Rushworth Speedway opens its gates again this Saturday afternoon from 1pm for another huge action packed and entertaining Speedway show when the recently rained out attempt at holding the Australian Compact Speedcar national title is attempted once again at the Goulbourn Valley venue, also on the show is the popular Dave Pollard Memorial for the 3 Litre Sedans, Wingless Sprints, AMCA Nationals and the Colin Young Memorial for the Goulburn Ovens Sedan Association and the main events have great support from all the local heroes in club classes.

In the Compact Speedcar field a strong contingent of New South Wales competitors have nominated to compete in what should be a sensational race, very hard to pick a winner for. Rod Francis, Craig Hickey, Mark Heaton, the Rawlings clan and Jason Essai seem to be drivers to keep your eye on if you are a Victorian look to go home with the number one plate and those Victorians most like to be right up the front include the Hutchinson boys, Allan Pitcher, Louis Rodriguez a Shepparton racer who won recently, Justin Paull and Chris Curren whilst more local flavour comes via Wangaratta racer Matthew Brown.

It is anybodies race this Saturday night in a very wide open national championship event worth the price of admission in itself to see the Victoria versus New South Wales battle in this class.

Victoria’s top three competitors in the 3 Litre Sedans lead the entry list for the Dave Pollard Memorial this weekend with Victorian champion Kevin Clarke from Bendigo and Daniel Wilson a Goulburn Valley racer and current Victoria two plus Ross Burrows the Victoria three driver in a field that includes tough cookies such as Andrew Ahearn, Shane Simpson, Peter Robl & Steve Honeyman.

It is almost like the band getting back together after a number of years apart and all to honour Dave Pollard with fifteen entrants. Kev Clarke finally bagged a big event win when he won the Victorian title this year and now all eyes will be watching him to see if he can go on with it, however thats going to be tough with those entered all eyeing the same prize and Dave’s son Teejay will just be looking to upset everybody in front of family and friends and pull a big result out of the bag.

The visiting Goulburn Valley Sedan Association has most of their members in Corowa, Leeton and Wangaratta and they will compete for the Colin Young Memorial, Colin was involved with both the Goulburn Valley and Corowa clubs and the Goulburn Ovens Sedan class. Victorian champion Liam Powell leads the list of nominations and fans will know Brendan Brewer and Wayne O’Keefe from Goulburn Valley classes in recent seasons. Mark Gordon from Wagga Wagga is a driver to watch as is Danny McCarten from Albury.

The AMCA Nationals class comes to Rushworth with the current Australian champion Jeremy Moore from South Australia leading the nominations with Australia number two Paul Sullivan, South Australian champion Dean Heseltine amongst the line up. They will be challenged by Andrew Ryder from Tasmania, Tim Reidy who has won multiple championships in the class and a local racer Sharon Tindal keen to figure strongly in front of family and friends.

Wingless Sprint action has attracted a number of New South Wales competitors to do battle with local Victorians. Andew Seery, Peter & Matthew Thacker who both raced the venue last season, Harley Smee, Terry McInerney and Evan O’Bryan will do battle with the likes of Marcus Green, Todd Hobson, Michael Lovell and Lujke Schneider to earn state versus state bragging rights on Saturday.

In support class racing Paul Lamb and Thomas Conboy are the most likely to be doing battle in the Open Saloons, however a few of the Street Stock lads around the traps have nominated to see if they can throw a cat amongst the pigeons, Shane Roycroft and Jaidyn Dredge are those boys, and the local crew will work hard to see if they can keep the honours in house.

Production Sedans will still be tough in even though the field is smaller than recent meetings with Geoff Lee, Shane and Bevan Hutchins and Leigh Jeffery still the drivers to watch whilst in the Ladies Saloons last meetings winning Kelly Lamb will be trying to repeat that terrific result with in a tough field that includes Dave Pollards daughter Felicity.

Finally the Junior Sedans close out the show and our two top drivers Lachie Fitzpatrick and Tristan McGraw have been keeping busy chasing each other around Victoria in recent weeks and they are back to continue their home track battle with Josh Cecil and another new competitor to the venue Toby Carmichael amongst those that might cause the top two drivers some concerns.

Gates open from 8.30am and racing begins from 1pm on Saturday with entry costs $25 per adult, aged pensioners are $15, kids 12 to 16 are $12.50 each and under the age of 12 is FREE, whilst a family of 2 adults and 2 kids 12 to 16 is $60

The Goulburn Valley Auto Club would like to thank the following supporters:
Super Balance Automotive –Shepparton
WG Panels – Rochester
Provac Poultry Services – Bendigo
Bourke Fencing – Bendigo
Kyabram Motor Wreckers – Kyabram
The Rushworth Hotel – Rushworth
Kyabram Bearings – Kyabram
Autobarn Shepparton
Marty Turpin Mechanical – Tatura
Ipta Fibreglass – Geelong
Ross Adams Cartage Contractor – Rochester
Rushworth Bakery – Rushworth
Maxam Printing – Shepparton
Pearce Concrete – Golden Square
Michel Signs – Shepparton
Sonaray Lighting – Melbourne
The McIvor – Bendigo
Superior Concrete & Construction – Bendigo
A1 Water Supplies – Tatura

AUSTRALIAN TITLE FOR COMPACT SPEEDCARS
Butch Hutchinson – VIC 2
Craig Hickey – NSW 2
Rod Francis – NSW 4
Andrew Lardner – Victoria 5
Mark Hutchinson – Victoria 6
Gaby Yammouni – NSW 6
Allan Pitcher – Victoria 7
Matthew Brown – Victoria 8
Louis Rodriguez – Victoria 11
Justin Paull – Victoria 12
Jason Essai – NSW 13
Darren Margules – NSW 14
Tania Hallett – Victoria 15
Rob Rawlings Snr – NSW 15
Jason Crawford – Victoria 18
Chris Curren – Victoria 23
Craig McKimmie – Victoria 24
Mark Heaton – NSW 26
Keith Astrella – Victoria 27
Ben Fairfax – NSW 44
Bruce Adams – NSW 63
Ayden Elliott – NSW 69
Rob Rawlings JNR – NSW 86
Brad Foregeard – NSW 99

3 LITRE SEDAN POLLARD MEMORIAL
Kevin Clarke – Victoria 1
Daniel Wilson –Victoria 2
Ross Burrows – Victoria 3
Jason Ahearn – Heartland 4
Shane Simpson – Nagambie 7
Michael Boyle – Swan Hill 14
Peter Robl – Wangaratta 19
Troy Britton – Heartland 41
Andrew Ahearn – Heartland 55
Teejay Pollard – Goulburn Valley 65
Steve Honeyman – Horsham 66
Sharon Finning – Heartland 67
Matthew Callanan – Heartland 78

GOULBURN OVENS SEDANS – COL YOUNG MEMORIAL
Peter Little - Corowa 9
Jamie Atkin – Leeton 12
Wayne O’Keefe – Leeton 15
Brendan Brewer – Leeton 16
Danny McCarten – Corowa 20
Stuart Balins – Corowa 22
Justin Granger – Leeton 29
David Walton – Corowa 42
James Powell – Wangaratta 44
Liam Powell – Wangaratta 45
Troy Frost – Wangaratta 46
Ron & Mitch Watts – Leeton 54
Nathan Shortis – Wangaratta 55
Steve McDonald – Leeton 72
Mark Gordon – Leeton 91

AMCA NATIONALS
Jeremy Moore – Australia 1
Paul Sullivan – Australia 2
Greg Firmin- Victoria 2
Sharon Tindal – Victoria 4
Frank Theirry – Victoria 7
Adam Cullinger – Victoria 10
Jimmy Harris – Victoria 12
Bill Lodwick – Victoria 13
Kent Davey – Victoria 19
Andrew Ryder – Tasmania 26
Darren Bloom – Victoria 36
Neale Peachey – Victoria 51
John Churchyett – Victoria 63
Tim Reidy – Victoria 79
Dean Heseltine – Victoria 93

WINGLESS SPRINTS
Andrew Seery – NX 9
Steven Loader – VX 10
Michael Lovell – V 24
Luke Schneider – V 26
Glen Harris – VX 44
Peter Thacker – N 46
Gavin Fitzpatrick – V 47
Harley Smee – N 57
Marcus Green – V 61
John Rotheram – VX 69
Terry McInerney – N 70
Todd Hobson – V 83
Matthew Thacker – N 87
Evan O’Bryan – N 90

GV OPEN SALOOONS
Mark Cecil – 6
Harley Nicolaisen – 15
Mark Bergmann – 31
Braiden Simmonds – 36
Scott O’Keefe – 37
Brad Simmonds – 39
Thomas Conboy – 56
Andrew Brown – 66
Tyler Brown – 72
Lamb Brothers – 73
Troy Petersen – 78
Shane Roycroft – 82
Garry Gapes – 84
Mick Pratt – 94
Darren Hodge – 95
Jaidyn Dredge – 113

GV PRODUCTION SEDANS
Geoff Lee – 5
Shane Hutchins – 10
Bevan Hutchins –18
Leigh Jeffery – 29
Aaron Bacon – 57
Scott Smith – 58
Dale Smith – 59
Matthew Brooks – 67
Neil Johnson – 69
Paul Wilkinson – 90

GV LADIES SALOONS
Chloe Lamb – 2
Belinda Chalcraft – 15
Lisa McPherson – 72
Kelly Lamb – 77
Chelsea Hodge – 95
Felicity Roycroft – 165

GV JUNIOR SEDANS
Lachie Fitzpatrick – 1
Josh Cecil – 6
Luke Cecil – 7
Jarden Simmonds – 20
Tristan McGraw – 38
Daniel Smith – 58
Toby Carmichael – 93

Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Goulburn Valley Auto Club

Shepparton Local Louis Rodriguez will compete for Australian Compact Speedcar title

Sharon Tindal is from Bendigo and she will be competing in AMCA Nationals (C) Di Griffiths Photography