Last night Jamie Veal finally put his #35 Maxim into victory lane the Murray Machining and Sheds Speedway as he claimed the opening round of the Ultimate Sprintcar Championship Chase. After starting from position four in the 30-lap finale, that also doubled as the Ross Wright Sprintcar Memorial, Veal fell back to fifth early in the race only to run down early race pace setters Robbie Farr and Darren Mollenoyux to win his first ever MMS feature event in what was a great season finale for the Sprintcars at the venue.

Mollenoyux would get the better of Farr to claim a Warrnambool 1-2 with Farr completing the all interstate podium. Fourth across the line was Luke Dillon and in the process, he unofficially wrapped up the inaugural Ultimate Sprintcar Championship SA. Sydney’s Sam Walsh, who transferred from the B-Main, got his quest for the Chase Championship off to a good start with a fifth placed result ahead of Ricky Maiolo, who also came out of the B-Main, Ryan Jones, Steven Caruso, Max Dumesny and Sam Putland.

The A-Main would prove to be a torrid affair with multiple restarts due to several red lights and spins with the biggest accident of the race coming on lap 6 as Brad Keller rode out a big roll in turn three, with the incident also involving Lisa Walker.

Chase hopeful Shaun Dobson was also involved a crash that put him out of the final in the early stages as he ended up perched on top of the Sam Putland #71 after contact with Matthew Dumesny in turn two.

On a night that was dedicated as a celebration of the life of Murray Bridge icon Ross Wright the competitors were also competing with heavy hearts with the loss of one of the true gentleman of the sport, Mr Bill Miller earlier in the day. Prior to the event getting underway a fitting tribute to Bill was made with every competitor and track official lining the front straight to observe a minute silence.

Prior to the main event heat winners were Matthew Dumesny, Mollenoyux, Keller, Luke Bowey, Sam Putland and Farr while “Molly” won a spirited top 8 dash.

The heat races also saw several red-light stoppages with Damien Hart rolling in heat five while Craig Vanderstelt was on the receiving end of an optimitic slide job from Matthew Dumesny in turn four.

Brad Keller was victorious in the B-Main after being forced into the race after an ignition box failure in the second round of heats.

Championship hopeful Matt Egel didn’t even get past time trials after severely damaging the power plant in the Downing Brothers Racing entry.

The 360ci Sprintcars were also racing for the Ross Wright Memorial trophy with Michael Lovegrove winning the shorted feature event after it was cut 1 lap short as local racer Jarman Dalitz rolled heavily in turn two. Second went to rookie Brayden Cooley with Dan Evans completing the podium.

The South Australian V8 Dirt Modified Championship completed a big V8 powered program with Australian Champion Kevin Britten defeating Victorian Daryl Hickson and New South Wales racer Chris Corbett. Darren Tindal was the next across the line with Western Australian Peter Forbes and local racer Ian Neal completing the finishers in the 15-lap finale.