A healthy crowd settled in at Drouin Speedway for all the fun that Speedway can give to motorsport fans & families & a fairytale finish to end the day was dished up with Tim Cole who had been out of racing for five seasons after suffering a serious leg injury, returned to win the thirty lap final for Crash & Bash Sedans, the crowd was thrilled for the winner whilst Leigh Gooding & Jack Yeoman’s continued their great performances winning the Standard Saloons & Juniors respectively.

To sort out the feature race starting positions for the Crash & Bash, nine heat races were held with Grant Attewell, Dale Morrison & Finley Burke the winners in the first round. Rob Disher, Damien Miller & Steve Young were the second round winners before Steve Brown & Burke & Morrison again were winners in the last round of heats.

The thirty lap final began with top qualifier Dale Morrison electing to go to the rear of the field in order to entertain the crowd, then the carnage the crowd had been baying for all day began right from the very first turn of the final.

Disher from the third row of the field was the early leader & was pulling away from the chasers. Miller, Brown, Cole, Young, Morrison were trying to keep up, cars behind them spun, crunched the concrete walls, rode over tyres, drove straight into stationary tractor tyres & each other, whilst Ben Warren managed to stay out of trouble and find himself heading towards the front of the field.

Cole inherited the lead when Disher found himself damaged and Cole went flying past into the lead. Warren & Brown both had stints in second place and looked the goods to take a podium place, both ended up in the concrete whilst further back lap scorers were not even sure who was next in the queue as placegetters.

Craig McKendry was second briefly until his car failed him, then Steven Mitchell could have been second however as it was Nathan Taylor took second from James Kane, Lee Beach, Drew Miles, Daniel Williams, Steve Mitchell & Ronald George.

There was no taking away from Tim Cole, a local racer who after being advised by a surgeon five years ago it might be a good idea to have an amputation after a horrific injury, to come back and win in front of family and friends. Cole was never headed when he hit the lead and was by far the fastest and smartest on track.

Next up, Yeoman’s did not have Junior Standard Saloons all his own way, in fact the favourite heading into the final looked to be Rhys Lansdown who had won the three heats leading into the race for the trophies. Yeoman’s on the back of last season’s overall victory in the ‘Boost 2 Drive’ series, started with a win over Lansdown & Karsha –Rose Russell in the first meeting of the point score this season.

Leigh Gooding had an entertaining battle with the Blencowe family through the three heats and final. Gooding started with the first heat with & Jake, Mitch & Jeff Blencowe finished in the next three spots. Mitch Blencowe won the second heat in front of Jake & Jeff and Gooding, then in the final heat Jeff Blencowe was too strong for Gooding and Mitch Blencowe whilst Jake Blencowe was out with mechanical damage.

Gooding then led the final from start to finish with Mitch & Jeff Blencowe filling the minor placings ahead of Andrew Morris & Gary Charles.

Drouin Speedway returns on November the 13th with the annual Eliminator Cup for Standard Saloons as the main feature event for the day.

Drouin Speedway club thank their supporters for 16/17:
Alberni Engineering
AmpwWorks Audio
Berwick Legal
Boost 2 Drive
CBM Photography
JA Signs
Keena Fencing
Laser Electrical
Latrobe Waste Recycling
Leigh & Anne Gooding
Longwarry Hotel
Longwarry Meat Safe
Miles Mechanical
Monckton Concrete
Norstar Steel Recyclers
Polish & Shine
Ramsdale Wreckers
S.S Plastering & Painting
TNT Auto Parts
Victorian Crane Trucks

Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Drouin Speedway Club

Tim Cole the Crash & Bash winner at Drouin (C) CBM Photography

Jack Yeomans with Rhys Landsdown (C) CBM Photography

Leigh Gooding Standard Saloon Winner (C) CBM Photography