On Saturday (May 24th) night Wahgunyah Speedway held another huge and entertaining spectacle as drivers in four categories competed for major features whilst three other classes supported the nights major events.
Hume Bank Albury race night wins went the way of Billy O’Donoghue in the Goulburn’s Ovens Sedans Association 1000, Travis Millar in Wingless Sprints, Wayne Sheerman in the Lachy Howie Memorial, Corey McDonald in the Unlimited Sedans Lucky Sevens series round, plus Drew Harrison in Sports Sedans, and Kayla Mannix in Ladies Sports Sedans.
New records were set through the evening also with the most prestigious of records, the one lap for a class being set numerous times in some classes. Billy O’Donoghue set a new Goulburn Ovens Sedans one lap record of 23.479, Drew Harrison a Sports Sedan record at 23.127, Corey McDonald an Unlimited Sedan record of 20.665, and Thomas McDonald in Wingless Sprints set a new record time of 21.030.
In qualifying racing for the feature event worth $1000 to win Goulburn’s Ovens Sedan Association drivers had three heats per car to qualify as close to the front of the feature race as possible. Corowa businessman Billy O’Donoghue shared his car with Trevor Mills a national Speedway legend and they were able to claim a win in the first win of six with Mills behind the wheel whilst Marty Bassett, Tommy Schmetzer and Malcolm Bassett had a great battle for third to fifth. Nathan Shortis from Mulwala won the next heat whilst Alex Gouveia picked a fight with the concrete wall and lost out with four laps to go. Michael Sayers had a rough time of things getting chewed up and spat out of the pack and the Stewards didn’t like it too much and gave him a black flag to rub things in a little more.
Malcolm Bassett won the third heat defeating his son Marty by just .204 of a second to win the third in a terrific race long battle that included Shortis and Gouveia. Ben Schmetzer defeated his brother Tom in the fourth heat race with Marty Bassett and Trevor Mills winning in the last round of heats.
In a pole shuffle the top two cars came down to Shortis and O’Donoghue and the battle was won by Shortis who claimed the top starting spot.
Gouveia found himself reacquainting with the concrete wall again in the final and a complete restart after the first attempt to get the race under way was required.
In the final across twenty laps O’Donoghue gained the ascendancy coming out of turn four after going side-by-side with Shortis for most of the first lap of the GOSA 1000, and as the race wore on O’Donoghue stretched his lead at each time the race made a restart. Malcolm Bassett met the concrete wall hard after riding the wheel of a competitor, Marcus Maclean also hit the wall later in the race. Early top three positioned racer Brandan Lovell dropped out of the race around midway through before O’Donoghue went on to win claiming back-to-back GOSA 1000 victories from Shortis who finished second, Ben Schmetzer, Tom Schmetzer and Henty’s Brock Cunningham.
Local man Micheal Fleming-Robertson got his Lachy Howie Memorial race campaign in the Standard Saloons off to a great start winning the first of three qualifying races beating Gippslander Jack Yeomans. Warrick Howie then won the second qualifier a great race with Howie, Wayne Sheerman, Fleming-Robertson, Rhys Lansdown and Jaimi Barber nose to tail most of the race, then Yeomans won the third.
In the final Fleming-Robertson drove around the top of the track to secure the race lead with Sheerman passing Yeomans for second, a couple laps later and despite not winning any of the three qualifiers Sheerman took the lead and then went on to win yet another big feature race in the Standard Saloon class to add to his season’s collection. Sheerman, Yeomans, Howie, Fleming-Robertson and Jaimi Barber the states Women’s champion were the top five finishers.
With $1200- up for grabs in the Wingless Sprints for the winner drivers from New South Wales and Victoria competed in two heat races each before the thirty-lap feature event. Ricky McCubbin, Travis Millar, Tyler O’Leary from Rosebud, and Thomas McDonald completed a Victorian driver quartet, as they claimed the qualifying wins. Millar led every lap in the final with McDonald chasing much of the way before Brad McCarthy from the Wagga club snatched second late in the race having started way back on the sixth row of the grid. Millar won from McCarthy, O’Leary, McDonald and McCubbin.
Corey McDonald won all three qualifying races in the Unlimited Sedans series round and set a six-lap record along the way before setting a new twelve lap record in the final on his way to the win to add to his one lap record. Nathan Lightburn from Echuca finished second with Daryl Nicolson and Paul Williams rounding out the finishers in the final.
Supporting class, the Sports Sedans also had three heat races in which to qualify for the final. Michael Mannix from Wangaratta won the first before Drew Harrison from Leeton won the next two setting a new six lap record along the way. Harrison would also go on to win in the final with a new twelve lap record for the class heading to the finish Mannix, Dennis Reid, Martin Heiner and Ryan Chant.
Wodonga racer Kayla Mannix then won both the Ladies Sports Sedans qualifying heats before she set a new ten lap record in the final to win from Chloe Creek, Tay Barnard and Beth Delgado.
Racing returns to Wahgunyah to close the season on King’s Birthday weekend with racing on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Feature classes include the Production Sedans and the AMCA Nationals.
Corowa -Rutherglen Speedway Club would like to thank the wonderful season supporters,
Max Maclean Hardware
Club Corowa
Maverick Marine
Q.A Kitchens
Quantum Printing
Crowie’s Paints
Blue Shed Self Storage
Celebrations Wahgunyah
Hi Tec Oils Albury
Mobil Corowa
McRae’s Wodonga
Abacus Energy
Upton Engineering
Federation Steel
Edge FM
Sonaray Lighting
DMT Speedway Media
Corowa Meats
Jackie & Vern Parker Photography
Trewe Building & Construction
Corowa Smash Repairs
Dunn’s Cranes
Rod Stones Automotive Rutherglen
Ducks Race Shop
East to West Data
Brocks Welding
Stevo’s Painting
Corowa Furnishing & Floors
Aricks Corowa
MForce Security
Hume Bank Albury
Written by
Dean Thompson
Dean Thompson Media
For Corowa-Rutherglen Speedway Club