California’s Kyle Hirst sped to victory in the 40-lap main event in the early hours of Monday morning to claim victory in the 43rd Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, smashing the 40-lap track record along the way.

Hirst’s race time on a heavy, locked down race track, which unfortunately endured a considerable amount of rain mid way through the first of two scheduled B-Main events, was 7:42.40 which eclipsed Kerry Madsen’s time of 8:55.57 as set back in 2008.

Upon resumption after the hour and a half rain delay Warrnambool’s Jamie Veal also slashed more than 15 seconds off of Skip Jackson’s 20-lap record during the second of the B-Main’s. Jackson recorded that time during the 1994 Australian Title.

The rain delay coincided with an earlier delay in the race program that resulted from a serious crash involving young South Australian Bradley Keller who had to be extracted from his racecar following an incident in the final heat of the night.

Keller was transported to Warrnambool Base Hospital where he discharged from on Tuesday morning.

With high points man and current Australian Champion David Murcott electing to start from the inside of the front row it was always going to be a drag race between and he fellow front row occupant Hirst.

On lap number four it all turned sour for Murcott when he suffered mechanical woes that ended a Classic that had promised and delivered so much up until that point for he, his crew and car owner Dave Horrell.

Murcott would later be presented with the Thommo’s Race Graphix Hard Luck Award as a very minor consolation prize.

From that point on Hirst began to check out as the chasing pack tried to find a way to peg him back as they entered lap traffic on a super quick Sungold Stadium.

The likes of Grant Anderson, Brooke Tatnell and Ian Madsen continued to pepper away at each other with Tatnell gaining the upper hand as he moved to second, with Anderson again impressing in a blue ribbon event at Premier Speedway despite his limited seat time this season.

The younger of the two Madsen’s, Ian, was doing his utmost to hold not only his brother Kerry at bay but also a pair of hard charging Americans in Daryn Pittman and Jac Haudenschild, while further in the pack B-Main one winner Daniel Pestka was slicing his way forward in an impressive performance.

Robbie Farr who was another to have enjoyed a stout weekend, was also moving forward, having started from position 12, Farr was now inside the top ten in eighth.

As the laps wound down a hungry pack of three to four drivers that were chasing Hirst had narrowed the gap but the lack of any caution periods certainly played into the hands of Hirst who hadn’t put a foot wrong.

Tatnell tried everything, attempting to use different racing lines to Hirst, sometimes above the fast groove on the racetrack to try and reel in the driver of the Milwaukee Tools W17 machine, while Anderson and Ian Madsen continued to do likewise.

There was to be no denying Hirst however, he and car owner Luch Monte along with Crew Chief Kim Buswell were provided with the opportunity to savor the sweet taste that is victory in a Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

Tatnell on the other hand lost no friends with his drive into second that will no doubt provide his team including car owner Shane Krikke and Crew Chief Dylan Buswell with a case full of what if’s over the coming weeks.

Grant Anderson ran a superbly consistent feature race to claim third place and, Hirst aside, was arguably the most satisfied driver in the 24 car field as he again showed the enormous talent he possesses in what is essentially a family backed operation, albeit a very professional one at that.

Ian Madsen, with Dave Sharman acting as crew chief on the Darren Goodyer backed car, was another to have tried everything, even riding the wall of death at one point during the feature event. The current Knoxville Raceway Track Champion finished fourth just ahead of his brother Kerry who was again prominent throughout the Classic weekend whose fifth place run was a credit to him, American Racing Custom Wheels and the Keneric Racing Team.

Sixth place went to the 1981 and 1982 Classic Champion Jac Haudenschild who at 56 years of age showed he had lost none of his ‘Wild Child’ characteristics as he excited the sell out crowd every time he hit the track!

Another American Daryn Pittman finished seventh having hovered around that point for a majority of the race, with his Aprile Racing team headed up by Brent Inglis giving the 2013 World Of Outlaws Champion a fast car. Robbie Farr’s eighth place run was a good reward for a hard working East Coast Pipeline Team.

Daniel Pestka was presented with the Skwid Signs Hard Charger Award for his brilliant run which saw him advance from position 17 to ninth in the Victory Lane Racegear V88 entry while the final spot in the top ten went to another of the weekend’s quiet achievers in Danny Reidy.

Sydney’s Max Johnston showed he has plenty to offer with an 11th place finish as he gets better and better each time he rolls out onto the high banks of Sungold Stadium while one of the real quiet achievers of the Classic weekend was Lucas Wolfe who gave popular Warrnambool based car owner Harry Droste a 12th place finish.

Brad Sweet’s hopes of being able to slice through the field from his starting spot of 14 were dashed by the ill-timed shower of rain as all he could do was join the procession as he wound up 13th one spot ahead of one of the pre-race favorites Jamie Veal who took his SWI Engineering Maxim forward to 14th after having started from position 18 courtesy of his win in the second of the B-Mains.

Another Warrnambool based driver, Darren Mollenoyux started 15th and finished 15th aboard his Parr Motorsports GF1, one spot ahead of outstanding American talent Christopher Bell whom impressed many both on and off track during the Classic weekend.

1997 Classic Champion Trevor Green was one of six former Champions to start the A-Feature event, taking the Natrad entry of Barry Lewis to a 17th place finish one spot ahead of current Australian 360 Sprintcar Champion Chad Ely who was 18th.

They were followed by Ryan Jones (19th) in the Murray Machining and Sheds S63 entry and American World of Outlaws Star Jason Sides (20th) who had started dead last in the 24-car field.
Max Dumesny, who the night before has been awarded a Life Membership from the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria for his services to Sprintcar Racing and Speedway in general, finished in 21st just ahead of Luke Dillon in the Hog’s Breath Caf� S81 car and Ian Loudoun in the David Dickson Essendon Ford backed V3.

Earlier in the night Jamie Veal and Daniel Pestka won the B-Mains while the twin C-Mains went the way of Terry McCarl and Stephen Bell.

The Main events were kicked off with a pair of D-Mains with Dennis Jones taking the first win with Eddie Lumbar heading to victory lane in the second.

The R & M Security Best Presented Car and Crew Award as presented by the hard working Premier Speedway Maintenance Committee went to the V90 entry of Corey McCullagh while the Alan Pollard Memorial Award which recognizes the fastest qualifier of the weekend went to American Daryn Pittman for his night two qualifying effort of 10.596 seconds.

Kyle Hirst then capped off a stellar weekend by claiming the Ian Sheppard Memorial Award. This award is presented to a driver for an outstanding contribution to the President’s Cup, the Kings Challenge and the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

The 43rd Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic was supported by Oval Express Magazine, GJ Gardner Homes, KRE Race Engines and the Lady Bay Resort, Warrnambool.

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