Dean Thompson posted Wednesday February 3, 2010.
Sunday the 31st of January Drouin Speedway was once again live to the sound of Speedway with the annual ‘Riley Memorial’ for 6 Cylinder Standard Saloons and the ground pounding V8 Hot Rods from the SDAV along with the Division 2 Hot Rods for a round of their ‘Mad Moe’s’ series round. Paul Cadle was impressive as he took out his third straight ‘Riley Memorial’ whilst Phil Jenkins won the SDAV ‘Thunder Down Under’ series round and Andy O’Connell was the man in the right place at the right time when he greeted the chequer flag in Division 2 Hot Rods.
With 6 Heats in the ‘Riley Memorial’ wins went the way of Joseph Lia, Paul Cadle, Jeff Smith, Paul Cadle, Jason Leonard and Ben Brighton in that order before the feature field was determined.
At the front of the field Cadle in the “Ramsdale Wreckers’ XF Falcon took a clear lead increasing the distance each lap. Ben Brighton had a shot at catching Cadle around middle distance however soon his race ended infield. Jason Leonard was strong and moved through the chasing bunch to follow Cadle. Lia and Andrew Dike and Wayne Nelson were on the pace. Cadle though for the third year in a row took the win from Leonard, Lia, Dike and Nelson.
In Division 2 Hot Rods Peter Angus won a very wet first heat after storming from the rear of the field into first and clearing away for the win from Ricky Mills and Rob Tatterson. Alan McKinnon then won the 2nd heat from Jeff Leahy and Scott Laidlaw. Trish Dike took a popular win in the 3rd heat ahead of Daryl Logue and Gordon Angus with Andy O’Connell wining the next ahead of Laidlaw and Tatterson. Laidlaw finally took a heat win in the last with Mills and Gordon Angus in the minor placings before O’Connell became the only driver for the day to win two heats when he placed ahead of Leahy and Dike.
Laidlaw and O’Connell began on the front row of the ‘Mad Moe’s’ feature with Mills and Dike behind. At the first start Laidlaw and Dike got the best of the track and took off from the bunch. O’Connell slipped a little back whilst Leahy jostled with Logue as they moved forward.
Various serious race challengers were unable to finish the race whilst McKinnon in his Monaro pushed forward. Logue was the first major threat to end up infield whilst Laidlaw and Dike crashed on the very last lap leaving O’Connell to take the win from Mills and McKinnon.
The Open Wheel SDAV Hot Rods ran three heats with Dean West from Maryknoll. Phil Jenkins and Kali Hovey the main players when it came to results. In heat one West led from the second lap until the end with Jenkins and Hovey following him. West then led again from the second lap to the end in the second heat with Jenkins and Hovey finishing behind. In the final heat Jenkins took the win ahead of Ray Welsh and West.
The feature was an all the way win to Jenkins when he got the best of the start and led into turn one. West was never far away and on a couple of occasions thought about an outside pass through the turns, however it was Jenkins the winner from West and Hovey.
In V8 Standard Saloons Leigh Gooding took the win from Bruce Bullard and Tegan Bullard. In Juniors Matt Nelson was first ahead of Cameron Dike and Shaun Clegg and in ladies Tegan Bullard won from Sarah Meakins and Anne Gooding.
Drouin Speedway would like to thank the following for their wonderful support:
- Ramsdale Wreckers
- Moe Grain & Farm
- Drysdale Chaff Mills
- Migwell Australia
- Logue’s Auto Wreckers
- West Gippsland Welding Supplies
- Visual Image Solutions