Sunday the 13th of April Steve ‘Goose’ Young completed a memorable day at Drouin Speedway when the Tynong veteran race driver won the Victorian Crash & Bash title in front of a huge crowd including a large supporters group for Young himself who took the win when within the rules of Crash and Bash he spun the defending Victorian Champion and race leader who had only fifteen metres remaining to make the finish line for a third championship win, Young went on to cross the line first with Lenny Bates second followed by Peter Cox, Allen Treble and Finlay Burke in fifth place.
Nine heat races in the Crash & Bash led up to the feature event with Bates, Craig McKendry, Damien Miller, Adrian Brown, Goose Young, Johnny Young, Frank Sinclair, Jason McKendry and then Goose again taking out heat race wins.
The fifty lap feature race was filled with action with spins and crashes pleasing the crowd as drivers such as Brendan Miller, Lennie Bonnici, Shannon Mair & the McKendry boys all met their demise with damage in one way or another.
Bates for much of the race had a comfortable lead as he weaved through traffic and with about fifteen laps to go Goose came from fourth position gradually working his way into second and looked like coming up just short of the win when Bates got through traffic a little better with four laps to go.
Young didn’t give in with no idea from behind the wheel of how many laps were to go he charged again and on the very last lap still looked like he was going to finish short as they headed through turn three. A faster turn four for Goose though thrilled the fans and had them all on their feet when with fifteen metres to go he caught, tagged & spun the leader Bates off the course and crossed the line to win the title with Bates managing to salvage second place and Cox who had a horrible day in qualifying heats driving his best race in some time to pick up third.
After the race Goose thanked a large contingent of fans and friends at the presentation. “I have to thank my wife Leanne and my family and friends. What a day this has been & I couldn’t have done this without their support. This will certainly be a day to remember forever. To Lenny Bates you’re a great champion and will be again, to the others well done on your results and thank you so very much to Drouin Speedway club for the title venue they provided for the weekend.”
In SSA Junior Sedans Ricky Cornwall and Jack Van Breman had some terrific heat race scraps and in the end Cornwall went on to win round two of the Drouin Speedway Track Championship for the division from Van Breman and Pakenham’s Jack Ramsdale.
In VSC Junior Standard Saloons Victorian Champion Steven Danks took the win in the Dike Family testimonial ahead of Officer young lady Ally Morrison and Michael Suckling whilst Sam Williams won the Open Sedan Hilly Cup ahead of Nar Nar Goon’s Jaedn Alberni and Rick McCormack.
In Standard Saloons a healthy field of cars competed in the Bullard Family testimonial with four heat races won by Victor Benson, Rob Bushell, Leigh Gooding from Trafalgar and Mark Miles. Miles from Pakenham then went on to win the final from Benson, Travis Evans from Bunyip, Jeff Blencowe and John Watson.
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
Monckton Concrete
Latrobe Waste & Recycling
Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
For Drouin Speedway Club