Who’s Who Could Win This One At Collie.

The upcoming Collie Community Bank Western Australian Late Model Championship will be one of the most hotly contested title events to be held in Western Australia this summer.
            And there are plenty of contenders who could win the crown!
            For two of the young guns a lack of laps in recent meetings may hurt them. Warren Oldfield and Mick Hamon have both been sidelined with motor woes but both will be ready to fire up and try and claim the crown. For Oldfield he once again won’t be running his own #15, this weekend jumping in to the car brother Jason has been running, the ex-Jeep Van Wormer machine owned by Brian Litchfield.
            Oldfield couldn’t hide his excitement when asked about the opportunity to run the #55 JT transport car. “Yea I’m looking forward to it. We have a bit of work to do to it this week and it’s gonna be fun. I busted an engine in my car at the Muster in December and just haven’t repaired it since. I broke Jamie’s car last time out, it seems to be a regular occurrence with me lately (laughs) but hopefully things will be different on Saturday night.”
            This will be Hamons first meeting back in his ACDC Welding/Valvoline #57 Rocket since the Manjimup round in January, and he’s not just returning with a new motor, but a new paint scheme as well. “Yea we are ‘all right in white’ and ready to go” he said from Bunbury this week. “We have the new motor in the chassis now and only started it up on Sunday and it sounds great. I can’t wait to get to Collie, hopefully it will all be good.”
            Favourite to take the title would have to be Bunbury racer Brad Blake. The multiple Australian and W.A. Champion is arguably in the best form of his career and will be full of confidence after his recent win in the Queensland state championship. Since December he has been the one to watch each time the Late Models race, but he won’t have it all his own way in his self-supported Blake Auto Centre #0 Rocket.
            Craig Vosbergen has been the most consistent driver in the LMRA this summer and was over the moon to take out the King of the Ring event at Albany’s Attwell Park Speedway the last time the Late Models had a run out here on the West Coast about three weekends ago. Vosbergen has put his WCM/Ductworks/Valvoline #8 Rocket inside the top four at nearly every event during the course of the season and his teams’ preparation is second to none so you can expect him to make his presence felt as the chequered flag falls.
            Another who is one of the most consistent racers in W.A. is Kwinana track champion Jay Cardy (BBT Steel/TL Dozing #52 Cardy Chassis) and is long overdue to grab his first Western Australian crown in the Late Models. Cardy will have his latest weapon at his disposal, a Draime engine out of the USA that reputedly pumps out 916 horsepower, something that will suit the long straights of the Smoke Free Collie Speedway.
            When it comes to a team that has a major presence at any meeting it would be the DiCandilo Steel City/Lucas Oil Products GRT machines of the Ludlow family, campaigned by veteran Ben and son Ryan. Ben is a legend of sedan racing and has won big races before so cant be discounted, while youngster Ryan and continues to improve each time he races and will certainly be one to have a say in what happens during the night.
            Throw in to this mix the likes of Ryan Halliday (Colonial Freightlines/Stirling Low Loaders #99 GRT) who has shown a lot of pace in recent meetings but not the results he deserves. Others to keep an eye out for will be Mark Matthews (Tilco Engineering/RACIN Tyres & Accessories #30 Rocket), Michael Holmes (OzMine Drill Consumables/Holmes & Associates #91 Rocket), Lee Watt (Katachana Beef/GT Brake & Clutch #10 Rayburn) and Jeremy Hale in his WPC/Trailstar Caravans #77 GRT will all be prominent.
             This meeting is one that all the drivers of the LMRA would love to win, so you can expect the racing to hot and fast as they tear up the Smoke Free Collie Speedway this Saturday night.

The LMRA would like to thank our corporate partners:
R2C Competition Series Filters   
 Hoosier Tyres     RACIN Tyres & Accessories  
 Galleria Toyota   Express Link International    Holmes & Associates
Able Finance Solutions   Cars WA   OzMine Drill Consumables
MTI Group    Snap-on Tools    Tilco Engineering
Western Pacific Financial Group    Empire Graphics

Ends release
Prepared y FR Media