THE Australian Sprintcar Championships at the Borderline Speedway held from Thursday to Saturday nights last week were an overall success according to club president Cary Jennings.
The three nights provided fast and furious action, with big crowds flocking into the venue.
Well over 15,000 fans showed their support over the three nights, with Saturday night’s crowd for the championship hit out estimated at around 9000.
For Jennings it was a welcome result after a mountain of work had gone into the preparation.
“The club is extremely happy,” he said.
“It has been a big effort carrying over for six to 12 months, which came to a head Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“It was very pleasing to see a good crowd show up and lots of locals supporting it.”
Jennings said the city should be proud of the effort, with the eyes of the national and further afield on the Borderline Speedway, especially on Saturday night.
“We had a bit of trouble with our live streaming, but that was fixed up by Saturday night and they would have seen the whole thing all over the world,” he said.
“We knew we had people from America wanting to see it, so it is good to see Mount Gambier was on the map all over the world.”
The championship final was made even more exciting due to the work that had gone into the racing surface leading up the event.
The whole surface had been replaced before the season, with the new clay holding up well to three days of extreme racing and hot weather conditions.
“The credit goes to the boys who brought the track up over three nights – Bill Barrows, David Vears, Milton Chant and Russell Collins,” Jennings said.
“I was happy when I saw the final and saw it go full noise.
“The track was good, the calibre of competitors was there and the front runners deserved to be at the front.
“There was really three race tracks there – the low line the middle and the high – and at stages they all used it.
“The heat played a little bit into it and the track started to dry off early in the night.
“But we knew when the sun went down the moisture would start to come up out of the track.
“Bill and I were talking and he knew what he had to do.
“Right at the end the track provided three racey positions.
“I do not think the crowd or the competitors could complain about what we gave them.”
Jennings thanked the volunteers, from the track marshals to the officials who travelled for the event, to the cleaners and everyone in between.
He said the police did a fantastic job directing traffic and in the end it was a huge team effort that ensured everything ran smoothly.
Overall Jennings said the event was a success and something that would not be seen in the region for some time to come.
“Those people who did not get out there Saturday night really missed something and wont see it again at that level for a few years,” he said.
“We have other big shows but that was the best.”
