Rusty Hickman in the Impresive looking V40 Sprintcar at the Classic - Photo by Corey Gibson Photography
Eureka Sprintcar Series heads to Wangaratta Speedway
Author : Ian Vale
Round nine of the Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series will be contested this Saturday night at Wangaratta Speedway after a six week break that is sure to see some important changes in the KTM top ten standings. The Battle amongst the top three drivers Rusty Hickman, current Eureka Garages & Sheds Series champion Brett Milburn and Tasmania’s Tim Hutchins will continue looking for the top spot in the Series.
With the last rounds A and B Main events lost to rain at Simpson the regular series competitors are ready to get back into action this weekend.
In saying that the field size is down a little after the past few weeks with many of the Eureka Series drivers contesting the biggest races in the country that has left a few drivers that planned to be at the Wangaratta round out due mechanical issues.
Still the show must go on and with the speed Rusty Hickman showed at the resent Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and Australian Sprintcar Title Rusty will be hard to beat. Now two drivers in the field that are both Series champions, Brett Milburn and Mike Van Bremen have competed at the Wangaratta venue before, although it has been some season back they may just have a little knowledge to help them in the quest for victory on Saturday night.
Tim Hutchins pace has been good this season although at his last Series round a unfortunate incident put Tim out of the event early in the night that saw him drop a few valuable Series points. Tim took a round win last season at Horsham, a track he had not seen before so the Wangaratta race track should not be too much of an issue for him to be one o of the main players on the night.
Two other drivers that are more than capable of mixing it up and a chance for a top three placing is Charles Hunter and Jacob Smith, both these drivers continue to show good form where ever they race.
One of the young chargers of last season Brayden Parr had a poor start in the early part of the 2017-2018 Eureka Garages & Sheds Series but his last two rounds have seen him back on the pace and Brayden must go into this event with a real chance to take a win.
Once again the group time trials will open round nine and set the drivers up for their heat races before the main event.
Two of the season’s rookie drivers entered is Grant Stansfield and Mark Carlin, Grant has proven that he will be a driver of the future in the sprintcar ranks and currently sits in thirteenth place in the standings, he is sure to move up the ladder into the KTM top ten this weekend.
Mark Carlin a top flight sedan racer made the moved into sprintcars this season and while it is early days for Mark and the team Mark is one driver in the field that probably has more knowledge of the Wangaratta speedway than most of the drivers. A consistant performance over the night will be pleasing for Mark and his team.
Deniliquin’s Eddie Lumbar heads into this round of the Eureka Series still smiling after setting a new twelve lap record at the recent Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic. While Eddie will be putting his best foot forward again this weekend he also has another personal agenda to achieve and that his to beat his beat mate David Aldersley home in the heat races and the main event. David has other ideas!
Sam Wren has been the quite achiever over the last few rounds continuing his way up the Series points ladder, Sam hails from Ballarat and he will have the company of Rod Matthews also from Ballart to represent the Eureka Town and fly the flag.
Two drivers that put in a big effort for each round of the Series are Dennis Jones and Bobby Daly, both drivers missed a couple of the early rounds of the Series but it has not hampered there progress in the Series. Dennis is not new to sprintcar racing and can be a real threat at most events, he is another driver that has cut some laps at Wangaratta.
Bobby is also a rookie this season, at the Boxing Day round of the Series at Avalon Raceway Bobby finished the Main event in ninth place with a great performance on the night, he is another of the future generation in the sport.
Joining the Series for the first time driving the Peter Milnes owned V51 sprintcar will be Brayden Cooley the son of the Cool Chassis builder, John Cooley, Brayden has been running in the 360 sprintcar class and is pleased to get the opportunity to step into a 410 powered sprintcar.
Robert Nicholas will make the shot trip from Stewarton to part of the show while another new driver Vern Wiley will be making his debut into the Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series this weekend.
All indications are that this will be another top night of Sprintcar action that is wide open with some major points on the line for some of the awards and series prize poole monies in the Eureka Sprintcar Series.
Round nine of Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series, Wangaratta Speedway, Shanley Street Wangaratta Saturday the 3rd of February, with sprintcar action to commence at approximately 5.30pm
If you live in the Wangaratta area and are in the market for a great shed give the Eureka Garages & Sheds Shepparton branch a call or visit them and let them know the Eureka Sprintcar Series sent you.
Eureka Garages and Sheds Series – KTM Top 10: 1st – Rusty Hickman - 2256 2nd – Brett Milburn – 2128 3rd – Tim Hutchins - 1963 4th – Jacob Smith - 1796 5th – Corey McCullagh - 1679 6th – Charles Hunter - 1549 7th – Glen Sutherland - 1537 8th – Peter Doukas - 1533 9th – Jordyn Charge - 1529 10th – Brayden Parr - 1467
Western Nissan
(End of Series random draw between 11th & 20th place) 11th – Jamie Veal - 1450 12th – Jye Okeeffe - 1399 13th – Grant Stansfield - 1338 14th – Luke Walker - 1251 15th – Rhys Baxter - 1243 16th – Stephen Spark - 1225 17th – Sam Wren - 1220 18th – Andrew Hughes - 1213 19th – Dennis Jones - 1203 20th – James McFadden - 1178
For a full list of all the 2017-2018 SRA of Vic Race dates go to www.sravic.com
The Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria thank the following Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series and season sponsors:
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