Dylan Menz - the last car to head on track - snatched the award away.

Max Guilford, Dylan Jenkin, Lockie McHugh and Peter Doukas would take the chequered flag first for each of the four heat races, which would determine the grids for the B and A-Mains

During Sprintcar Speedweek, the top eight in points (combined from qualifying and heat race results) would take part in the A-Main dash, setting the top eight positions for the feature.  The running order to start the Dash however would be set by a draw, with drivers picking their number from some young fans.

It was an unlucky Speedweek for Luke Storer, particularly at Tolmer.  Contact on the backstraight during the heat race unsettled the car, and the sudden drop in speed meant Alex Attard ran over the front of the S98, before Dennis Jones arrived head-on.  It was all hands-on deck to get the car repaired, but in the B-Main, whilst in the top four transfer spots, a flat tyre ended his run.

​The A-Main would go green for all 35-laps, making for the fastest Sprintcar feature at Tolmer so far.  Lockie McHugh went unchallenged for most of the race, as Dylan Jenkin, Dylan Menz and Jordyn Charge fought for the podium.  Behind, battles for position we're thick, far and wide.

Ryan Newton - who won the night before at Murray Bridge - was leading his heat race before a sudden mechanical failure brought him infield.  After winning the B-Main, Newton would move through the field to finish second and keep the lead of the Speedweek standings.  No one, however, was going to catch Lockie McHugh, grabbing his third win at Tolmer, as Jordyn Charge finished third.

The following day and two hours south, everyone would arrive at Mt Gambier's Borderline Speedway, where a few extra Victorian teams would join the action including Jamie Veal who went QuickTime in Flight 2, after Matt Dumesny did the same in the first flight of cars.

Jordyn Charge's great run of results would come to an abrupt end after a flip in the second heat race, bringing his night at Borderline to a close.  On the opposite spectrum, Jy Corbet won his heat and the dash after Brock Hallet was swamped at the drop of the green flag and would start on the pole position of the feature.

The B-Main would be a race of attrition and an insight into what was to come.  Thirteen of the twenty drivers finished, with Jake Smith failing to start, four cars getting stuck together and Scott Enderl experiencing a hefty rollover.

​Jy Corbet and Lockie McHugh would start on the front row when the green flag dropped on the A-Main and immediately started duking it out.  Eight laps into the race, Randy Morgan and Rusty Hickman got together, ending Hickman's race with front end damage.   It soon became a war of attrition similar to the B-Main, with drivers dropping like flies as the pulled infield to retire.  With five laps to go, Jy Corbet would smack the Turn 4 wall and Randy Morgan would hit the rear of the stopped NQ10, resulting in a flip for Morgan.  Matt Dumesny would fail to refire, ending a great run for him, and on the restart, Dylan Jenkin would bounce through Turn 3 and into the side of Ryan Newton, sending him spinning.  Lockie McHugh would take the victory once again, followed by Matt Egel and Max Guilford.

After a needed day off, I was back at an overcast Avalon Raceway for Night 4 of Sprintcar Speedweek.  Brendan Quinn put down a storming lap to go QuickTime in Flight 1, as Luke Storer was pipped by Jordyn Charge in Flight 2.  Cory McCullagh would also be back in the saddle, 368 days since the last time he strapped into a Sprintcar, driving Dane Court's V96, and performed as if he never left.

Unfortunately, Brendan Quinn would be unable to capatilise on his quick qualifying, as a dive through Turn 3 caused contact with Chris Johns, causing him to flip.  However, despite the bent top wing, Johns would continue in the heat race as Quinn was sent to the back.  Brock Hallet, Jamie Veal, Cory McCullagh and Rusty Hickman would win the four heats, joining McHugh, Storer, Charge and Will Carrol in the Top 8 Dash.

Rusty Hickman would beat Jordyn Charge to pole position in the Dash, as Dylan Jenkin had a large wreck in the B-Main, that began in Turn 4 after he tried to gather the car up from a wheel stand.  

When the green flag dropped for the A-Main, Jordyn Charge would pull away from the field immediately, and would do so on the restart, caused for a sideways Will Carrol in Turn 2, with Matt Dumesny having nowhere to go but into the side of the NT25.  As the laps wound down however, Jamie Veal and Lockie McHugh would battle Charge for the lead, but to no avail.  After wrecking at Borderline, Charge would not only be back on the podium, but on the top step, celebrating on Avalon's new winner's mound.

There'd be no Sprintcar racing across the country on New Year's Eve, but a day later, the final round of Sprintcar Speedweek would be held at Premier Speedway, where all eyes were on Lockie McHugh, on the verge of second series victory in a row.​  Jock Goodyer would also be one to watch, joining the fun, racing Jack Lee's V25 after competing in the High Limit International in Perth.  However, focus would quickly turn to the fastest in qualifying.  The Storer name would be on top of the timesheets, but it would be brother Daniel scoring QuickTime, as Max Guilford showed his speed at his second visit to Warrnambool with QuickTime in Flight 2.

The racing would be clean yet exciting, with the B-Main out on track with the sun still above the horizon, all a testament to the hard work of the volunteers at Premier Speedway.

Daniel Storer pulled away in the Dash to start the feature on pole and would do the same in the A-Main, lapping faster than the rest of the field after the first restart caused by Goodyer, Anderson and Morris getting together.  However, seven laps later, Storer would pull infield with issues.  Hallet would grab the lead but would be harassed by McHugh as they fought through traffic.  Hallet would pull away in the final stages to win, as Lockie McHugh finished second becoming the first name on the new John Sidney trophy as he won the Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek once again.  

The winged Sprintcar action would be over for me after New Year's Day, and so too would ​​the long drives to the tracks.  However, it would be straight into photographing another multi-night series, that being the Wingless Summer Slam.  

Not only would I be on my standard photo duties, but I would also be running the Victorian Wingless social media page, posting the heat race winners, race results, series points and some images from each night.  

It was certainly a chaotic night of racing, however, one with plenty of good racing. Ten winners from ten different heat races, set up two exciting B-Mains and a 30-lap feature that would see Travis Millar pull away from the field to win with Blake Walsh second and Tyson Martin third, with plenty of battles behind them.

Next up was Laang Speedway, 50km west,​​ the short 280-metre bullring that always provides plenty of action, and did so once again, even more than the previous night.  Despite some of the carnage, there was plenty of hard racing, with no one really standing out as the favourite until the A-Main.

After a handful of drivers fell to the wayside at the beginning of the feature, Travis Millar lead most of the race, until Blake Walsh took the lead down the inside with nine laps to go.  Kyle Mock would avoid the carnage and move through the field to finish second ahead of Millar, as Blake Walsh's win would put him tied with Millar on points heading to Premier Speedway, with Chris Temby 16 points behind, ready to pounce.

It would be back to Warrnambool for the final night of Summer Slam, and to conclude my own Speedweek.  All eyes were on Travis Millar and Blake Walsh, who were swapping positions near the top of the nights points standings with each overtake in their heat races.  Meanwhile Kyle Mock, (who had been using Summer Slam to test the new purpose-built ARC Wingless chassis), suffered mechanical dramas in his first heat, before 
taking the victory in his second.  Both Mock and Chris Ansell would have an exciting battle in the first B-Main, throwing sliders at each other as they both advanced to the A-Main.  Tyson Martin and Blaine Densley would win both their heat races and would thus, start on the front row of the feature.

The green flag would fly for the final A-Main of Summer Slam, and in the span of two laps, Blake Walsh had taken the lead around the outside, and pole sitter Blaine Densley had pulled infield with engine dramas​, as it became anyone's game for second place.  Tyson Martin was next to pull infield from third, as Mitch Broome brought out the caution at the halfway mark.  Chris Temby looked to be banging down the wall in an attempt to catch Walsh, but it wouldn't be enough, as Walsh would score back-to-back wins, Temby second and Luke Weel in third.  ​Blake Walsh's first Wingless victory at Premier Speedway would also land him his second Summer Slam belt.  

With that, the busiest part of the season had been completed, ten days attending eight events at six different speedways across two states, taking thousands of photographs and covering some fantastic racing.  It wasn't over though, a busy January was just around the corner.

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