For the first time since 2016 one of the country’s most prestigious Sprintcar races returns to a South Australian dirt track with the Australian Sprintcar Masters set to return in 2024. The event is set to return the way it started back in October 1985 with a two-night extravaganza, this time over the March Long Weekend at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway.

The Australian Sprintcar Masters is set to kick-off on Saturday March 9 with the opening nights 25-lap preliminary feature to include the annual Ross Wright Memorial. The 2024 Masters Champion will be decided on Sunday March 10, with a 20 car, 40 lap finale that will pay $15,000 to the winner.

For over 30 years the “Masters” was staged at Virginia but with the demise of the venue the Murray Bridge promotional team saw a great opportunity to reintroduce the race and continue what has been a great tradition. Bringing back the Masters will now give Murray Bridge its own signature event with the March date now set to be a regular on the season calendar.

Everyone involved at the Murray Bridge Speedway would like to express their gratitude to former Speedway City Promoter Wendy Turner for allowing them to host the event and they are looking forward to bringing such a much-loved race back to the competitors and the South Australian Sprintcar fans. “Every major track in Australia has their own race that everyone knows. The Classic, the Kings Challenge, The Presidents Cup, the Motorplex now has the “Nationals” and the Krikke Boys, but Murray Bridge didn’t have a major race on the Australian calendar. We saw the Masters as a great opportunity to bring back a race that has a great history in here South Australia” added Track Administrator Darren Shaddock.

The race initially came about in 1985 and it was staged on the Thursday and Friday night of the inaugural Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, which was conducted on the streets of Adelaide. On that occasion American Randy Kinser wrote his name into the record books as the first “Sprintcar Master”. From that point on the “Masters” was always seen as the first major Sprintcar race of the Australian season until its final instalment on November 19, 2016, when Mount Gambier’s Steven Lines emerged victorious over Matt Egel and Luke Dillon.

During its history it never failed to attract a star-studded line-up as reflected in the list of previous Champions, with the likes of Garry Rush, Brett Lacey, Brooke Tatnell, Robbie Farr, Max Dumesny, David Murcott, the late Jason Johnson, and Lines all multiple Masters Champions. Despite the South Australians having a home track advantage only four locals managed to secure victory with Trevor Green, Matt Egel, Scott Bogucki and Steven Lines on the exclusive list.