By Trevor Jackson
PERFECT conditions graced the Borderline Speedway on Saturday night for Round 2 of the annual Sprintcar Easter Trail.
The series kicked off Friday night at Avalon Speedway and was set to culminate on Sunday night at Warrnambool but the final night was rained out.
However, there were no such issues at the Borderline Speedway, with a strong field and a big crowd in attendance.
Fans were entertained by not just the Sprintcars, but Super Rods and Late Models as well.
The roar of V8 engines echoed throughout the night, with all three categories providing a real speedway experience for the fans on the hill.
In the main event, Australia 1 Jamie Veal claimed the honours, despite starting out of sixth position for the Sprintcar A Main feature race.
He was followed home by Troy Little and Marcus Dumesny.
Daniel Pestka was the best of the Limestone Coast competitors, crossing the line in sixth position in the Port MacDonnell based Starks race car.
Glen Sutherland finished 10th, just one position ahead of Scott Enderl.
Little showed his pace early, with a quick time of 11.756 seconds in group one qualifying, with Veal down in fourth place.
In group two Tim Hutchins set the pace with his time of 11.856, just ahead of Dumesny.
That left David Murcott to claim the group three round with a time of 11.638.
Little continued his hot pace in heat one, crossing the line ahead of Ryan Jones and Veal.
Dumesny claimed heat two and the three drivers looked tough to beat.
In heat four Dumesny and Little could not make inroads into the top three, while in heat five Veal fought his way up to third.
Enderl and Sutherland worked their way through the B Main to qualify for the big show, while Little started on the front row alongside Murcott, with Dumesny in third and Veal down in sixth.
At the end of the A Main feature, Murcott failed to finish, while Veal showed his class and claimed the win.
In a bit of a twist, due to a driver dislocating his knee while climbing into his Sprintcar in the pits, which caused a delay while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, the fireworks were underway prior to the A Main feature.
For Borderline Speedway president Cary Jennings it was a top night of racing to end what he said was a good overall season.
“We started on time, the crowd was good and we finished maybe a bit behind time but that was okay,” he said.
“The racing was good in all classes and there were only two incidents in the final where two drivers came together.
“In the final of the Late Models there an incident but the rest of the night we didn’t see any other cars get damaged.
“It was only at finals time when the pressure was on there were a few extra incidents.”
Jennings said while the crowd numbers were still down on previous season due to the Covid effect, he said each meeting there saw improvement.
“We can only hope the future brings good crowds back to our speedway,” he said.
“But overall the season has been good.”
In typical style, while the season has just finished, the work continues for Jennings and his crew, with next season already on the radar.
“Next season we will plan for another big one,” he said.
“We have a National title for the Junior Sedans and possibly a couple of State titles.
“We will see what the next month brings before we finalise our next season.”
