The second annual Ray Welsh Memorial event this season held at Rushworth Speedway has been won by long time competitor in the SDAV Hot Rods Kali Hovey as she drove the race of her life to finish in front of her husband Shannon Meakins & Allen Luckett in an always emotional night for the SDAV family.

Ray's beloved Elaine was part of the night as the event was held for the first time at Rushworth with nine cars making it to the event & Hovey couldn’t be more proud to have won in front of her own family & her speedway family of which Elaine is a long time part of.

Luckett & Dylan Linehan started at the front of the field in heat one, however it was Dean West from the second row who would scoot to the lead right from the green with Linehan (# 28 Crislea Transport) following him. Luckett got past Linehan on lap two and chased West for the rest of the distance however West banked the win. Steve Robertson finished in third ahead of Meakins, Phil Jenkins (# 3 P & S Automotive) & Hovey.

Glenn Lawless didn’t finish due to oil pressure concerns, Linehan blew a piston & Stan Marco (# 2 Baywood Auto Wreckers) had carburettor problems.

Jenkins had the prime pole position for heat two with Hovey along side & Meakins (# 84 The Pizza Box Geelong) & Luckett started behind. Jenkins from the front is always extremely difficult to beat & on this occasion Luckett couldn’t. Jenkins led Luckett all the way with Meakins finishing third ahead of West (# 1 Lumber Softwoods), Hovey, Robertson & Luckett who was able to deal with his previous heat oil pressure issues.

Starting the third heat from the front was Lawless & Robertson ahead of Marco & Hovey (# 22 Ribeau Transport). Robertson held the lead on the first lap with Marco & Lawless following into lap two. Marco took the lead on lap two, however Robertson reclaimed the lead soon after as he went on to win in front of West, Luckett, Lawless (# 99 Wally’s Design & Fabrications), Meakins, Marco, Jenkins & Hovey in a race any of the top four could have won.

As the race was not a part of the Thunder Down Under series, the means for determining the starting positions for the final was a hat draw in which Elaine Welsh drew the names of competitors out into a starting order & as a result of this draw Glenn Lawless & Kali Hovey were drawn as the front row, with West, Meakins, Jenkins, Luckett, Marco & Robertson (# 69 Solar Canvas Shepparton) completing the field.

Race drivers always want to win, add Ray Welsh Memorial to the title of the race & amongst this field, everybody wanted to win that much more so when the green dropped to set the field in motion, West tried to shuffle for a better place to race on track & the move didn’t pay off when he was sent into a rollover & out of the race.

The restart & Jenkins tried a similar manoeuvre & once again it didn’t pay off, however he only spun across the infield & was able to restart with a bent front end,

On the final restart Hovey got a great start & lead from start to finish with a gap between her & Meakins & then another gap to Luckett.

Hovey a truly emotional winner finishing at the pointy end ahead of Meakins, Luckett (# 16 Puurfect Cool Auto Air), Marco, Lawless, Jenkins & Robertson.

After the race Hovey amongst other things was complimentary of the Goulburn Valley Auto Club for the respect they showed towards Ray Welsh, for supporting the race & for the track preparation. "This win means more to me than I can actually put in words as you can see. We all miss Ray & I miss him very much, to have my name on the list of winners for this event, means so much to our family. Congrats to the other placegetters & thank you Elaine for coming and sharing this moment with us." Shared Hovey.

SDAV Hot Rods thank their supporters:
Mega Auto Parts
Ribeau Interstate Transport Carriers
Intech Tuning
Purrfect Cool Auto Air
Better Bin Hire
The Pizza Box Norlane
Wally’s Design & Fabrication

Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
for SDAV Hot Rods Inc.

Kali Hovey - Ray Welsh Memorial Winner (C) Sara Flowerday sf photo-graphix