Andrew Ferguson
THE Sonic Speedway thunders back to life Saturday night with more than 70 cars entered.
The night is headlined by more than 30 Wingless Sprints, with the Jordy Davis-Ewart Memorial for VSC Juniors as well as the final round of the JSPA Juniors Series also in action.
Mark Walsh has won a Victorian title here and will be keen to bag another feature event when he competes in the Wingless Sprints feature, especially with son Blake also racing this weekend.
Mark Blyton, who is a multiple NSW feature winner, Jordan Nicholas, Jake Warren, Brayden Mackay and Geoff Cook have all finished on the podium recently and will provide great competition.
Reece Harris won at his last visit here and will be keen to do it again, while Luke McCutcheon, Sam Wren, Aaron Knight, Jordan Bolitho, Kim-Loong Gosling and Hayden Clifford are quick drivers and will be frontrunners all night.
There will be another close battle between the locals, with Hayden Glare getting quicker, while brother Lockhlan is showing signs of improvement.
Esther Thomson will be hoping for a trouble-free night so she can show off her full potential, while Michael Conlan has continued to consistently lower his lap times. Craig McDonald, Leigh Estlick and Jake Byron are all in their first season in Wingless Sprints and have shown marked improvement since the season began, which augurs well for fast, close and exciting racing.
The other main event for the evening will be with the VSC Juniors, who will contest the Jordy Davis-Ewart Memorial. Jordy raced here as a Junior, Standard and V8 Modified driver before an unfortunate accident claimed his life.
Anthony Hanson, Mia Lamb and Levi Blake are sharing their cars with Sports Sedan drivers, so will have to be on their best behaviour.
VIC 1 driver Dylan Barrow will be hard to beat, although Anthony, Mia and Levi, along with Connor Claridge, Blake Adam and Marty Bassett have all driven here before and along with Bailey Rumler and Jacob Tinworth, will be hoping for the chance to get onto the podium.
The JSPA Juniors will be split into two groups – the experienced Top Stars and the emerging New Stars. Top Stars will be running the seventh and final round of their Series and with only a few points separating the top four, every point gained will be extremely valuable.
Current AUS 1/VIC 3 Carter Metcalfe looks to be the driver to beat, although Breanna Simpson (TAS 2), Jayden Bryant (TAS 3/SA 3) and Linken Paterson (VIC 2/SA 4) are all extremely close in points. New stars Ryan Burns, Lachlan Smith and Jasmine Bryant have all had a few podium finishes, while Rebecca Johnstone has been racing consistently in this class as has Tayla Whatmore and Harry Dunn, who in their first seasons have shown great improvement. Good luck to all the Juniors – drive safe and bring the car home in one piece.
The final class for the night will be the Standard Sedans, with racing expected to be tight and close. Tom Lambert will return and go up against Claude Pearson, Josh Campbell, Kiel Tripcony and Lockie Rae.
Racing starts at 5.30pm.
