Shortly after 10pm on Saturday 21st November, the Whroo Forrest shook with the awesome roar of 10,000 horse-power as these immaculate Late Model monsters were let loose on Rushworth Speedway.

A total of thirteen starters presented at the Goulburn Valley Auto Club’s Rushworth for the season opener of the Late Model Victoria series for the 15/16 season & in a tough night of competition Healesville based racer Justin Pearson finished atop the podium from Steve Vaughan & rookie Brendan Hucker.

Following a series of hot laps during which the first three cars on the track all turned around on turn one, it was apparent that the GVAC track was going to be tricky for all when racing began with the drivers split into half for a heat race each round..

In the first heat, Justin Pearson got an outside pass on Graham Forte (#V7 Echuca Metaland), with the early field following comprising Mick Hetherington (#V40 Wayne Horne Earthmoving), Hucker, Chevy Edwards, and Kirsten Vermeulen. Justin Pearson opened a 20 metre lead on Forte, who was a similar distance ahead of the rest of a bunched group. Final results were Justin Pearson, Forte, Hetherington, Hucker (#V23 Dandy Engines), Chevy Edwards (#AX21 The Provender Country Bakehouse), and Vermeulen.

Action started early in the second heat, with Vaughan leading out, however a spin by Wayne Belk (#V32 McGrath Foundation) in turn three prompted a re-start from original positions. The field settled down with Vaughan followed by Scott McPherson, Belk, Ross Nicastri, Fiona Verhoeven & another rookie Cameron Pearson, with a long gap back to Brock Edwards (#V12 M&L Plaster Cartage-Bunyip).

Verhoeven turned her car around, though she recovered to join the field. McPherson meantime had caught Vaughan (#S67 Anguston Motors), the two then engaged in an interesting battle for the lead. With one lap to go, McPherson executed a clean outside pass to go on to take the flag, followed by Vaughan, Nicastri, Belk, Cameron Pearson (#V10 Progressive Traffic Solutions), Brock Edwards, and Verhoeven (#V8 Lucas Oil Products).

The heat three field started cleanly, with McPherson (#ACT7 Better Trailers) out front ahead of Vaughan, Hetherington, Belk, Verhoeven, Pearson and Hucker. Verhoeven spun in turn 2 and was sent by officials to the rear of the field. Hucker put a pass on Cameron Pearson, who then returned the favour. Belk had a spin, and also copped punishment from the steward as a result. With one lap to go, Hucker moved in front of Verhoeven, making the finishing order McPherson, Vaughan, Hetherington, Cameron Pearson, Belk, Hucker and Verhoeven.

The fourth qualifying heat got very interesting!

Justin Pearson went wide, with Chevy Edwards, Forte and Nicastri capitalizing on the issue. Forte took over the lead, followed by Nicastri, Chevy Edwards, Justin Pearson, Vermeulen (V9 McGrath Foundation) and Brock Edwards. Nicastri got under Forte, and at about the same time, Pearson went backwards on turn two.

At the re-start the Chief Steward re-ordered Nicastri back to the front of the field. From there it was Forte, Nicastri (#N99 DIY Auto Parts), Chevy Edwards, Vermeulen, Brock Edwards and Justin Pearson. This lasted as long as it took for Justin Pearson to go wide and touch the fence, retiring temporarily from the battle.

On the re-start Chevy Edwards dived under Nicastri where the two cars touched and Nicastri appeared to spin as a result. Nicastri was placed at the back of the field obviously unhappy. On yet another re-start Forte led with Chevy Edwards chasing. Following the re-start, Justin Pearson managed to make up a couple of placings on Nicastri and Brock Edwards. Forte won from, Chevy Edwards, followed by Vermeulen, Justin Pearson, Nicastri and Brock Edwards.

At this stage, the Rushworth sun was setting low in the sky, making it difficult to see coming out of turn two. Due to track preparation issues & concerns, the club spent some time working on the race surface during racing which resulted in the loss of two heats forcing the drivers into the final.

Sharing the front row of the final were Canberra's McPherson and veteran Victorian driver Forte. Completing the field were Vaughan, Justin Pearson, Chevy Edwards, Nicastri, Vermeulen, Cameron Pearson, Belk, Hucker, Brock Edwards and Verhoeven. Hetherington did not make the finals, opting to save further damage to a sick engine.

When the green dropped the race did not progress past turn one, as a spin involving Justin Pearson brought out the yellow flag as the rest of the field all took evasive action not to hit him.

Unfortunately Forte retired at this stage, and took no further part in the competition after performing so well in the heats. A complete restart from original positions saw McPherson lead from Vaughan and Pearson, until turn one claimed another victim, and a further restart. Chevy Edwards was out on lap five, followed by Cameron Pearson on lap nine.

A spin by Fiona Verhoeven brought out the yellow yet again, and she retired on lap six. This time it was Vaughan who took over the lead from Justin Pearson, with the two making a 50 metre break on the rest of the field. Pearson (#V25 HDD Healesville Directional Drilling) responded by taking back the lead from Vaughan, and that was the way that they lead all to way to the chequered flag.

Meantime, Chevy Edwards had retired to the infield, to be followed shortly after by Cameron Pearson. This was becoming a race of attrition in the mid-field on an extremely difficult track. Nicastri moved up to briefly take position three before retiring on lap eleven, to be followed out by Wayne Belk just two laps later.

Now there were six!

Things got even more exciting as the leaders worked their way through the tail-enders, with some front-runners losing ground as they attempted to find an inside line on the slower cars, rather than immediately going around.

Final positions were Justin Pearson, Vaughan and Hucker on the podium, followed by McPherson, Vermeulen and Brock Edwards.

LMRV Inc. is proudly supported by:
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Written by
Ray Read
DMT Sports Media
For Late Model Racing Victoria

Winner at Rushworth Speedway - Justin Pearson (C) Jackarna Davis - JD Photography