The 51st Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic

One week before the Australian Sprintcar Title, our country's biggest Speedway race is held; the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.  Premier Speedway in Warrnambool would host the best teams and drivers in the country, whilst also welcoming a large sum of talent from the USA.

Over 100 teams and drivers would be nominated including previous Classic champions Kerry Madsen, James McFadden, Lachlan McHugh, Corey McCullagh, Jamie Veal and reigning champ Brock Hallett.  Fellow Aussie Jock Goodyer was in dominant form and the pair of Luke Oldfield and Callum Williamson were also ones to watch after putting on some amazing racing against some of America’s best during Speedweek.

Speaking of America’s best, the likes of Carson Macedo, Rico Abreu, Aaron Reutzal, Chase Randall, Justin Peck, Corey Eliason, Brock Zearfoss and Kalib Henry would all be vowing for success. Outlaw Sheldon Haudenschild would be looking for redemption after a last corner pass by Brock Hallett took the victory away from him in last year's Classic.

Teams would be split across two days to attempt to qualify for the racing on Sunday.  Friday and Saturday would work like your standard Sprintcar event. Hot laps and qualifying to start, followed by 8 heat races (each driver competing in two), then followed by a C-Main, B-Main and the A-Main feature.  Points would be awarded in qualifying and to each position in each race, with the top 96 drivers in points being able to return on Sunday.

To prepare for a busy the January, the team at Premier Speedway made some major track changes to improve overtaking and the quality of the racing.  The banking had been reduced as well as removing 4 metres of infield to make the track wider.

The Speedweek round at Premier back on New Year’s Day proved these track changes had worked and qualifying for the first night of the Classic showed that the track had continued to be fast, with Jack Lee going Quicktime with a 10.818 second lap.

With the high stakes, parts would break on track and limits would be pushed too far, resulting in accidents including a big one for Ben Morris which took Andrew Priolo out of Heat 8.

As the night wore on, tyre wear became a factor, as we saw some cracking side by side racing and overtaking in the final four heats.  Kerry Madsen and Brendon Quinn collected the most points before the A-Main, giving them a front row start for the Night 1 Feature.

'Mad Man' Kerry Madsen led the majority of the 30-lap A-Main before his engine let go, as other contenders such as Jamie Veal, Cory McCullagh and Tate Frost fell to the wayside.  The podium for Night 1 would be an all-American affair as Aaron Reutzal finally grabbed a feature win after a lot of promise, followed by Texan Chase Randall and Rico Abreu who had fought his way from 14th.

For Qualifying Night 2, I would be shooting for the family team of Hosey Motorsport as they attempted to qualify for the Classic.

During the team’s first heat race, Troy Hose would make contact with the Kye Jensen, which would force Troy to retire the car a few laps later.

Thanks to the inverted qualifying positions in the second round of heat races, Troy was bound to start first, but with damage to the front of the V57, the team would not make the race.

They would be able to race in the C-Main, with the chance of advancing to the B-Main if Troy finished in the top 2.  At the drop of the green flag, it looked like Parker Scott reacted late, meaning the cars behind almost ran into each. Troy would have to take avoiding action onto the infield to avoid more front-end damage. Unfortunately, this would drop him to the back of the field, and he would finish last.

It was certainly a night of bad luck for Hosey Motorsport, but there were teams who had gotten a stronger dose of misfortune.  Tim Hutchins was one of those, crashing out of Heat 3 and out of the Classic all together.

Elsewhere, Jordyn Charge fought off Jock Goodyer - who had been fastest in qualifying - during Heat 3, as James McFadden took victory in both his heats.

Luke Dillon would start at the front of the A-Main, but Sheldon Haudenschild would come from fifth to take victory on Night 2. Jock Goodyer would have a big crash when he hit the cushion (buildup of dirt near the outside wall) out of Turn 3. James McFadden would finish second as Californian Carson Macedo rounded out the podium.

96 cars had been locked in, and now it was time for the Final.  Just like the previous two nights, fans had packed themselves into Premier Speedway like sardines and although I’d arrived two hours before any track action, I still had to park in the furthest paddock away from the track.

There would be no qualifying and no heats.  With each race, the top two finishers would advance to the next, up until the two B-Mains of the night.

Proceedings would begin with the American and Australian national anthems, as their flags were driven around the track.  Defending champion Brock Hallett would have one last ride with the trophy, and before you knew it, it was time to race.

Glen Sutherland would show what he was made of by winning the F-Main and by climbing up to third in the E-Main, just missing out on advancing to the D-Main.

To set the grid for the A-Main Feature, 3 short races would determine the first 18 positions, whilst the final six would be filled by the top three from each B-Main.

Sheldon Haudenschild would grab the first-place qualifying spot, with James McFadden lining up alongside, as Night 1 winner Aaron Reutzal would be joined by another American in Chase Randall on the second row.

Lachlan McHugh’s engine would die before he could run in the Silver Scramble, meaning his team with the help of others would scramble to swap out the engine.

Big names like Jamie Veal, Jack Lee and Grant Anderson would punch their ticket to the A-Main by finishing in the top three of the first B-Main, as Jock Goodyer, Marcus Dumesny and Chad Ely would do the same in the second last race of the night.

All the preparations and all the racing so far had been for a chance at Australian Speedway’s biggest paying race, and a spot in the history books.

The 51st Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic had begun and pretty much straight away there was carnage.  Chad Ely and Peter Doukas wrecked on the second lap in Turn 1, but the major talking point was when Sheldon Haudenschild hit the cushion and spun out of the lead, collecting major contender James McFadden in the process.

Aaron Reutzal took the lead and didn’t look back. Chase Randall would smack the Turn 2 wall out of second place and disappointingly out of the race.

Brock Hallett gave Aaron Reutzal a run for his money near the end but to no avail.  Reutzal and Saller Motorsport had become Classic champions! Brock Hallett would back up his win a year ago with a second-place finish, as 2022 Classic champion Lockie McHugh came from 14th to finish third.

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