Rushworth Speedway opens its gates again this Saturday night for another huge night of entertainment and when the annual Australian Compact Speedcar national title is held at the Goulbourn Valley venue headlining the show along with the popular Dave Pollard Memorial for the 3 Litre Sedans, the two main events with have great support from all the local heroes in club classes.
In the Compact Speedcar field a strong contingent of New South Wales competitors have nominated to compete in what should be a sensational race, very hard to pick a winner for. Rod Francis, Craig Hickey, the Rawlings clan and Jason Essai seem to be drivers to keep your eye on if you are a Victorian look to go home with the number one plate and those Victorians most like to be right up the front include the Hutchinson boys, Allan Pitcher, Louis Rodriguez a Shepparton racer who won recently, Justin Paull and Chris Curren whilst more local flavour comes via Wangaratta racers Scott Thomson and Matthew Brown.
It is anybodies race this Saturday night in a very wide open national championship event worth the price of admission in itself to see the Victoria versus New South Wales battle in this class.
Victoria’s top three competitors in the 3 Litre Sedans lead the entry list for the Dave Pollard Memorial this weekend with Victorian champion Kevin Clarke from Bendigo and Daniel Wilson a Goulburn Valley racer and current Victoria two plus Ross Burrows the Victoria three driver in a field that includes tough cookies such as Andrew Ahearn, Shane Simpson, Lucas Conder, Peter Robl, Steve Honeyman and Steve Ellis.
It is almost like the band getting back together after a number of years apart and all to honour Dave Pollard with fifteen entrants. Kev Clarke finally bagged a big event win when he won the Victorian title this year and now all eyes will be watching him to see if he can go on with it, however thats going to be tough with those entered all eyeing the same prize and Dave’s son Teejay will just be looking to upset everybody in front of family and friends and pull a big result out of the bag.
In support class racing Paul Lamb and Thomas Conboy are the most likely to be doing battle in the Open Saloons, however a few of the Street Stock lads around the traps have nominated to see if they can throw a cat amongst the pigeons, Shane Roycroft, Jaidyn Dredge and Nathan Dunn are those boys, and the local crew will work hard to see if they can keep the honours in house.
Production Sedans will still be tough in even though the field is smaller than recent meetings with Geoff Lee, Shane and Bevan Hutchins and Leigh Jeffery still the drivers to watch whilst in the Ladies Saloons last meetings winning Kelly Lamb will be trying to repeat that terrific result with in a tough field that includes Dave Pollards daughter Felicity.
Finally the Junior Sedans close out the show and our two top drivers Lachie Fitzpatrick and Tristan McGraw have been keeping busy chasing each other around Victoria in recent weeks and they are back to continue their home track battle with Josh Cecil and another new competitor to the venue Toby Carmichael amongst those that might cause the top two drivers some concerns.
Racing begins from 4pm on Saturday with entry costs $25 per adult, aged pensioners are $15, kids 12 to 16 are $12.50 each and under the age of 12 is FREE, whilst a family of 2 adults and 2 kids 12 to 16 is $60
The Goulburn Valley Auto Club would like to thank the following supporters:
Super Balance Automotive –Shepparton
WG Panels – Rochester
Provac Poultry Services – Bendigo
Bourke Fencing – Bendigo
Kyabram Motor Wreckers – Kyabram
The Rushworth Hotel – Rushworth
Kyabram Bearings – Kyabram
Autobarn Shepparton
Marty Turpin Mechanical – Tatura
Ipta Fibreglass – Geelong
Ross Adams Cartage Contractor – Rochester
Rushworth Bakery – Rushworth
Maxam Printing – Shepparton
Pearce Concrete – Golden Square
Michel Signs – Shepparton
Sonaray Lighting – Melbourne
The McIvor – Bendigo
Superior Concrete & Construction – Bendigo
A1 Water Supplies – Tatura
AUSTRALIAN COMPACT SPEEDCAR TITLE
BUTCH HUTCHINSON – Victoria 2
CRAIG HICKEY – New South Wales 2
ROD FRANCIS – New South Wales 4
ANDREW LARDNER – Victoria 5
MARK HUTCHINSON – Victoria 6
GABY YAMMOUNI – New South Wales 6
ALLAN PITCHER – Victoria 7
KEITH ASTRELLA – Victoria 27
MATTHEW BROWN – Victoria 8
GLEN WILES – Victoria 9
LOUIS RODRIQUEZ – Victoria 11
JUSTIN PAULL – Victoria 12
JASON ESSAI – New South Wales 13
DARREN MARGULES – New South Wales 14
TANIA HALLETT – Victoria 15
ROB RAWLINGS SNR – New South Wales 15
SCOTT THOMSON – Victoria 16
BRAD RAWLINGS – New South Wales 16
JASON CRAWFORD – Victoria 18
Chris CURREN – Victoria 23
CRAIG McKIMMIE – Victoria 24
BRUCE ADAMS – New South Wales 63
AYDEN ELLIOTT – New South Wales 69
ROB RAWLINGS JNR – New South Wales 86
DAVE POLLARD MEMORIAL FOR 3 LITRE SEDANS
KEVIN CLARKE – Victoria 1
DANIEL WILSON – Victoria 2
ROSS BURROWS – Victoria 3
JASON AHEARN – Heartland 4
SHANE SIMPSON – Nagambie 7
LUCAS CONDER – Ballarat 9
MICHAEL BOYLE – Swan Hill 14
PETER ROBL – Wangaratta 19
TROY BRITTON – Heartland 41
ANDREW AHEARN – Heartland 55
TEEJAY POLLARD – Goulburn Valley 65
STEVE HONEYMAN – Horsham 66
SHARON FINNING – Heartland 67
MATTHEW CALLANAN – Heartland 73
STEVE ELLIS – Horsham 74
GV OPENS SALOONS
MARK BERGMANN – 31
KEITH SIMMONDS – 32
BRAIDEN SIMMONDS -36
SCOTT O’KEEFE – 37
BRAD SIMMONDS – 39
THOMAS CONBOY – 52
ANDREW BROWN – 66
PAUL LAMB – 73
SHANE ROYCROFT – 82
GARRY GAPES – 84
MICK PRATT – 94
JAIDYN DREDGE – 113
NATHAN DUNN – 141
GV PRODUCTIONS SEDANS
GEOFF LEE – 5
SHANE HUTCHINS – 10
BEVAN HUTCHINS – 18
LEIGH JEFFERY – 29
AARON BACON – 57
SCOTT SMITH – 58
DALE SMITH – 59
MATTHEW BROOKS – 67
NEIL JOHNSON – 69
PAUL WILKINSON – 90
GV LADIES SALOONS
CHLOE LAMB – 2
BELINDA CHALCRAFT – 15
MADDIE NAISMITH – 35
KELLY LAMB – 77
NICOLE GAPES – 84
CHELSEA HODGE – 95
FELICITY ROYCROFT – 165
GV JUNIOR SEDANS
LACHIE FITZPATRICK – 1
JOSH CECIL – 6
LUKE CECIL – 7
JARDEN SIMMONDS- 20
TRISTAN MCGRAW – 38
DANIEL SMITH – 58
TOBY CARMICHAEL – 93
JARRED BROWN – 169
