MICHAEL Coad and Stewart Grant-Campbell visited Rushworth Speedway in the SDAV Hot Rods and the Speedcars on Saturday and took out important wins in the Legends Cup and Speedcar club point score.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Other winners included the returning Peter Welch, from Bendigo, in Open Sedans, Echuca's Rachel Pratt in Productions, her mum Debbie in Ladies Sedans, and Bendigo's Thomas Conboy in the Junior Sedans.
Initially, things didn’t look good for the Goulburn Valley Auto Club with the weather forecast for Rushworth Speedway predicting 10–20 millimetres of wetness on Friday, and possible showers of 1-5mm. on race day.
Although the skies dumped 14mm on the speedway on Friday, the weather had cleared and the track was declared fit for racing by Saturday.
This was the first visit by the Victorian Speedcar Drivers Association cars to Rushworth for a number of years and 10 cars had nominated for their final round of the season.
Unfortunately, several cars proved to be somewhat fragile as the heats could only deliver small numbers of starters, with mechanical issues reducing the fields.
Just four cars presented for the 12-lap final.
Ashley Booker, familiar with the track by way of his Grand Prix Midget division experiences was on pole from Stuart Grant-Campbell with Nick Parker and Ian Jones completing the field.
Jones had been plagued with difficulties in getting the car started during the heats.
Grant-Campbell got away to an early lead with Booker in hot pursuit, the pair opening an early lead on the others.
Booker tried unsuccessfully for a high pass and continued to attack the leader until he eventually hit the front, earning a black and white flag in the process.
From there, Booker opened a good 50-metre lead, with the cars putting in some of the quickest laps seen at Rushworth, unfortunately without transponders, so lap times are not available.
With just three laps remaining, Jones’ car slowed to a halt on the back straight, bringing on the yellow.
The restart offered no surprises, as Booker once again led out from Grant-Campbell and Parker, with Booker greeting the chequered flag some hundred metres clear.
After the race, the steward penalised Booker one place back to second behind Grant-Campbell much to the chagrin of Booker and his team.
The SDAV Hot Rods again delivered some spectacular action for their Legends Cup, with guest driver current Victorian Super Rod champion Michael Coad putting his Mario Nastasi owned race car on pole with Trevor Perry beside him.
This was the first time that Perry, currently Australia 2 in GP Midgets, had driven an SDAV car on Rushworth for 27-years.
The line-up from there was Shannon Meakins, Glenn Lawless, Dylan Linehan, Dean West, Russell Hovey and Kali Hovey completing the top eight.
Coad rocketed away from the start, with Perry in hot pursuit. This pair cleared out from a squabbling pack that had formed behind them and at the completion of just three laps, Coad was fighting is way through lapped cars.
The race continued at a frantic pace with the two leaders half a lap in front and Perry attacking at every opportunity and getting his nose in front on one occasion.
Meakins, who had been running in third, retired to the infield.
The battle continued with Coad leading from Perry until Perry retired with just three laps to go with a flat tyre.
West, Lawless and Linehan were among the frontrunners, again mixing it up with lapped cars.
Coad took an easy win from there, but such had been the pace that several minutes’ discussion was necessary among officials and lap-scorers before the official placings could be finalised.
West took second from Lawless, who had posted his first win at Drouin only a couple of weeks back.
Linehan and Steve Robertson completed the top five.
In the local classes, Phil Lamb was a non-starter in the final after his Commodore shed its flywheel in the heats, causing major damage to the car including a destroyed starter motor.
The 15-lap combined Open Saloon and Production Sedan final had Brad Simmonds from Bendigo on pole for the first time with Peter Fitzpatrick on the outside.
Ash Brown in three was the first of the Productions, with Rachel Pratt in position four.
Geoff Lee, Peter Welch, Keith Simmonds, Scott Smith, Mark Bergman and Leigh Jeffery completed the top 10.
Brad Simmonds headed out with Fitzpatrick looking for the lead which he gained on lap three, with Brown still leading Pratt in the productions.
Welch was worrying away in fifth, trying high and low lines to find a way past the pair of battling Production Sedans.
On lap five, Welch finally got past Pratt, then overtook Brown a lap later.
Lap nine, and the yellow came out when Garry Gapes came to a halt in turn two.
The re-start order was Fitzpatrick, Brad Simmonds, Welch, Brown, Pratt and Jeffery.
This lap was short-lived, however, as the chief steward immediately turned on the yellow again and placedFitzpatrick rear of field for jumping the start before the green flag came down.
This promoted Brad Simmonds back into the lead.
Pratt got past Brown, and Welch took over as front-runner from Brad Simmonds on lap 11.
As Welch expanded the lead, Brad Simmonds came under a Pratt attack for second spot.
Welch took the flag, his first win for some time following an absence due to injury.
Adam Box, starting out of last position following an encounter with the concrete in the heats retired after eight laps.
Final placings for Opens were Welch, Brad Simmonds, Fitzpatrick and Marc Hanson and for Productions Pratt, Brown, Jeffery, Lee and Smith.
The GV Ladies final had Echuca’s Debbie Pratt in position one, with Chloe Lamb on the outside.
A spirited drag race from the start ended with Lamb into the wall and re-starting from rear-of- field.
Restart order was Pratt from Leanne Hodge, Jacquie Fitzpatrick, Amy Eade and Maddie Naismith.
A battle had erupted between Leanne Hodge and a determined Lamb, who was working her way back through the field.
This culminated in a spin and crash in turn three, as these two attempted a pass on a slower car.
This time, Lamb was out. Ally Moore also retired.
Another restart had Pratt once again taking the lead from Fitzpatrick, who was searching unsuccessfully for a way past.
Final placings were Pratt, Fitzpatrick, Eade, Leanne Hodge and Kelly Nadort.
GV Juniors once again produced some good entertainment with Thomas Conboy, from Bendigo, continuing on his winning way.
Conboy was followed home by Lachie Fitzpatrick, Issiah Hodge, Josh Cecil and Maddy Nadort.
Without transponders on either the Speedcars or the SDAV Hot Rods, it was not possible to report accurately on what appeared to be some very quick laps.
However, Mark Cowin had produced a radar gun, and recorded a speed in the straights of 124km/h for Michael Coad’s Hot Rod, and 123km/h for the Speedcar of Ashley Booker.
The next meeting at Rushworth Speedway will be on Saturday, May 14, with the return of the VSC Sprintcars, supported by Marsh Modifieds.