Drivers have asked for it and now it is happening again, a state Street Stock Series is about to get off the ground with the first Victorian Street Stock Series (VSSS) to begin in November of the 19/20 season with a host of new tracks joining some established Street Stock venues.
Justin Hampton has worked behind the scenes to put together the series with encouragement from people within the class that he knows and held talks with track representatives and sponsors to organise the structure and financial support required to get the series off the ground, the series is officially endorsed by the Speedway Sedans Victoria after Hampton approached them.
Mick Clark the Victorian rep for Street Stocks, Rod Meakins and Kellie Atkins and the SSV committee have ratified the series after some agreed changes to how it runs was worked through.
Speedway Wangaratta in Victoria’s North East is the first track to host a round on November 23rd. President John Patton is thrilled. “We have been attempting to get an event off the ground in recent seasons and when Mental Racewear’s Justin Hampton spoke with us we were thrilled he wanted to bring the series here. Our track has some of the best competition and our team has work extremely hard to attract classes like the 410 Sprintcars, Modified Sedans and Late Model Sedans. We cannot wait to see more than thirty Street Stocks at round one.”
Round two moves to Nyora two weeks later and the little ‘Bull Ring’ will sort everybody out quickly. Nyora is a yet to be tapped market of opportunity. Whilst Nyora had a local event last season, they are a track that is very close to the heavily populated Cranbourne and Pakenham areas, this could go gangbusters if drivers make the trek to Nyora as some competitors are looking to race cars that allow fuel injection and six cylinder cars only.
Rushworth Speedway will host round three in February on the 22nd in the Goulburn Valley. Street Stock competitors from Bendigo and local Kialla racer Shane Roycroft will give the visitors a hostile welcome. Hampton made a point that without financial backing from Aerodrome Automotive proprietors Shane and Felicity Roycroft the event would not have happened. “Shane and Felicity are involved in Street Stock racing and Rushworth. Without support from their business at Kialla, this round would not be at Rushworth. We really need drivers to support all our rounds, especially this one if they want to see regular Street Stock racing in the middle of Victoria, somewhere very accessible for our North West drivers from Mildura and our Central and Eastern drivers of Victoria.”
Swan Hill already holds a couple of the big Street Stock events each season, it was important for the series to be on at Swan Hill strategically as it will be the closest track to some of the state’s best competitors from out of Mildura, the series will be at Swan Hill on April the 25th, Anzac Day.
Finally the last event will be in May on the 9th at Alexandra Speedway in a unique ending to the series competition will run through the famous Dog Leg circuit meaning drivers will have right and left turns each lap. Lenny Bates who won the recent Drouin Speedway Dog Leg race for Street Stocks would be an early favourite on his home track.
Justin Hampton spoke with pride with regards to the series. “We want to continue to grow Street Stocks at tracks that in my opinion do not get a fair go with regards to the class. Apart from Swan Hill, the other tracks in the series have either been left alone or not supported to the extent we are offering with this series, we are confident thirty plus cars will come along to each round and have a great time and put on a great show for new fans in those areas. We cannot wait to see the flow on affect for us and for the class.”
Each round will have $4000- prize money on offer if thirty five cars line-up in the pits (reduced if car count lower) with the winner taking home $1200 and cars right through and into the B Main earning a slice of the pie.
There is also an end of series fund from Mental Racewear with another $2000 to be split to the best in the series. Victorian domiciled business Mental Racewear have had a huge year with regards to its Street Stock involvement and after sponsoring the national title and Victorian title recently at Mildura, the team at Mental Racewear are enthusiastic in their support of this series, having already started planning.
Claridge House Removals owned by Street Stock racer Craig Claridge will sponsor a hard charger award at each round and Pro 1 Race Parts will put up a voucher for the car that finishes 17th in the main event.
Similar to that award Smooth Suspension will chip in a voucher for the competitor who is judged to have finished 12th in the feature event and EB Graphics will award a voucher to the car judged to be best presented at each round.
Finally Campton Graphics will also contribute to the series with supplies such as big cheques and the host club will supply trophies at each round to first to third.
Each competitor in the SSV supported series will have three heat races at each event allocated and the series will run to the SSA rules. Points go to the driver. The top sixteen on points qualify direct to the feature event with four more cars from the B Main joining the field. The feature event will be forty laps duration with the field competing in twenty laps in each direction, the first direction determined by a coin toss.
For series details competitors are encouraged to make contact with Justin Hampton.
Ends Release.
