Alexandra and District Speedway Club held their annual Three-Hour Enduro tag team Speedway race and the big Mick Corbett Memorial for Crash and Bash along with the first round of this seasons Ladies Crash and Bash season point score, and once again the best drivers at dog leg racing rose to the top in all three classes with former One Hundred Lap derby winners Shane O’Brien and Lennie Bonnici who just happen to be brother in laws whilst Brad Warren won the Corbett Memorial for the first time and his car earlier won the first round of the Ladies with Lea Judd driving his car to victory.
Ten hours of action played out in front of the fans in attendance warming up their Winter after around nine weeks without racing. Starting with the Ladies Judd won the first qualifying race ahead of Felicity Roycroft by five seconds with the Victorian champion Leeanne Young back in third place. Placings swapped around in the second qualifier with Roycroft a four second winner in front of Young and Judd before Young won the last in front of Roycroft and Romney Stirling.
A fifteen-lap feature event began with the state champion Young in pole position and Roycroft on her outside, Stirling, Kath George, Sam Robinson, Clare Lynch, Lea Judd, Kimberley Greengrass, Bree Claridge and Simone Rawlins rounded out the field. When the green flag was unfurled Young was quick to assume control of the race with Stirling into second spot and Roycroft having a tough time of it through the dogleg for the first time through dropping back to seventh place. At the third lap, Judd assumed second spot and started was reeling in Young quickly.
Judd took the lead on lap seven and from their ran away with the race. Stirling continued on strongly as did Robinson whilst Young dropped out of the race at lap twelve. Consistently lapping and moving her way forward was Claridge and as fifteen laps was reached for Judd the chequered flag signalled through a top five of Judd, Stirling, Claridge, Lynch and Greengrass.
The tag team Enduro main event was initially created to be a fun event with no seriousness intended. However, like all competitors in any activity, once race drivers hit the track, they want to win, and the event has grown into a serious event for a good fifteen or so teams each season. Eight heat races determined where teams would start the feature event. Winners of a heat or more were the O’Brien and Bonnici, Lee Beach and Lenny Bates, Cameron Dike and Scott Angus, Dylan Barrow and Warrick Taylor, Josh Service and Daniel Unternahrer, Luke Fallon and Steve Kershaw, Darren Forrest and Heath McCashney and Brendan Miller and Damien Miller combinations.
Lining up after the qualifying for the three-hour feature event the top ten of twenty-nine teams were the Miller brothers, Beach/Bates, Service/Unternahrer, O’Brien/Bonnici, Dike/Angus, Fallon/Kershaw, Forrest/McCashney, Anthony and Daniel Knight, Chris and Brian Graetz, and Sonia and Wayne Nelson.
The Nagambie club team of O’Brien and Bonnici took the initial lead after getting through the hustle and bustle of the dog leg portion of the course the best. Damien Miller put his team in front briefly before Forrest took the lead for his tea for a significant portion. After the first fifty laps and after many teams had already suffered damage or misfortune of some kind the race settled down with Damien Miller still out in the lead with Warrick Taylor chasing him and the O’Brien/Bonnici team in third then the Knights and the Fallon/Kershaw team.
At one stage the David Barrie and Garth Wilson team settled into fifth at around the one hundred and twenty lap mark as the Knights dropped out of the top five. First, Second and third continued on their way with Brendan Miller, Dylan Barrow and Shane O’Brien in battle. Eventually after a broken rack to Damien Miller and then a failing differential for Brendan Miller, and Barrow and Taylor suffering mechanical issues also, the O’Brien/ Bonnici team took control of the race and chased the record distance mark of two hundred and eighty-two.
As the clock chimed for the end, and at two hundred and seventy-nine laps, O’Brien and Bonnici completed the victory in front of Luke Fallon and Steve Kershaw with Damien Miller and Brendan Miller completing the race in third place. Beach and Bates were declared fourth, the second, third and fourth combinations all representing Alexandra Speedway Club and rounding out the top five was Jeff Blencowe and his son Mitchell from the Drouin Speedway Club.
The second annual Mick Corbett Memorial for the Open division of Crash and Bash was also the opening event in what you could say is the men’s point score despite Ladies being able to compete in the class should they wish. Longwarry man Brad Warren won the first of six qualifiers with James Carden-David, Jayde Aarts, William Leeson, Steve Young and then Warren once again completing the winners list before the thirty-four-lap final.
Accepting the challenge to start further back in the field instead of from the front row and therefore, setting themselves up to put on a show for the fans were Brad Warren and Mark Hebblethwaite. This left Steve Young, Daniel Kettels, William Leeson, Rob Bushell, Aarts, Jordan Smith, Daniel Williams, Kenneth Mankey, Mark Taylor last years Corbett winner and John Petty starting in the top ten. As the green flag dropped setting the crazy clan of Crash and Bash identities on their way, Kettels took the early lead before Bushell moved to the front and Warren before the field had completed lap ten, moved from fifteenth to first as he got passed Bushell.
Halfway through the race Warren led, Bushell, Young, Hebblethwaite and Brad Trainor. Eventually as Bushell suffered his own demise and Kettels climbed back into contention and battled Hebblethwaite for the podium second and third places whilst Warren continued on his merry way. On reaching thirty-four laps, Warren had won by almost a complete lap from Hebblethwaite, Kettels, Petty and Craig Claridge making it a great night in the top five for the Claridge husband and wife Craig and Bree.
Alexandra activity on race night from the team at Aussie Salvage Squad thanks to the relationship between the crew and David Parker and Clare Lynch and that itself produced a bit of fun during the event for officials, drivers and fans and another great event was run and won at Alexandra and District Speedway Club.
Alexandra and District Speedway club thank and acknowledge the following valuable supporters;
Alexandra & Yea Pre-Mix
Alexandra Panels & Towing
Beach Earthmoving
Bendigo Bank
Donnaz Underground
Eastern Suburbs Locksmiths
Elite Racking Installs
Endeavor Petroleum
Exhaust Fix Lilydale
Fallon’s Bus Services
Fineblade
Foodworks
Highline Racewear
Ismail’s Building & Construction
LS Quarry
Matthew & Sons Drilling Services
Metro Tow
Outer Eastern Steel
Pakenham Towing
Raslarr Engineering
Revegetation Victoria
S&N Builders
Smooth Suspension
Town & Country Tennis Courts
Tyrepower Alexandra
Valley Onsite
Victory Lane Racegear
Waverley Exhaust & Brake Centre
Yenckens Hardware Alexandra
Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Alexandra and District Speedway Club