Happy Easter (trail)

It's wind down time for the sprintcar season and time once again for the annual 'Easter Sprintcar Trail'. When I was a lad just a few years ago we would follow the racing on Easter weekend, pitching our tent in the car park and freezing our butts off. It was huge fun. These days it's a matter of logging in to Speed Hive and a little reading.

Clicky the READ MORE link for how the 2018 Easter Trail panned out.

Avalon Raceway - Lara Vic.

Tough luck for Corey tonight.

Round one of three was first up at the place for pace of if you like.. THE PLACE FOR PACE - Avalon Raceway just out of Melbourne. A large turnout of some 53 cars entered, mainly local drivers with a few South Aussies, a couple from Tassie and a few from the northern states. Three or four lady drivers also which is great to see them out there mixing it with the lads.
James McFadden was there as crowd favourite along with Jamie Veal (the real deal) and this was where we expected to see the major battle. Not to mention the show our local drivers can give us, it's always good racing and well worth the drive down to Avalon and the admission fee.

Time Trials: Jamie was first to set the mark in the first time trial group with an 11.839 only to be toppled by J-Mac in the fourth group with an 11.799. Did somebody sneeze?

Heats: Heat 1: was pretty lacklustre and worth a refund with only one mid-field car passing at the start. Jamie collected the points with a pole to checker run. Heat 2: saw some passing but it was three of our local lads that filled the top three finishing spots. Heat 3: There was a bit of action on lap one of the third heat but things settled with a win going to young Matty Dumsney from N.S.W. Heat 4: and again, only first lap action. What is this, the Easter Parade? Heat 5: and J-Mac had his fans in a frenzy until he executed a last lap pass on Ryan Davis to take the win. This no doubt was the race of the night. Heat 6: and lots of frustration to be seen in this one. This, being the second round and a reverse grid had Jamie (the real deal) off the back and only making up two spots over the ten lap distance. See.. even with a fast car it's not easy. They're all fast. And so on and so on. It would seem most of the heat action was to be seen in the first couple of laps so the track (surface) must have been quite racy. J-Mac passed three cars in the opening lap of his reverse grid heat to end in forth. Possibly the race of the night. Hang on, wasn't Heat five the race of the night? Heat 10: and all's well. And it was time for the Mains.

Mains: C:Main came and went. B:Main gave us some shuffling in the first couple of laps and there looked to be a bit of spillage mid race but staying clear of any mess SA driver Matt Egel drove himself into the A with another pole to checker run. Show time and the big guns came out for the A:Main 30 lapper. No guessing, it was James McFadden off the front along side young local lad and winner of the Grand Annual Classic a few weeks back, Corey McCullogh with Jamie Veal out of three. It was the usual slipping and sliding at the green only to be interrupted by a coming together between J-Mac and Corey who unfortunately came of second best and forced to retire. This promoted Jamie Veal to second and that's how they finished.

Points: With the crazy points system Sprintcars Australia have adopted where all races count, both heats and mains, we see James McFadden leading the three race series on 33 points with A:Main non-finisher Corey McCullogh on 31 second in the points. How does that happen?

So the circus moves on to the lovely little town of Mt Gambier for Round two tonight.

Borderline Speedway - Mount Gambier S.A.

I could live here.

 Here we are at the most beautiful speedway in the country and this little town comes alive when the sprintcars come to town. You can spot cars all over town as every motel has a couple of cars on their forecourt for a scrub down and a refresh from night one's racing.

Time Trials: Forty six cars made the trek across the boarder to contest night two of the three race series. Qualifying (or time trials as we know it in speedway) got underway with Jamie Veal, the real deal top qualifying with a 10.227 lap. So where was J-Mac? J-Mac time trialled on top of his group but in the merged times he only managed eleventh. This really does show how competitive and close in speeds the sprintcars today are.

Heats: Heat 1: was an Easter Parade with SA driver Ryan Jones leading the pack. A little bit of action was seen in Heat 2: with ol' Domain Ramsey getting the win. The stewards started crowd favourite James McFadden off the front in Heat 3: for a pole to checker and a bunch of points. Heat 4: and it was the real deal out of one for the win. Heat 5: Tough luck Corey McCullogh who had done well in qualifying (2nd) took the win adding to his tally. Heat 6: tried to keep the crowd awake with a win from N.S.W driver Eddie Lumbar. Heat 7: Saw Stephen Spark take the win in what was Jamie Veal's reverse grid heat. Jamie started out of eight to finish fifth. Heat 8: Tasmaniac Tim Hutchins performed the P to C dance. Heat 9: was Corey's reverse start but there was a bit of the usual shiezen in the early laps and a few never to make the ten lap distance. The win went to V37 Grant Anderson with Corey only making one place to finish in forth. Heat 10: was the heat of the night the fans had been waiting for. After an ugly mess on lap one J-Mac was on the charge to finish in second after a row four start. Race control really divided the field down into lots of small field and lots of heats heats, safer racing perhaps and lots of races. Value for money, longer night, mmm?

Mains: C:Main and we saw Heat 7 winner Stevie Spark take a backward pedal falling back to ninth from a second row start to end his night. This is sprintcar racing. Goodyer, Evans, Mollenoyux and Mcinerney made the transfer spots getting them into the B but didn't convert. B:Main was an action packed show with the most overtaking to be seen all night. This is desperate times to get those all important transfer spots, your way through to the A. Jye Okeeffe won the B. A quick few laps from the support class and it's on with the A:Main. No surprises here with J-Mac converting his pole start into a win over the thirty lap distance. Tough luck for Corey for the send night in a row. After starting alongside J-Mac out of two he got tangled in some chaos early on dropping him to thirteenth (ouch!) to steadily work his way back to finishing ninth. Jamie Veal was to finish in second some four seconds behind the flying J-Mac.

Points: It looks like someone has made a bit of an error posting the points but my guess is that James McFadden is well in the lead as they pull into Premier Speedway Warrnambool for tonight's final show. Stay tuned.

Premier Speedway - Warrnambool Vic.

And where was Linsey this year?

Sunday and we find ourselves four hours south on Melbourne in the pits of (well I think anyway) the best and quickest 1/4 mile dirt oval in the country. Premier Speedway hosts several major speedway events through their racing season including the 'Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic', the one that attracts drivers from around Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Tonight was the final of three races at three different tracks which has traditionally been the final fling for the sprintcar season in Victoria and South Australia.

Time Trials: Why is it that the governing bodies of sporting events continually bend the procedures of play? A night of speedway racing for the headline class usually started with time trials for the whole field. Depending on the number of entries this determined the number of heats and the number or cars per heat and their starting order. But then I'm from the pre-digital age and think apps are something to be found in the jungle. So now the time trial is somehow split into groups and I don't know how these groups are determined. Perhaps someone has the app? I won't go into the group time trial (qualifying) results only to say that in the merged results it was surprise surprise, S19 Brad Keller who set quicktime. Where was J-Mac and Veal? Six and tenth respectively.

Heats: The cars were divided into 5 groups determined by their time trial result. Each driver/car gets to race two heats with their second being the reversed starting grid of the first. Heat 1: A little shuffling at the start with a P2C (pole to checker) win for Domain Ramsey. Heat 2: Jamie Veal made short work of Mike Van Bremen to win from the outside of the front row. Heat 3: A win from Corey McCulough in what looked like the Easter Parade of Easter Parades. According to Speedhive they finished how they started. J-Mac only managed a third. Heat 4: went to S20 Glen Sutherland, I really like watching Glen. He's a big guy and how he gets in the car beats me. He is a good fast racer, usually finishing towards the front. Heat 5: Johnny Vogels all the way. Heat 6: the reverse grid round. Corey picked them off one by one from the back to finish in fifth. Heat 7: Jacob Smith P2C. Heat 8: Jamie Veal from tenth to eighth, not the points he needed. Bob Daley took the win. Heat 9: Jordy Charge. Heat 10: A DNF for J-Mac, ouch! Looked to be a spillage four laps in. Tassie Jock Goodyer was the winner. So that's it, onto the Mains.

Mains: First out the C:Main and it looked like the most fun of the night loosing five cars on the first lap. Smith, Murcott, Davis and Kristy Ellis filled the transfer spots. B:Main time, the desperate one and there was desperation a plenty. We lost Davis and Murky on lap two. Hickman, Attard, Ando and Okeeffe were to be joining the A. A:Main. So now we have seeded the field down to eighteen from the fifty one that entered the racing. It was a no-show from crowd fav James McFadden, damage, engine, head-ache, dunno. Jamie, the real deal lacked lustre starting and ending out of eight but luck shone on Corey McCulough for another BIG win at his home track Premier Speedway, Warrnambool.

Points: Well who knows who came out on top to win the series (three races). It's time to crack open the calculator. The crazy all-points-count system was beyond my calculator so I had to find another source. Thanks to the Premier Speedway web site here's how it things panned out..

1. V35 Jamie Veal (615 points)
2. V42 Jye O’Keeffe (545 points)
3. V90 Corey McCullagh (535 points)
4. V17 Dennis Jones (520 points)
5. V37 Grant Anderson (515 points)
6. W17 James McFadden (440 points)
7. V67 Luke Walker (420 points)
8. V52 Darren Mollenoyux (365 points)
9. V70 John Vogels (355 points)
10. S19 Bradley Keller (350 points).

Another Easter Trail, another three nights of great sprintcar action. I wish I had of been there but thanks to Speedhive I can be pretty close to it without all the driving, the cold, the mud in the face or the smelly pies.

On a closing note the points system really baffles me. To me, the only race that counts should be the A:Main. Time trials, and Heats should only be a means of getting there. Not doubting Jamie put on a good show but without going back through it I think he only had one or two heat win and no A:Main win. Should that be enough to win the series? J-Mac won two A's with Corey winning one yet Jamie won the series. I suppose it could of been worse if someone had exceeded their fuel allowance, just kidding. I remain baffled.