The opening round of the 2023/24 TiBills Wingless Sprint Race Series ended on an unfortunate note at the Whyalla Speedway on Saturday night with the A-Main being cancelled due to the track conditions. With the Wingless feature due to complete the night’s action the previous feature events took their toll on the racing surface therefore just prior to going out the drivers and the members committee voted not to race and that that grid positions would determine the official finishing positions.

Prior to the scheduled 30 lap finale the racing had been entertaining and at times eventful with the 20 cars on hand competing in four heats and a dash, with the dash producing the race of the entire night.

The night kicked off with Sam Martin continuing his impressive start to the season with a heat win holding out a hard charging Jack McCarthy with Darryl Sloan completing the top three. Heat two produced the surprise of the night as Alan Saint was an impressive all the way winner ahead of Jesse Alexander and Tate Cowie. After contact with Darryl Knuckey in turn 1 on the opening dual State Champion Tyson Martin would fail to finish after his left rear tyre deflated and to say that Martin was frustrated by the situation was an understatement. Knuckey would also join Martin on the infield later in the race after his left rear wheel parted company with the #49 resulting in a green, white chequered finish.

The second round of heats began with Bronson Mauro edging out Rylan Furler, with Furler having charged through from the third row. Tate Cowie continued his consistent night with another top three run and as a result he would finish tied as the top point scorer along with Furler and McCarthy. McCarthy finished heat three in fourth, therefore each of the top qualifiers were all part of the third preliminary heat race.

The final heat of the night was the most convincing of the night as Anthony Tapley won by 2.5 seconds ahead of Jenna Kervers, William Caruso and Tyson Martin.

Once the heats had been completed McCarthy, Furler and Cowie topped the score chart on 34 points ahead of Tapley (33), Saint (31) and Jesse Alexander (30). McCarthy then drew an inverted four for the 6-lap dash but it didn’t stop McCarthy from securing the pole as he stole the win on the final corner from race long leader Tate Cowie. Just as Cowie looked to have wrapped up the biggest win of short career, he left the door slightly open on the exit of turn four with McCarthy charging to line .012 of a second ahead of the #56. Tapley, Furler, Saint and Alexander completed the dash finishers.

The dash would end the night’s action but it was a spectacular finish so at least the ontrack action finished on a high.

As a result of the dash win McCarthy would be declared the round winner and now leads the Series going into round 2 at the Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier.

Official Results – Round 1 of the TiBills Wingless Race Series - 1st S23 Jack McCarthy, 2nd S56 Tate Cowie, 3rd S47 Anthony Tapley, 4th S26 Rylan Furler, 5th S54 Alan Saint, 6th S84 Jesse Alexander, 7th S66 Sam Martin, 8th S10 William Caruso, 9th S41 Bronson Mauro, 10th S18 Jenna Kervers, 11th S99 Michael Busby, 12th S20 Harley Alexander, 13th S55 Mason Merritt, 14th S14 Matthew Tyler, 15th S8 Darryl Sloan, 16th S1 Tyson Martin, 17th S49 Darryl Knuckey, 18th S82 Caleb Evans, 19th S89 Slade Petry, 20th S6 Tyson Newton.

Points after Round 1- Official Results – Round 1 of the TiBills Wingless Race Series - 1st S23 Jack McCarthy 109 points, 2nd S56 Tate Cowie 102, 3rd S47 Anthony Tapley 96, 4th S26 Rylan Furler 93, 5th S54 Alan Saint 87, 6th S84 Jesse Alexander 84, 7th S66 Sam Martin 81, 8th S10 William Caruso 78, 9th S41 Bronson Mauro 75, 10th S18 Jenna Kervers 72, 11th S99 Michael Busby 68, 12th S20 Harley Alexander 64 13th S55 Mason Merritt 62, 14th S14 Matthew Tyler 60, 15th S8 Darryl Sloan 58, 16th S1 Tyson Martin 54, 17th S49 Darryl Knuckey52, 18th S82 Caleb Evans 44, 19th S89 Slade Petry 36, 20th S6 Tyson Newton 30

Contingency Prizes

Random Draw:

Round 1 - $100 BP Fuel Voucher – Drivers Briefing Marble Draw (Broome Family - BP Gambier West) - S82 Caleb Evans

A Main:

7th Place – Lucky 7 $100 Fuel Voucher provided by First National Gawler - S66 Sam Martin

10th Place – $100 Quinntech Performance Voucher - S18 Jenna Kervers

12th Place - $100 Revolution Racegear Voucher - S20 Harley Alexander

14th Place – Phil Michell Motorsport Media Release - S14 Matthew Tyler

20th Place – $100 JD Race Parts Voucher (JD Race Parts) - S6 Tyson Newton

Hard Charger - Murdie Brothers $100 cash – Not awarded (this prize will now be divided over the remaining 4 races increasing to $125 cash)

KAT Motorsport $100 Bonus if A Main Winner using their fuel. – N/A

Release for Wingless Sprints of SA

Ends Release….