Clark wins Victorian race title
Bendigo driver Kevin Clark out-performed top Wimmera racers to secure a vacant Victorian three-litre title in heated battles at Kalkee’s Blue Ribbon Raceway.
With four-time champion Will Lamb vacating the title, the scene was set for a night of tight racing for the coveted number-one to be placed on the winning car for the next year.
Drivers from across the state converged on the ‘track in the paddock’ north of Horsham, with Horsham district heroes Steve Ellis, Steve Honeyman and Graham Gerlach wanting to keep the title in local hands for the first time in many years.
Thirteen of the 17 nominated cars made the final after the heats took their toll and as the night air cooled the local heroes scattered throughout the grid.
With the drop of the green flag the 74 of Ellis came in contact with another vehicle in turns one and two and slowly rolled infield with what was suspected to be a broken throttle cable.
After a couple of restarts, a battle ensued with the four of Kevin Clark, the 14 of Michael Boyle and the six of Gerlach battling for space. Another restart was required, which saw Gerlach retire to the infield with a flat tyre.
With 21 laps to go, Boyle held the lead for two laps and battled hard until, with 12 remaining, he came to grief after hard contact with the pit gate and retired.
Two laps after the restart the 0 of Scott Mallon made hard contact with the wall and a noticeable wobble was evident. It was not long after the right rear axle broke and the wheel, hub and brake rotor completed the lap without Mallon and the car.
With the restart coming with three laps to go, it meant it was no holds barred for the final. With the cars of Lennie Clark and Kevin Clark off the front row the scene was set for a barn burner of a finish, and the large crowd was not disappointed.
When the flag dropped the cars of Clark and Clark led the remaining seven cars in the depleted field clean through one and two, but came together in turn three which resulted in another stoppage and the retirement of the V2 of Lennie Clark with a broken steering rack.
A green and white chequer finish was set up and with the supportive crown egging on their favourites, it was the BGO4 of Bendigo driver Kevin Clark who captured the title.
He was followed home by the GV 19 of Daniel Wilson, who races out of Rushworth, and Ballarat driver Ross Burrows.
Modified production
Victorian Modified Production Association round five ran in support for the night, contesting round five of the Tritech series in preparation for Australian titles at Blue Ribbon Raceway on the Easter weekend.
With seven different drivers taking out the nine heat races, no real favourite was evident, with the track proving to be grippy and a struggle in the 30lap feature.
When the green flag dropped it was the four of Brock Atkins that grabbed the holeshot from Matt Gerlach in the AV 14 running side-by-side for the first two laps with the nine of Leigh Bourke in third and veteran racer Graham West in his old school Torana BGO 16 in fourth. With 21 laps to go, the AV11 of Jeff Leahy caused a stoppage and retired to the infield and the resulting restart was short lived when the field reformed.
With 15 laps to go, the Cortina of Leigh Bourke retired spectacularly in a shower of sparks and plumes of smoke leaving the car of Gerlach in the lead, West second, and the 16 of Mark Sheen challenging West. With 10 to go West caught a rut and lost second place, but recovered to again challenge for the lead. With the final stoppage coming at seven to go, Gerlach led West and Sheen to the flag, with Sheen making his run for the flag at the right time and taking the win by 2.5 seconds from Gerlach. David Smith was 0.7 seconds further back and the Torana of Graham West 0.9 seconds in fourth. With an estimated 80 teams competing in the Australian Championships scheduled for the Easter long weekend at Blue Ribbon Raceway fans will be in for a great weekend of door-to-door racing.
Sporties and V8 trucks
Blue Ribbon favourites the V8 trucks and limited Sportsman also raced in support action, with the Sporties again dominated by the SA 1 of Jock Baker.
Baker led all but a handful of laps in the heats and led the final from the drop of the flag to the chequers with the placings being split between Dean Baker, Craig Ansell and Nathan Buckley.
In V8 trucks the grippy track proved troublesome for the 57 of Luke James who dominated the last meeting with his high, wide and handsome line-up by the fence.
That line was not there and brought him back into the field with the 68 of Brendan Jackson and the 67 of Jaryd Carman each having a run at the pointy end and Jamie Collins in the HO 44 again improving in his knowledge of these big race trucks.
Unfortunately the HO 11 with Steve Hateley at the controls could not continue after the first heat with mechanical gremlins.