Family connections flavour race meet
Blue Ribbon Raceway’s mega weekend of racing saw more than 150 race cars compete across seven different classes.
The meeting at the track north of Horsham, on Friday and Saturday, finished with an American winner, two next-generation Horsham stars claiming races, and important series victories to many winners.
American Alex Panella secured victory in the Formula 500 ‘Dash for Cash’ series event on Friday night.
Panella was too strong across 20 laps for his brother Nikko, winning by more than two seconds; while Nikko got the better of Victorian Max Owen in the stoush for second spot.
Queensland champion Kayden Iverson crossed the line in fourth with Jordan Rae, also a Victorian, finishing fifth.
Seventeen of 20 starters finished the race on the lead lap.
Aston Rodriquez won his first Junior Formula 500 feature event in the racing for up to 16 year-olds. He led every lap to defeat Koby O’shannassy, Rusty Ponting, Maddox Gibbs and Dakota Luckett, all of Victoria.
Round one of the Wingless Sprint Summer Slam series also competed on Friday night, with Melbourne’s Travis Millar securing victory ahead of south-west Victorian born and raised Brad Warren by .456 of a second at the finish line.
South Australian Kirby Hillyer finished third with New South Wales competitor Troy Carey fourth ahead of fellow south-west competitor Michael Mcdonald.
Warren had led 27 of the 30 laps before Millar got past him to secure the lead and the eventual victory.
Night two saw the Sprintcar Racing Association cars arrive for a round of their state series.
Time trials were the first event for the Sprintcars, with veteran driver Matthew Reed at the top of the standings, before drivers competed in one heat race each with a top-six inversion with regards to the starting position that put the faster qualifiers back on the third row.
Paul Solomon, with a .263 victory margin, won the first heat race with Brayden Parr winning the second qualifier.
The feature event was a cracker of a race with three different leaders throughout a 30-lap, non-stop race.
Reed led the first 10 laps with Terry Rankin and Grant Stansfield behind him, before Rankin took the race lead on lap 11.
Rankin held the front spot firstly in front of Reed and then, not long after, in front of Stansfield until lap 23 when control of the race went to Stansfield.
Stansfield sprinted away from Rankin from there, opening up a significant margin.
Stansfield finished with a winning margin of 4.580sec from Rankin, Reed, Jordan Rae and Ashley Cook, all of Victoria.
The Limited Sportsman competed in round one of the three-track tri-series on Saturday. The series will also visit Portland and Hamilton.
Horsham’s Jock Baker, the current Victorian and South Australian champion, competed against son Tommy for the second time as the 16 year-old continues his rookie season.
The Bakers dominated the heat with Nathan winning heat one and Tommy winning heat two before they stormed ahead of the field in the final.
Tommy lead all 15 laps in front of his father to claim victory. Andrew Wilson, of Hamilton, placed third.
Continuing the father-and-son theme, Horsham’s Ryan Queale won both Production Sedan heat races ahead of his father Shaun.
Queale Junior went on to prove too strong in the final, defeating another Horsham representative, Dean Hughes. Hamilton racer Heath Riley was third in front of Shaun Queale and Belinda Taylor.
Concluding the results was the Victorian series of the Victorian Speedway Council Sports Sedans class.
Making the trip to Horsham from Beveridge on the Hume Highway, Caleb Lincoln took his second feature victory within a month of racing after an earlier victory in Gippsland.
Lincoln was too good for Russell Smith, although Smith did briefly hold the race lead on a night that many considered Smith’s best-ever driving.
Paul Blake of Ballarat finished third ahead of Zac Swanson, also of Ballarat; while overall points leader Felicity Roycroft consolidated her lead at the top with a fifth-placed finish.
Action returns to Blue Ribbon Raceway on February 4 when the 360 All Star Sprintcars gather for competition on a night that also includes the Robin Thomas Memorial for V8 Trucks.
Production sedans and vintage classes will also support the main event.