It was business as usual at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway on Saturday night (November 28) when Andrew Scheurele raced to his fourth consecutive feature race win in the Supercheap Auto Sprintcar Track Championship. In fact, Scheurele is the only driver who has won a Sprintcar feature race at Archerfield since the 2015/2016 season began and this latest win was perhaps the most emphatic of all. Although outjumped by front row partner Ben Hilder at the start of the 30-lapper, Scheurele wasted little time in finding his way back to the front and surging clear to eventually finish more than six seconds ahead of runner-up Mitchell Gee, with Paul Morris surging into third in the closing stages of a race that took a heavy toll on several contenders.

Making his first appearance for the season, defending track champion Bryan Mann finished fourth ahead of Steven Johnson, Hilder and Lachlan McHugh, who surged through field after starting 18th. Steve Rowell, Dave Fanning and Bruce Marshall completed the top ten, with Callum Walker and Steve Greer the only other finishers.

Some late withdrawals resulted in a field of 30 cars to take on the clock in time trials to get the night underway and it was Brent Kratzmann who topped the sheets with an 11.459 circulation. McHugh was next best with a best lap of 11.488 seconds, followed by Hilder (11.511), Luke Oldfield (11.620) and Scheurele (11.626), with 17 drivers timing below 12 seconds.

Greer continued his strong start to the season when he romped home in the opening heat, leaving Nelson Reddacliff and Peter Lack in his wake to squabble over the minor placings.

Heat two saw Richard Morgan outpace Walker and Scheuerle, with McHugh’s fortunes taking a nosedive when he was unable to avoid a spun Rawlings in turn four. Kevin Titman was sensational in his surge to victory in heat three over Marshall and Oldfield.

A shower of rain resulted in some track maintenance and a delay in proceedings before racing resumed on a track that was super-fast but somewhat narrow.

Morgan mastered the conditions to win again in heat four, outpacing Marshall and Gee on this occasion before Rawlings bounced back to take heat five in advance of Rowell and Lack.

Scott Doyle kept Mann and Greer at at bay to secure a win in the final qualifier, while Titman’s earlier heroics were nullified somewhat when he whacked the wall and tipped over.

Scheuerle was untroubled in winning the Lucas Oils Dash and locking in pole position for the feature. Hilder was speedy in second, followed by Kratzmann, Lack and Oldfield, with Gee failing to go the distance.

A rough and tumble B Main resulted in just half of the 16 starters surviving to greet the chequer. It was Walker who eventually took the win ahead of Andrew Liebke and Dave Fanning, with McHugh making it back on track to secure the final transfer spot into the feature. Titman and Rawlings were amongst those who found trouble, confining themselves to the sidelines for the main event.

As the field formed for the feature race, Scheurele seemed a lock from pole position, but Hilder thought otherwise and zoomed clear to lead through turn one, only for the race to be halted when Lack was launched into a wild ride, the incident also putting the luckless Kratzmann out of action. The restart produced the same result as Hilder again outpaced Scheuerle to assume the lead, with Oldfield also starting strongly to slip into second spot. Scheuerle demoted Oldfield on lap four and surged to the front two laps later. Lap seven saw Oldfield spin to avoid two stricken cars in turn one, a rear of field restart the result before he made a spectacular exit with an end-for-end aerial along the main straight. Hilder remained in second until lap 20 when he succumbed to Gee’s advances, ceding another position to Morris on lap 24 and then dropping several more spots in the final moments.

National champ Terry Leerentveld cruised to an effortless win in the Modlite main event, trouncing a small field to win his third feature race for the season. Wayne Donaldson finished second ahead of Chris Ruane, Ben Walker and Jac Carnall.

The Compact Speedcar feature race saw Daniel Maloney hold off a fast finishing Wayne Corbett to win. Matt Jurczak, Nick Gannon and Nathan Mathers were the best of the rest.

With only five cars fronting, the 360 Sprintcar events didn’t reach any great heights and it was Darren Silcock who won the shortened feature race ahead of Anthony Vanderreyden, Scott Johnstone, Gary Smith and Ron Hendrickson.

The Open Sedan feature race went to Wayne Kirkman over Bob Ware and Michael Taylor.

Next Saturday night (December 5) at Ausdeck Patios Archerfield Speedway will feature the rescheduled round four of the Supercheap Auto Sprintcar Track Championship, leaving teams just 7 days to find a way to end the Scheuerle juggernaut. With Dirt Modifieds and AMCA Nationals also on the program, there will be a feast of V8 action.