LATE MODELS SENSATION AT MARGARET RIVER SPEEDWAY
The Kart World Belmont Southern Nationals round at Margaret River Speedway on Saturday night was a sensational finish to the season for the local club. Thirteen of the high powered left hand drives provided some of the best racing ever witnessed on a track superbly prepared by a small group of dedicated track crew with the assistance of graders, water trucks and tractors donated by local business's. Their hard work and effort paid off with the visiting drivers commenting that the surface was the best they had raced on this season, resulting in a superb display of hard and fast racing for the enjoyment of the huge crowd.
The four heats were won by four different drivers, which was testament to the depth of the competition in the Late Model division. The heat winners were Brad Blake, Craig Vosbergen, Kevin Bell and Rob McGregor. National champion Brad Blake started pole for the thirty lap final, with home town hero Clint Noakes who scored two second places in his heats on outside pole. Blake took the lead from the first lap, but was under huge pressure from Noakes and Vosbergen who were having a great tussle in second and third spot. Vosbergen was black flagged by officials and forced to retire infield in the early stages of the race leaving only Noakes on the chase behind Blake. Unfortunately with ten laps to go Noakes had to withdraw due to picking up a piece of steel in his rear tyre causing it to deflate. That left the way clear for Ben Ludlow to finish in second place followed by Mark Duncombe in third.
The Late Model division were so impressed with the local track they have already rebooked for next season and promise an even bigger and better show.
The production numbers were minimal with only four cars competing, but their races were very close with Chris Evans winning the feature and the night on 156 points from Kyle Sayer on 122 and Wayne Williams on 110 points.
The Smarter than Smoking Juniors had a good turn out in the all star and new star divisions for the South West Championships. In this event, thanks to donations from Margaret River Auto One and Cowaramup Earth Movers every competitor took home a prize. In the All Stars Perth driver Rhys Brown was the overall winner from Mt Barkers Harlee Madden and Collie's Paul Joss. Local Craig Nelson missed out on third place by 2 points. The New Stars division was won by Bunbury driver Ryan Jackson from the ever improving local David Hill and Collie's Alex Melvin.
