With less than a dozen 360 Sprintcar race meetings to his name, 16-year-old Hickman impressively drove to his maiden feature-race win in last Saturday night’s round at Swan Hill’s Sonic Speedway.

After qualifying third for the 30-lap feature race, Hickman finished second and fifth in his two heat races and qualified second fastest in time-trials in his Hickman’s Tree Maintenance backed J. and J. car.

In the main race Hickman powered into second place from the drop of the green flag.

From there, he maintained his consistency and then enjoyed a lucky break in the middle stages of the feature race when the leader, Chris Solomon, crashed out after contact with a lapped car.

Hickman made the most of his opportunity by inheriting the lead and held on to it all the way to the chequered flag aboard his.

Hickman was overjoyed with his maiden feature race win in what is his first full season in 360 Sprintcars.

“I can’t thank my family, in particular my dad (Darren), enough for all of their support and I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy Saturday night’s success without them,” expressed Rusty Hickman, whose dad is a former All Star Series Champion.

“My dad and I work hard on the car – both at the track and in the workshop between race meetings – and my dad’s experience has played a huge part in my success through his setup and driver guidance, and I can’t thank him enough.” 

Meanwhile, Rushworth Speedway roars into action again this Saturday night.

The Late Model Sedan division starts its Victorian Point Score season and the club will also honour long-time member Dave Pollard, who lost his life in the off-season, by staging a memorial race in his honour.

Late model sedans have varying engines depending on what the driver decided to access and the engines can work in favour for the racers or against depending on track condition and race set-ups. Engines often are from a 360ci up to a 454ci engine V8 power plant.

Drivers to beat include, Barmah’s Graham Forte, Beveridge’s Tim McPherson, Eildon brothers Brock and Chevy Edwards, Healesville’s Cameron Pearson, Melbourne’s Brendan Hucker and Daniel Barton, New Zealand’s Kristin Vermeulen and Canberra’s Scott McPherson.

The field for the Dave Pollard Memorial for the three litre sedans includes Lockwood’s Lennie Clark, Bendigo’s Andrew Ahearn, Shepparton’s Teejay Pollard and a host of other drivers from the Bendigo area.

Another highlight of the meeting will be the women’s race. Racing begins at 4pm. Entry costs are adults $25, family of two adults and two children $60, children under-12 are free and aged pension $15.