Rutherglen Speedway Club held their latest race meeting on Saturday (25 March) supported by Rapid Performance Part and Rapid Hydraulics, with the major events on the program being the ‘CR Racewear and Apparel’ supported Queen of the Murray for Ladies Open Sedans and the first round of the Colin Young Memorial event for the Goulburn Ovens Sedans. Katie Meyer from Ballarat claimed the win in the Queen of the Murray event, whilst local builder Justin Ewert won the Colin Young Memorial round.
Also on the day Rhys Lansdown a tradie from Wahgunyah had a huge crash rolling three times whilst leading a race in Sports Sedans. Lansdown is a little banged up and visited the hospital however should be right to go racing again quickly.
Racing in the Queen of the Murray event for the Ladies Open Sedan’s seen four heat races held with Jaimi Barber from Benalla, Meyer, Tay Barnard from Wangaratta, and Meyer again were the winners in the qualifying races. Meyer won the second heat by a close margin of .306 of a second ahead of Barber. In the final Meyer led the race early before Benalla woman Bianca Ballantyne took the led from lap three until lap seventeen before Meyer reclaimed the lead until the end of the race defeating Bianca Brown and Chelsea Hodge from Bendigo, Abbi Garlick and Tay Barnard whilst Ballantyne disappointingly after a terrific raced, was infield as a non-finisher.
In the Colin Young Memorial event supported by the Goulburn Ovens Sedan Association, whose members compete for points towards the end of season awards, racing would see four heat races won by four different drivers with local spray painter Billy O’Donoghue winning the first of them after starting towards the rear of the field and hitting the lead on lap four. Justin Ewert then claimed victory in the second heat race moving forward from the middle of the pack. Albury based racer Daniel McCarten won the third heat race with Leeton racer Ben Schmetzer the winner in the final qualifying race.
In the twenty-lap final, Ewert took the lead from lap one with O’Donoghue and Michael Poole settling into the chasing podium positions. Tommy Schmetzer passed Poole at lap twelve and at the drop of the chequered flag Ewert claimed victory from O’Donoghue, Tommy Schmetzer, Ben Schmetzer and Wayde Little with round two at Rushworth to determine the overall in the Colin Young Memorial.
In the Standard Saloon ‘Pat Wallace Bricklaying’ Wahgunyah Daytime championship action for the first of three rounds, Chiltern race driver Warrick Howie claimed victory in all three qualifying hears starting with a last lap pass to claim the win in heat one. In the feature event Howie made it four from four race wins on the day when he defeated Micheal Fleming-Robertson by fifteen seconds, who was then followed by Scott McAuliffe, Rhyse Lavender and Tony Spale.
Junior Open Sedan competitors were also in their first round of their ‘Billy’s Custom Spray Painting’ Daytime championship point score. Four heat races were held with the feature event not able to be held due to light and visibility. Jordyn Tewkesbury won the first heat race of the day before Marcus Maclean won the next three with his biggest margin being fifteen seconds. Victory was determined by the amount of qualifying point’s earnt via the state point system. Maclean took the win over Tewkesbury, Tom Little, Connor Lovell and Mackenzie Bunt.
Rhys Lansdown won the first Sports Sedan heat race before leading the second race up until lap five where he rolled in turn three going over and over three times. Jackson Barneveld was declared the winner of heat two whilst he went on to win heat three later. On points Barneveld was declared the class winner ahead of Troy Desmond, Lansdown, Jake Cottier and a tie between Anthony Knight and Kenneth Mankey.
Rounding out all the results the Unlimited Sedans also competed with Gippsland competitor Anthony McKean one of seven drivers competing. McKean took a race win in the first qualifying whilst Ashley Booker who frequently competes in open wheel class action jumped in Jason Meyers race car and won heat two. Corey McDonald from Mount Beauty took victory in the third heat race and like the Juniors and Sports Sedans the class results were determined on points through qualifying. McKean the winner in front of Booker, Peter Schmetzer, McDonald and Tim Williams.
Racing returns on April 22nd with the visiting Hot Rods, a Sports Sedan feature, a Junior Open Sedan feature and club classes.
Corowa-Rutherglen Speedway club thanks the following supporters;
Max Maclean & Co Corowa
Dawsons Haulage
Corowa RSL
Maverick Boats
Upton Engineering
Milthorpe Transport
Cellebrations Wahgunyah
Quantum Printing
Corowa Meats
Corowa Upholstery
Dickens Engineering
Dunkley Panels Corowa
Hartnett Transport
Marshall Batteries
Rod Stones Automotive
Intersales Wodonga
Toyota Material Handling Wodonga
Hi Tec Oils Albury
Albury Truck & Trailer Parts
Border Bearings
Stevos Painting
Federation Steel Supplies
Jackie & Vern Parker
B.B Freight Corowa
Corowa Furnishings and Floors
Best Western Motel Corowa
Rapid Performance & Hydraulics Wodonga
Brocks Welding
Trewe Building & Construction
Billy’s Custom Spray Painting
Crowies Paints
Blue Shed Self Storage
Mobil Corowa
Ends release.
Media written by DMT Sports Media – Dean Thompson
