Ballarat motorsport fans were treated to terrific action that included first ever victories in race classes, Steward decisions changing race outcomes, and arguably the closest dirt track finish recorded in Australia, if not anywhere. Speedcars, Wingless Sprints, Sports Sedans, Standard Saloons, Street Stocks and Unlimited Sedans provided the entertainment with Zoe Pearce recording her first ever Speedcar feature race victory and Nathan O’Brien defeating his brother Shane by just 0.001 of a second in the Sports Sedan final.
Speedcars were competing in a round of their Southern Speedcar Tour with eight drivers able to make the event including Glen Shaw from New South Wales. Putting an enormous amount of pressure on Dhillon Ghent in heat race one Zoe Pearce would come out the victor after Ghent spun himself out of the race lead. In heat two Caleb Mills would become a winner hitting the finish line less than a second ahead of Pearce. In a fifteen-lap final Pearce led every lap with the top three drivers for much of the race barely separated by a second getting closer as the race wore on in the case of Nick Parker in third spot, with Pearce taking the win from Mills, and Parker with the latter only .614 of a second behind first and Mills just .308 of a second behind Pearce.
Sports Sedan competitors held two heat races and Shane O’Brien and his brother, both whom had never competed at Redline Raceway arrived as two of the top four competitors. Shane O’Brien won the first heat race before his brother held him off by .493 of a second to win the second heat. In a fifteen-lap final the O’Brien brothers began from the front row with Shane securing the lead on lap one. Scott Bull and Connor Claridge swapped third and fourth around a couple times early in the race before Claridge had the spot to himself. Jasmin Molloy and Emma Threlfall found their cars taking a liking to each other as contact caused them both to become stuck and infield crew trying hard to separate them. The girls sat infield with the cars stuck together as the decision was made to push on and try again after the race. Claridge moved closer to the two O’Brien boys, whilst Nathan crept closer to his brother. On the very last lap in the very last corner of the track, Shane’s car drifted a little higher than it had been, and Nathan shot his race car up the inside and won the drag race to the finish line with the transponders clocking the finish margin at 0.001.
It is fair to say, there would not be too many times the transponder anywhere in the world would have recorded the final margin at just .001 on dirt and perhaps in any other form of motorsport. A tremendous piece of history the brothers and Redline will now share forever.
Scott Secombe started his season well by winning the first heat in the local Street Stock season, that is until he discovered he had blown a head gasket and would have some work to do in the shed during the week. Jayden Blomeley would then win his two heats that he was scheduled for before the field headed out for a fifteen-lap final. Jayden Blomeley began from pole with Jensen Wilson, Matthew Martin, Nathan Fawns and Zack Yeoman in the top six positions. With damage Fawns and Yeoman were quick to find themselves out of the race and sitting in the infield whilst Blomeley pressed on at the front with Wilson right with him and Martin catching quickly to make it a three-way tussle for positions on the podium. Blomeley in the end used his race smarts to record the win from Wilson, Martin, Robert Smith and Brock Smith rounding out the top five.
Austin Chivers and Rick Stowe were heat race winners in the Standard Saloons before drivers lined up for a fifteen-lap final with Stowe, Austin Chivers, Jacob Head, Lachie Chivers, Bailey Sinclair and Brad Sheppard started in the first three rows. Head quickly moved to the lead on lap two whilst Stowe was despondent as he made his way to the infield. Austin Chivers hit the front on lap nine. There was some contact between the two lead drivers in a little battle they were in, and Head took the lead back on lap eleven and crossed the line believing he had one as he pulled up to grab the chequered flag to do a victory lap. Stewards reaffirmed a second time that he had been penalised for affecting the racing line of Chivers with a one spot penalty. Chivers declared the winner from Head, Sinclair, Lachie Chivers, and Sheppard.
Trent Susol and then Matt Tuckett won the two heat races, the latter declared the winner in heat two after the leader of the race Jimmy Harris spun out a head of him leaving Tucket nowhere to go as Harris tried to fire up again and moved into the path Tuckett had already pointed himself to go to in order to avoid contact. The race was declared back to the last lap giving Tuckett the win as he was second at the time and Harris relegated to the back of the field for causing the stoppage. In the final Trent Susol would in by a whopping ten second margin from Darren Clarke and Gavin Ough.
Wingless Sprints also competed with drivers competing in two heats each of the three that were held. Blaine Densley, Jayden Lock who was a Junior Sedan racer the season prior, and Michael Conlan won the heat races with Conlan winning by just .113 of a second. Densley then started from pole in the twenty-lap final with Lock, Cameron O’Brien, Conlan, Mitchell Glynn and Kelvin Johnson in the top six spots. O’Brien was having a terrific night and quickly moved to second behind Densley who was the top name in the line-up given his results when he was last a competing racer. At the halfway mark Densley. O’Brien and Conlan had the top three spots to themselves and as twenty laps clicked over Densley secured the win from O’Brien, Conlan, Glynn and Ricky McCubbin with Densley just .300 in front of O’Brien in a terrific finish.
Redline Raceway will be back to entertain on November the 30th with a 360/LS Sprintcar series round, Australian Motor Contest Association Nationals series round, Street Stocks, Standard Saloons and Vintage Sprintcars and Super Modifieds.
Belmont Speedway Drivers Club value and appreciate our commercial supporters for the 24/25 season. They are;
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Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Speedway Media
For Belmont Speedway Drivers Club