A fantastic turn out at Drouin Speedway on Sunday the 10th of November were on hand for ‘Presidents Cup’ day with a large field of Crash and Bash cars & a strong field of Standard Saloons in the headline events with Pakenham race driver Damien Miller winning the Crash and Bash fifty lap final whilst Jacob Vuillermin got the better of his brother Patrick in round one of the Standard Saloon track championship series.
The visiting Crash and Bash drivers ran three heats a piece for nine in total before forming up for a fifty lap final. Craig McKendry, Jason McKendry & Lenny Bates won a relatively tame first round of heats.
The action hotted up a little more in the second round with drivers starting to push each other around a lot more. Brendan Miller, Damien Miller & Craig McKendry were the winners whilst some massive hitting from Dale Morrison & a bit of biff and barge from others started to liven up the crowd.
Jake Smith got a strong win in the first of the last round of heats with Craig McKendry & Brendan Miller rounding out the winners.
Through the heats Lenny Bates the Victorian Champion had his axle snap, Karl Haisma had rear end damage that needed to be fixed and Morrison’s race car was left with the front end learning the wrong way before crew members did enough to get him on track for the final.
With the crowd looking for action the Crash and Bash didn’t disappoint early in the piece with Morrison and Stanley connecting and ending up in the concrete wall just near the starts box, Gavin Dorain and David Parker were amongst finding the concrete wall attractive.
Strong drivers during the heats besides the winning drivers included Lennie Bonnici, Allan Treble & Adrian Brown and they were amongst the action early in the main race.
Craig McKendry a red hot favourite at the start of the final came undone early and found himself chasing from deep in the field to far back to challenge strong front runners such as Brendan Miller, Damien Miller, Bonnici and Haisma who had come from way back having started from eighteenth.
From around half race distance Jake Smith was left driving with three wheels after the left rear wheel came off his car and not long after Brendan Miller whilst second pulled infield with mechanical concerns.
The ‘Big Show’ Damien Miller stormed home with a fast finishing Haisma one lap behind in second and Bonnici two laps behind then strong runs from Daniel Jorgen and Fred Birrell picked them up the minor placings.
The Standard Saloons were competing in the first round of three for the season with enough drivers to run four heats with each driver competing in three of them. Patrick Vuillermin, Devlin Saunders. Patrick Vuillermin again before Jacob Vuillermin won the last of the four qualifying heats.
Victor Benson, David Rose & Leigh Gooding were consistent during heat racing putting them amongst the front runners for the fifteen lap final.
The field for the feature lined up with Patrick & Jacob Vuillermin, Benson, Leigh Gooding, Anne Gooding & Devlin Saunders the top six with Mark Miles, David Rose and Ben Randall amongst tough racers back in the field.
For Miles, mechanical issues plagued his whole day including the final for a terrible round one and a similar scenario for Randall accept in heat racing.
The battle of Rosedale Speedway Club’s Vuillermin brothers was won by Jacob who secured the lead early with brother in tow. Benson, Leigh Gooding, Rose & Anne Gooding had themselves some great tussles with positions changing amongst them a couple times whilst Benson was able to stitch up third place.
The Vuillermin’s ran to the finish in the same order with Jacob, Patrick ahead of Benson, Leigh Gooding and Rose to close out the top five and Anne Gooding securing the first female competitor to finish and was on the pace of the Rose.
In Junior Standards as the excitement builds towards a new series in Gippsland for their division, the best field in over two seasons lined up and regular winner AJ Lawrence took the victory in heat one ahead of the Victorian Champion Tyson Cull in a nose to tail battle most of the way.
Cull won the second heat from Ty Hutton in a brand new car and Lawrence whilst in the final heat Cull headed home Hutton and Michael Suckling.
The feature race got off to a rough start with AJ Lawrence ending up upside down between turn three and four. Cull lead Hutton and Suckling the most improved of the bunch was close behind in third place. Hutton got past Cull with a few laps to go and then on the very last lap Suckling was a little loose down the back straight as Hutton led Cull across the line to the chequered flag.
Suckling re-started however drove across the infield instead of the finish line leaving Rookie Jack Yeoman to cross the line and take third place in his debut race.
Josh Stewart & Casey Ingram were welcome Junior 1200 competitors whilst Jaedn Alberni was the pick of the bunch in Open Sedan racing.
Drouin Speedway thanks the following for their support:
Ampworks
Robin Hood Hotel
Drysdale Chaff Mills
Brimstone Fire
Polish N Shine
Victory Lane Race Gear
Ramsdale Wreckers
Laser Electrical
Inaction Photos
Drouin Waste Recyclers
TNT Autos
Wayson Oils
Monckton Concrete
Latrobe Waste & Recycling
Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Drouin Speedway Club