For Late Models????

Sprintcar Thunder Series returns!

Will this be a Big Year

COPYRIGHT: Material contained in Rolling Thunder Racing E news is protected under the Com-monwealth Copyright Act 1968. No part of this publication may in any form or by any means be reproduced without the prior written permission of the Publisher. The publisher has taken all reasonable precautions to ensure the complete accuracy of material contained in this publication, however, it is a condition of receiving this magazine that the Pub-lisher does not assume any responsibility for any loss or damage which may result from the content of material published in this magazine. Although Rolling Thunder Raceway Promotions Inc uses its best endeavours to ensure the accuracy of every-thing it publishes, the Fair Trading Act 1985 re-quires Rolling Thunder Raceway Promotions Inc to disclaim any belief in the truth or falsity of informa-tion whish is supplied to it and which is published in other than editorial comment. Unsolicited editorial contributions are welcome, how ever, no responsibility can be accepted for their safety or return. The options of contributors are not necessarily those of the Publisher.

Rolling Thunder e-Mag. Issue 16 Aug/Sept 2011 Editors; Ray Solomon, & Brett “Pirate” Swanson PHOTO’S Courtesy of: Pirate Media. Swanson.1@bigpond.com Geoff Gracie Photos inactionphotos.com.au MEDIA RELEASES: • Pirate Media—Brett

Swanson • Dean Thompson (DMT

Media). • SRA Media. (Ian vale). • Formula Motorsports

Group Pty Ltd. • All Stars Media CONTRIBUTORS; Brett Swanson Ray Solomon Dean Thompson Got something to contribute? All contributions welcome send to swanson.1@bigpond.com or ray@fmg.au.com

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Rolling Thunder Raceway announces

2011/2012 Race Dates and Classes. Rolling Thunder Raceway in Bacchus Marsh – Victoria, will once again awake from its winter slumber with a new season of speedway action revolving around the reconstituted Sprintcar Thunder Series and the burgeon-ing Late Model Sedans. The awesome Late Model Sedans will conduct their inaugural Victorian Championship as well as a couple of other shows while the thundering V8 Dirt Modifieds will make their debut here with a couple of shows also. AMCA nationals will again be prominent as will various other sedan classes such as the VSC Open Sedans and the Formula V8 sedans. The Sprintcar Thunder Series was inaugurated on remembrance day in November 2006 to give an emphatic push for 360 cubic inch engined Sprintcar racing in Australia. It was ultimately successful in the Garden State leading to the creation of the Australian Sprintcar All Star Series which is conducted across both Victoria and South Australia. Throwing its support behind the All Star Series, Rolling Thunder Raceway eventually sacrificed its own Sprint-car Thunder Championship Series allowing the All Stars to become the pre-eminent 360 Sprintcar series in Aus-tralia. Now the time has come to resurrect the Sprintcar Thunder Series as a Victorian companion based championship to the All Stars series. The Sprintcar Thunder Series will be open to all ASCS, SCCA and VSC Sprintcars. “We are in no way trying to compete with the All Stars series but rather augment it and give 360 Sprintcar com-petitors more race dates, especially within Victoria,” said an STS spokesman. “In fact we have worked with the All Stars to set our calendar to avoid direct clashes with them as the last thing we want to do is to force competi-tors to choose between one series or the other as that doesn’t help either of the series’ or the fans by splitting the fields.” As in previous series, Rolling Thunder Raceway will be the mainstay of the Sprintcar Thunder Series with Bal-larat’s Redline raceway also hosting a couple of shows as they’ve done previously. The possibility also exists for a couple of other venues to run a round of the Sprintcar Thunder Series. Both of these tracks, which will hope-fully be confirmed soon, have not run Sprintcars for some time. Also, the Sprintcar Thunder Series will be ground breaking in another way for Victorian fans with Redline Race-way deciding to run a two night show in conjunction with Rolling Thunder Raceway on the January Australia Day Long weekend - the traditional date for the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic (This year the classic has been moved forward a week but the Australian Sprintcar Championship will be conducted in Adelaide on the Australia Day weekend). Additionally the Sprintcar Thunder Series will be concluded on the Easter Saturday night at Redline in another

break from tradition. “In discussions with Mick Purdie from Redline Raceway it was decided to run on the Easter Saturday as we both felt that a lot of Victorian Sprintcar fans don’t travel to Mt Gambier for the Easter Saturday night,” said the Roll-ing Thunder Raceway spokesman. “This way we are giving those Victorian fans the opportunity to see three nights of Sprintcar racing without having to leave the state, once again putting the local fans first.” As a point of difference the Sprintcar Thunder Series will be conducted along the lines of the very successful Lu-cas Oil ASCS National series in the USA with each driver contesting only one heat, but over a greater number of laps than usual, with the top five heat finishers locking straight into the first 10 feature positions. The remaining spots in the final will be filled via the B-Main.

Late Model Sedans are a growing class in Australia with a solid footing in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales and are in their infancy in South Australia and Victoria. Rolling Thunder Raceway was the first Victorian track to ever run Late Models back in January 2006 when they hosted a dozen cars from West Australia and New South Wales. More recently the Late Models were here as part of the Trans Tasman Sedan Challenge. The big banger sedans will get two warm up events in November and December before the inaugural Victorian Late Model Championship is conducted the week after the National Championship on February 4th. Formula V8’s will be the main-stay V8 sedan category at the big bowl with AMCA Nationals also helping sate the appetite of V8 speedway fans. VSC Open Sedans, ASCF Junior Sedans, Open Sedan Juniors, Standard Saloons, Street Stocks, Austra-lian Wingless Sprints and SDAV Hot Rods will also have their time under the bright lights of Bacchus Marsh. Veteran Sprintcar racer Wayne Milburn has also developed his own “budget” V8 Wingless Sprintcars based around the Aluminium Holden V8 engine and they will also be given the opportunity to demonstrate their ability on numerous occasions and once numbers grow they may become a regular racing class.

A track championship will also be conducted for all classes while negotiations are being conducted with the Lim-ited Sortsman’s and Super Rods for a potential race date. Rolling Thunder raceway reconfirms its commitment to recognise all forms of speedway licensing be it SCCA, VSC, ASCF or other. Rolling Thunder Raceway 2011/2012 proposed race dates and classes (dates and classes may be subject to change)

“ Class and race date updates and details about the Sprintcar Thunder Series format can be obtained from the Rolling Thunder raceway web-site at www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au

September 18 – Sunday (Day) Scrutineering/Practice Day All Classes

October 16 – Sunday (Day) Opening Meeting Formula V8’s, Street Stocks, 1200 Juniors, Open Sedans, Open Sedan Juniors , 1200 Juniors, Marsh Modifieds

October 29 – Saturday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 1

Sprintcars, Standard Saloons, Formula V8’s, Aus-tralian Wingless Sprints, Marsh Modifieds.

November 19 – Saturday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 2

Sprintcars, V8 Dirt Modifieds, Street Stocks, Open Sedans, Open Sedan Juniors

December 17 – Saturday Christmas Thunder Late Model Sedans, Formula V8’s, 1200 Juniors, SDAV Hot Rods, TBA

December 28 – Wednesday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 3

Sprintcars, AMCA Nationals, Standard Saloons, Formula V8’s

January 7 – Saturday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 4

Sprintcars, Street Stocks, Open Sedans, Open Se-dan Juniors, Formula V8’s

January 27 – Friday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 5

Sprintcars, Standard Saloons.

January 28 – Saturday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 6

Sprintcars - Redline Raceway, Ballarat.

February 4 – Saturday All V8 Night Late Model Sedan Victorian Championship, V8 Dirt Modifieds, AMCA Nationals, Formula V8’s

March 17 - Saturday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 7

Sprintcars, Street Stocks, Open Sedans, 1200 Jun-iors.

April 7 – Saturday Sprintcar Thunder Series – Round 8 – Final

Sprintcars – Redline Raceway, Ballarat

April 21 – Saturday (Twilight meeting).

Track Championship All Classes. AMCA Nationals

June 17 – Sunday Sponsors Day All Classes

The South Australian

Late Model Association

(SALMA) is set for a big

season with events in

both Victoria and SA.

SALMA—RACE DATES.

“The Greatest Show on

Dirt” OCTOBER 2011 Sat 22nd Blue Ribbon Race-way—Horsham (VIC)SALMA Rd 1. NOVEMBER 2011 Sat 5th Timmis Speedway—Mildura (VIC) SALMA Rd 2. Sat 19th Rolling Thunder Raceway—Bacchus Marsh (VIC)/ Borderline Speedway—Mt Gambier (SA) TBC. Sat 26th Murray Bridge (SA) SALMA Rd 3. DECEMBER 2011 Sat 3rd Borderline Speed-way—Mt Gambier (SA) South Australian Championship/SALMA Rd 4 TBC. Sat 10th Whyalla (SA)/ Alex-andra Speedway (VIC). Sat 17th Rolling Thunder Raceway—Bacchus Marsh (VIC), JANUARY 2012

QUICK NEWSQUICK NEWSQUICK NEWSQUICK NEWS

Sat 7th Speedway City (SA) SALMA Rd 5. Sat 14th Lismore (NSW) New South Wales Championship. Fri 27th & Sat 28th Sydney Speedway—Parramatta (NSW) Australian Champion-ship. Sun 29th - Rain Date. FEBRUARY 2012 Sat 4th Rolling Thunder Race-way—Bacchus Marsh(VIC) Victorian Championship/SALMA Rd 6. Sat 11th Waikerie (SA). Sat 18th Nyora Raceway—Nyora (VIC) TBC. Sat 25th Renmark (SA). MARCH 2012 Sat 3rd Western Speedway—Hamilton (VIC) SALMA Rd 7. Sat 10th Renmark (SA). Sun 11th Riverview Race-way—Murray Bridge (SA). Sat 17th Speedway City—Virginia (SA). Sat 24th Redline RacewayBal-larat (VIC) SALMA Rd 8 APRIL 2012 Fri 6th & Sun 8th EASTER Timmis Speedway - Mildura (VIC) $10.000.00 to win Sat 21st Brisbane Interna-tional Speedway—Archerfield (QLD) Thunder 30 $5000 to win.

Sat 28th Timmis Speedway—Mildura (VIC). MAY 2012 Sat 5th Redline Raceway—Ballarat (VIC) 3pm Start. Sat 19th Waikerie (SA). Sun 20th Riverview Race-way—Murray Bridge (SA)Day Show / Nyora Day Show TBC Where a date shows events in both SA and Victoria this means that the Victorian cars will run the Victorian event and the SA cars will obviously support their home states events. All dates are subject to

change.

Earl Gaerte dies. One of Racing’s greatest en-gine builders, Earl Gaerte has passed away. Earl, who founded Gaerte Engines, in Rochester, Indiana, and be-came one of racing's greatest engine builders, passed away on Monday, August 8.

Statewide Fire

Protection Services Statewide Fire Protection Ser-vices has come on board to support Rolling Thunder Race-way for the upcoming 2011/12 season.

Established in 1996, State-wide Fire Protection is 100 % Australian owned and oper-

1800 00 22 12

ated.

Servicing Melbourne Metro and Regional Country areas with fully accredited and QAS ap-proved Workshop & Testing Sta

tion, which ensures that the best service possible is pro-vided to their customers

Statewide Fire Protection Ser-vices employ only fully accred-ited and QAS approved techni-cians.

If it’s fire related, then State-wide can help you. Statewide Fire Protection Services provide a diverse range of fire services including:

♦ Service, Test, Fill & Repair Fire Extinguishers.

♦ Service, Test, & Repair Fire Hose & Fire Hose Reels.

♦ Supply Fire Extinguishers, Fire Hose, Fire Hose Reels, Fire Blankets, Smoke Alarms and Spare Parts

♦ Install Fire Extinguishers, Fire Hose, Fire Blankets, Smoke Alarms and Spare Parts

♦ Supply all Fire & Safety Signs.

♦ Test, Service and Install Fire Alarm Systems.

♦ Test & Service Sprinkler Systems.

♦ Hydro Test Hydrant Sys-tems.

♦ Flow Test Hydrant & Hose Reels

♦ Fire Training.

KTM Australia doing it again with the SRA

By Ian Vale KTM Australia is committed to the Victorian Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series for a third season putting yet an-other KTM motorbike up as a carrot to win in the top ten of the Series. This season the KTM Top ten bike is the new 350 EXC-F model valued at over $12,000. Each season this KTM has been a prize that has created special interest amongst the Eureka Series competitors. Such is the level of competition just to fin-ish in the top ten is hard enough in itself, so the efforts to make the top ten and have a one in ten chance of taking home the new KTM motorbike valued at over $12000 has the drivers putting their best ef-forts in to be in the Top ten during the Series. Once again the winner of the motorbike will be drawn by way of a random draw at the annual presentation dinner which has proved to be a very exciting part of the night. Jeff Leisk from KTM goes on to say ”We have been happy with our relationship over the years and are pleased to be involved with the SRA through the

Eureka Series. The Series is surely one of the strongest in the country and KTM are pleased to be a part of it and look forward to being involved once again in the Series” The Sprintcar Racing Associa-tion of Victoria thanks Jeff and KTM for there continued support and would also like to thank Avalon Raceway and Premier Speedway for there assistance in making the KTM award possible. To find a KTM dealer near you or to keep up with the KTM range of motorbikes and ap-parel go to www.ktm.com.au Eureka Garages & Sheds in for nine Eureka Garages & Sheds have taken the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria Open Series naming rights for a ninth season. The SRA can only ask, dose it get any bet-ter than this? Eureka is more than a naming rights sponsor, the company has not only been a part of the series for many years but has been very instrumental in making

this Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar Series one of the leading Sprintcar Series’ in this country. Thanks to Eureka Garages & Sheds the Series continues to grow with high car counts at each round and now for the 2011-2012 season the Series will take in a record fourteen rounds in three States at eight different venues. Already at this early stage the SRA have been receiving interest from some of the name drivers around the country to join the Series on a regular basis. Once again Eureka Garages and Sheds will fund a major part of the Series point’s fund that will again see the Series winner taking home $10,000 as the 2011-2012 season champion. The current Eureka Series Champion John Vogels was very pleased to hear that Eureka Garages and Sheds are once again the naming right sponsors stating, “This is wonderful to have Domenic (Sabatini) and his company with us once again, he has been so good to us and the Series. It seems to be going from strength to strength. With the Eureka Series going to fourteen rounds this season I am sure this will attract more of the top competitors to the Series. It will be harder to win but I will be ready to defend my Eureka Garages & Sheds Sprintcar

Series title in the new season and I really hope to be able to win a few of the rounds this year, it sure is good to have Eureka Garages & Sheds again.” The SRA takes this opportunity to once again thank Domenic and his team at Eureka Garages and Sheds along with all the staff from the other Eureka branches for the continued support that the company has given to the SRA over the last eight season’s and we are looking forward to another great partnership during the 2011-2012 season. For information on the Eureka Garages and Sheds products go to their web site at www.eurekagarages.com or if you visit one of the branches or are making a purchase don’t forget to let them know the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria sent you.

Neil Sayer ousted. Long serving head of the ASCF Neil Sayer has been ousted from his position and has been replaced by Queenslander Paul Gannon. Sayer has been a controversial leader in recent times and his removal is seen as something of a back lash by the members who saw the need for a change at the senior level.

Late Model US son of a gun for Lismore Speedway.

Second generation American racer Devin Moran will contest the 2012 New South Wales Championship at Lismore Speedway on January 14. His appearance in the state title is part of a four-fixture east coast campaign in which he will also contest the Australian Late Model Championship at Sydney Speedway on January 27 and 28. He will make his Australian debut in Sydney on Saturday, January 7 when he contests the Sydney Sweepstakes main event. Moran, son of Donnie Moran, winner of the 2001 Eldora Million, is aged 16 and the teenage tearaway of the US Late Model scene. Lismore promoter David Lander said last week Moran’s appearance at his venue is eagerly awaited. This is one teenager who is in a big hurry and already during his short career in America he has set a significant milestone. Two years ago he became one of the youngest-ever feature race winners of any race car category in American auto racing history when he took out his inaugural main event nudging 15 years of age at the Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio. In fact he was a recent feature race winner at the same venue. “Donnie Moran (pictured) is a name well known to Australian fans courtesy of his many visits to this country over the years, so it’s great to see the next gen-eration of the Moran racing clan with his son heading Down Under,” David Lander said. Devin, from Dresden, Ohio, will drive a current model car out of the Ross Ni-castri workshop in Sydney. Car is the 2011 Mastersbilt Gen-X Pontiac Late Model which was recently campaigned in America by Nicastri before he purchased and shipped the sleek machine to Australia.

If the Son of a Gun is only half as good as his legendary father, fans in Sydney and Lismore are set to witness some exciting track action from the youngster. Devin is currently placed third in the Late Model season point score series at the Muskingum venue and he is currently enjoying a strong season in Ameri-can mid-western Late Model competition. Nicastri witnessed first hand Devin Moran’s on-track performances and came away impressed. “We went to an All Stars race at Millstream Speedway and he was second fastest qualifier. He ran side-by-side with his father in a heat so he’s fast and he certainly looked good,” Ross said. Devin is well aware of the increasing car counts on the Australian Late Model scene and is keen to take on the Australian drivers. He is quietly confident of putting on a big show for the Aussie followers in their own backyard. Donnie Moran has enjoyed plenty of successes over the years in Ameri- can Late Model racing, none more significant than in 2001 when he became the winner of the Million Dollar race at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Donnie is a four time winner of the World 100 (also held at Eldora) and in 1996 he was the first driver to win the Dream and World 100 in the same year. He made five consecutive season visits during the ‘eighties as a member of the touring American sedan team and was the last winner of the prestigious Marlboro Grand National at Liverpool City Raceway before the track’s closure in 1989. Editors note—Wouldn’t it be good to see the teenage tearaway also contest the inaugural Victorian Late Model Championship at Rolling Thunder Race-way (Bacchus Marsh, VIC) on February 4th?

51st GOODYEAR KNOXVILLE NATIONALS 2011

Donny Schatz wasted little

time finding his way to the

front of the 51st Goodyear

Knoxville Nationals on Sat-

urday night at historic

Knoxville Raceway. Nor-

mally a driver who excels

in the latter stages of a

race, the four-time World

of Outlaws Sprint Car Se-

ries champion quickly

charged from 13th to fifth,

then set his sights on the

lead of the $150,000-to-

win, 50-lap main event.

Schatz struggled through

his qualifying night on

Wednesday when motor is-

sues forced his car into the

pits, but he was saved by

strong time trial and heat

race performances that

blunted the effects of his

rough time in the A-main.

"I was sweating bullets

when I thought were going

to have to come through

the Last Chance Showdown

after we finished 24th in

that main (qualifying

night)," said Schatz, of

Fargo, N.D., who drives the

Tony Stewart Racing STP/

Armour All/Chevrolet.

"Thankfully we had enough

points to qualify to start

13th in Saturday's show. My

car was awesome all night

long. The motor, the chas-

sis, everything was great.

The bottom was a place

where my car was able to

work really well early on

and as the race pro-

gressed, I kind of wore out

that line so I had to move

up a bit. I'm very lucky to

be with great people and I

need to thank the over

1,100 people the signed up

for our sign and ride pro-

gram. It was really cool to

get all of those people into

victory lane tonight."

Once the green flag flew,

Schatz quickly mounted a

charge to the front. Lap by

lap, Schatz picked off car

after car until a restart on

lap 14 gave him the oppor-

tunity to make his move for

the lead. Riding the low

side, Schatz made it a

three-wide coming down

the front stretch under-

neath front row starters

Sammy Swindell and Brad

Sweet. From that point,

Schatz held off hard-

charging Oklahomans

Daryn Pittman and Shane

Stewart, who wound up

second in his third con-

secutive event during the

Goodyear Knoxville Nation-

als after being the runner-

up in Friday's Q20 Race of

Champions and the Premier

Chevy Dealers World Chal-

lenge.

"This guy over here started

two rows in front of me and

in a few laps, I couldn't see

him it all," Stewart said as

he motioned towards

Schatz at the post-race

press conference. "I looked

up at the scoreboard during

our first caution and no-

ticed he was already in the

top three. I feel really

proud of our work. My

team did a great job and

we passed a lot of cars."

Swindell earned the pole

through a strong run on his

qualifying day, but settled

for third in the A-main.

"We just weren't fast

enough," said Swindell, of

Germantown, Tenn., who

won the event in 1983.

"During the red, we didn't

change much, just put two

new rear tires on and I got

a bad restart when we

came off of that red. I was

racing really hard towards

the end to make up that

ground I had lost but I just

didn't have enough."

Defending Goodyear Knox-

ville Nationals Champion

Tim Shaffer put on another

excellent display of driving

talent as he charged from

the 19th starting position to

finish fourth with Pittman

finishing in fifth. Outside

pole-sitter Sweet was 8th

after qualifying for his first

Goodyear Knoxville Nation-

als A-main and led four

laps early on. Current

World of Outlaws Sprint

Car Series points leader Ja-

son Meyers experienced

mechanical woes after

changing gears during the

event's pit stop and fin-

ished 22nd.

A main (started), 50

laps:

1. 15, Donny Schatz,

Fargo, ND (13)

2. 57, Shane Stewart,

Bixby, OK (17)

3. 1, Sammy Swindell,

Germantown, TN (1)

4. 83x, Tim Shaffer, Ali-

quippa, PA (19)

5. 27, Daryn Pittman,

Owasso, OK (5)

6. 13, Mark Dobmeier,

Grand Forks, ND (7)

7. 21, Brian Brown, Grain

Valley, MO (6)

8. 9, Brad Sweet, Grass

Valley, CA (2)

9. 9. Lance Dewease (24)

10. 7, Craig Dollansky, Elk

River, MN (18)

11. 41, Jason Johnson,

Eunice, LA (20)

12. 83, Paul McMahan,

Nashville, TN (16)

13. 13. Stevie Smith (21)

14. 15H, Sam Hafertepe

Jr., Sunnyvale, TX

(11)

15. 55, Terry McCarl, Al-

toona, IA (14)

16. 11, Steve Kinser,

Bloomington, IN (8)

17. Don Droud Jr. (23)

18. 56, Davey Heskin, St.

Michael, MN (10)

19. Kraig Kinser (22)

20. 2, Dale Blaney, Fowler,

OH (3)

21. 51, Fred Rahmer, Sal-

fordville, PA (9)

22. 14, Jason Meyers,

Clovis, CA (4)

23. 92, Kerry Madsen,

St. Marys, NSW, Aust.

(15)

24. 17A, Austin McCarl,

Altoona, IA (12).

Lap Leaders: S. Swindell

1, Sweet 2-5, S. Swindell

6-14, Schatz 15-27,

Pittman 28, Schatz 29-50.

KSE Hard Charger: Shane

Stewart (+15)

The Knoxville Nationals en-

compasses a four-day for-

mat unmatched in all of dirt

track racing. The prestige

of winning the event far

outweighs the generous

purse that exceeds

$1,000,000. With points

meaning everything, and

every wheel turned on the

track meaning points, there

is no time for a break at

the “Granddaddy of them

all”. Steve Kinser has stood

atop the podium an un-

precedented twelve times,

and owner Karl Kinser has

graced victory lane an

amazing fourteen times

with three different drivers.

Knoxville Nationals

Tough On Chad Kemenah

August 18th, 2011 By: Joe Burrage

The Knoxville Nationals is a race that every

sprint car driver, team and car owner wants

to win at least once in their career.

On the Wednesday night Chad Kemenah’s

night went from fifth quick in qualifying to

horrible in a blink of an eye as the right rear

axle broke sending Kemenah hard into the

turn four wall. Kemenah would climb out of

the car unharmed but the race car was de-

stroyed and the brand new motor was hurt

as well.

“Everyone always says if you qualify well at

the Knoxville Nationals and stay out of trou-

ble you will get locked into the A-Main on

Saturday night,” said Kemenah. “We timed

in

Fifth quick overall and the rear axle decides

to break on us during our heat race and the

end result is a lot of torn up equipment and

disappointment. We were able to get an-

other car built on Thursday so I have to

thank Adam Brough and Scott Euler for

there hard work.”

Chad Kemenah was not the only driver that

had a tough week during the 51st Knoxville

Nationals, Jason Sides, Jac Haudenschild

and Tim Kaeding all struggled earlier in the

week. Kemenah was scheduled to start in

the 15th position in the C-Main and the track

was very fast and narrow during the very

cool evening.

Kemenah had to get to work fast with only

15-Laps to work with and only the top two

drivers would transfer to the 22-Lap, B-

Main.

Kemenah got a great start and was able to

move up one position going into turns one

and two. From there Kemenah kept the

Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks No.63 sprinter

glued to the bottom of the speedway where

he started to make some progress. Just af-

ter the halfway point of the race Kemenah

was running in the 11th position and desper-

ately needed a yellow flag to bunch the field

together.

Kemenah continued to work the bottom of

the speedway and was able to make up

some ground in turns one and two and that

allowed him to move up to the eighth posi-

tion with three laps remaining.

Kemenah never got that one yellow flag he

needed and crossed the finish line in the

eight position all the way from the 15th

starting spot.

“We gave it everything we had tonight,”

said Kemenah. “The track was very fast and

narrow making it hard to pass on but I

found a few spots that allowed us to move

up. We really needed a yellow flag but

never got it so it is what it is. Hopefully next

year we can have a better showing at the

Knoxville Nationals. We are going back

home to Ohio to regroup for the North and

South Dakota trips so we have a lot of work

that needs to be done but we will be ready

for our next World of Outlaws race that’s for

sure.”

Chad’s Sponsors include: Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks, Hampshire Racing Engines, Maxim Chassis, MS Motorsports, Key State Ag Service, Kears Speed Shop, Champion Racing XP Performance Lubricants, Jeffery Win-ter Construction, Accu Force Shock Dyno, Ban-shee Graphics, SSE Helmet Designs, Media Camping Center, Real Racing Wheels, Winters Rear Ends, Chiappelli Motorsports.

What’s in a name?

If you scan through an edition of the National Speedway Directory you’ll come across some fantastic names for speedways and race tracks across America.

Here’s just a few we found interesting.

Roaring Knob Mo-torsports – Markleys-burg, PA. (What can we say ex-cept that racing is meant to get a man excited). Headhunters Motor Club Dragway – Eatonton – GA (Not sure that this would entice you to race there). Suicide Circle Speedway – Albany GA. (Again similar to the above. Hope it’s not in-dicative of the tracks safety standards and history). Noise Park Raceway – Idaho Falls – Idaho (What??? I can’t hear you -Der!!). Rapid Speedway – Rock Rapids – Iowa (Well, it’s not meant to be slow). Dirtona Raceway – Hugoton – Kansas (Just the way we like it) Soggy Bottom Speed-way – Morgantown – Kentucky (Did you spill some-thing??)

Fast Trax Speedway – Chatham―Louisiana. (Sounds like a slot car set) No Problem Raceway – Belle Rose – Louisiana (Love the attitude) Gingerman Raceway – South Haven – Michigan (Full of angry Fanta Pants’ers) Battlefield Raceway – Philadelphia – Missis-sippi (It can end up looking like a war zone) Why Not Motorsport Park – Meridic – Missis-sippi (But why?) The Speed Bowl – Red cloud – NE (Really!!) Uranium Capital Speed-way – Milan – New Mexico (No lights needed here. The whole place just glows in the dark). Geographical Center Speedway – Rugby - North Dakota (Must be the true heart-land) Race City USA – Hermis-ton – Oregon (The whole town is be-hind this venue) Barnyard Raceway – Chepechal – Rhode Is-

land (The only racetrack in RI) (Do they race cars or animals? Could be re-lated to Cowtown Speedway) Hemi Speedway – Mt Croghan – South Caro-lina (No Chevy’s allowed) Winner Speedway – Winner – South Dakota (Only one car per race) Cowtown Speedway – Fort Worth – Texas (Steer clear of this place. Not a good MOOve to race here. All puns in-tended) Hot Rod Hill Motorpark – Bryan – Texas Lady Luck Speedway – Lubbock – Texas (Need plenty of this sometimes) Speedorama – Lufton – Texas Rolling Thunder Race-way – Ararat – Virginia (What??? Might have to sue these guys for steal-ing our name) Sumerduck Dragway – Culpeper – Virginia (It’s just not cricket) Big Muddy Raceway Park – Glen rock – Wyoming (The locals don’t like small dusty racetracks)

Traditional “Wingless” Sprintcars are ar-

guably the most exciting form of our great

sport of speedway with their bellowing

V8’s and their old school “back ‘em in”

style, and that is part of the reason the

Australian Wingless Sprints (AWS) have

become such a successful category in such

a short time (if you ignore their previous

long history as Sportsmans in Victoria).

Many people have proposed an all V8

wingless class in Australia, most notably

AMCA Nationals creator Dale Matthews

who envisioned a 410 cubic inch crate en-

gined category, which stalled in its infancy

when Matthews was afflicted with a bout

of cancer and could no longer put his

drive, determination and flair into pro-

gressing the class as he so wanted.

The idea was not lost however, as veteran

racer Wayne Milburn looked at the concept

from a similar, but different angle. The V6

powered AWS cars had taken off on a

scale exceeding everyone’s expectations

for one very simply reason – cost.

The one down side to the AWS cars how-

ever was the noise – they didn’t have that

raucous V8 sound that most Aussies love

to hear.

With that in mind Milburn toyed with the

idea of how best to develop a cost effec-

tive, low budget, self starting, V8 wingless

sprintcar and hit upon the idea of install-

ing the 5.7 litre, Holden V8 alloy engine

into a sprintcar chassis.

“These GenIII Holden engines can be pur-

chased second hand for between two and

a half and three and a half thousand dol-

lars from just about any wreckers,” stated

Milburn. “With an adaptor kit that contains

everything you need to install one in a

sprintcar chassis and run them on metha-

nol for about another three thousand dol-

lars, I believe you can build a car for

about $15,000 which is about the same

price as a V6.”

“The whole idea is that it stops someone

with a bunch of money coming in and

spending a lot of money to have the best

engine in the class and the biggest advan-

tage as happens now in VSC, 360 or open

sprintcars,” Milburn continued. “And the

other thing that the tracks like about them

is that you don’t need push vehicles and

the loss of time that it takes to fire up

winged sprintcars.”

Milburn recently shook down his prototype

at Rolling Thunder Raceway with an en-

gine that had over 100,000kms on it be-

fore it was installed into his sprintcar.

“The car performed perfectly and I was

pleasantly surprised with its performance

and how well it went,” Explained Milburn.

“Without a wing it had enough kick to get

loose and spin the wheels and was really

responsive, and best of all it sounded

right.”

The car ran faultlessly with various invited

and experienced “winged” sprintcar racers

all suitably impressed with its speed and

Australian Self-starting Sprintcar Association (ASSA)

V8 Wingless Sprintcars – New hope at a budget price.

ability.

“I hope to have a number of cars up and

running before the season starts now that

I’ve got all the engineering sorted out and

I’ll start building up more cars this week,“

Said Milburn who is naturally enthused

about the project. “My long term plan is to

offer two options for drivers who can either

buy the adaptor kit and build their own cars

or they can lease a car from me where all

they’ll have to do each night will be turn up

and race.”

“On top of all that, this would be a perfect

stepping stone for the V6 guys looking to

step up to something a little quicker for

very little extra money,” Milburn concluded.

Milburn has already had interest from

tracks that have heard the whispers about

the car but has decided that initially the

cars will be restricted to running at Rolling

Thunder Raceway in the first instance while

they hopefully build in interest and num-

bers. For their part, Rolling Thunder Race-

way have agreed to allow Milburn to dem-

onstrate the cars at each and every race

meeting while also agreeing that once suffi-

cient numbers of cars have been estab-

lished they will become a regular racing

class at the Bacchus Marsh venue.

For anyone interested in viewing the car it

will be having a second shake down run at

Rolling Thunder Raceway, Bacchus Marsh

on Sunday August 21st and will also be on

display at the annual Avalon swap meet the

following weekend.

Further information can be also be obtained

directly from Wayne on 0427 350 482.

The Alexandra & District Speedway Club held the first ever 3 hour Enduro on Saturday Au-

gust 20th and it was the duo of Paul Turnbull and Dehne Sparrow from Victoria’s Western

Districts that headed home as the inaugural winners with the local Alexandra team of Luke

Fallon & Matthew Ridd second and Damian Miller and Crash N Bash champion Jason McKen-

dry in third.

Prior to the 3 hour final 12 heat races were run in order to set the field’s starting positions

for the Enduro. The event was a team’s event with 4 rounds of heats. You could have one or

two cars with two cars being the more efficient option so that you still had a car circulating

and completing laps whilst you repaired, refuelled or rested the car and driver and you

could have 3 drivers as long as each driver drove at least one heat themselves.

Every driver had to have a turn in the feature however there was no stipulation on how long

each driver had to do, this was something Turnbull and Sparrow took advantage of in their

tactics when they struck mechanical trouble in one of their cars.

Team Miller/McKendry won the first heat when Miller driving a V8 VS Commodore led home

Turnbull and Brett Petrou from team Petrou/Phillips. Peter Cox in his Torana Hatchback of

the Shane Simpson/Peter Cox team won in front of Brendan Dennis/Peter Hampton and

Brad McClure of the McClure/Jason Holt team driving the Leigh Bourke owned former Steve

Gartner Street Stock. Then the big V8 Super Sedan panelled former Amca Chassis car of

Mark & Colin Lincoln who started last in the race took the win in the third heat from Luke

Fallon and Lenny Bates Jnr of the Bates/Karl Haisma team.

Chiminello #94 leading McClure #60 , Turnbull #19 and Greg Scott #70

Alexandra’s trail blazing three

hour enduro!!!

Jamie Lock who was paired with his dad Rob won the first heat of the second round in a

Justin Hampton owned Street Stock with the Rob Gorman/Anthony Chrystie team second

from Craig Phillips. In the most spectacular aftermath to any heat win this season Dale

Morrison who was in a two car team with Rick McCormack crossed the line sideways and in-

stead of heading down the off shute and into the pit enclosure found himself in the dog leg

and bounced over the lip and went over and over anywhere between 5 and 9 times depend-

ing on which eyewitness was correct, totally destroying the car and lucky enough not to be

seriously hurt. Jason Holt finished second in front of Shane Simpson. The Colin & Mark Lin-

coln combination then won the final heat of the round from Ridd and the team of Colin &

Dylan Campton a father and son team.

The pairing of Austin Corcoran & Peter Newlan then won the first heat of round three from

the Darryn & Jayde Aarts Torana and McCormack. Turnbull then took the win for his team in

the next from Greg Scott from the Greg & Daniel Scott & Harley Bishop team and McClure.

The Fallon/Ridd duo then won the last heat in round three ahead of Colin & Mark Lincoln

and Bates Jnr.

The final round began with a McCormack win now in a paring with Darryn Aarts and his son

Jayde followed by the Rob Gorman/Anthony Chrystie car and the Tim McPherson/Jack

Chiminello team. Mark & Colin Lincoln locked in a third heat win and their fourth top two

placing out of four runs by winning their last heat with Ridd next and the Cox/Simpson com-

bination after them.

With points calculated the line up for the feature in team order was: Team # 92 Mark &

Colin Lincoln, # 42 Ridd/ Fallon, # 7 Simpson/Cox, # 60 McClure/Holt, # 19 Turnbull/

Sparrow, # 15 Haisma/Bates, # 9 Aarts/McCormack, # 26 Daniel Kettles/Gary Stanley,# 54

Rob Gorman/Anthony Chrystie, # 24 Dennis/Hampton, # 5 Petrou/Phillips, # 90 Corcoran/

Newlan, # 70 Scott/Scott/Bishop, # 94 McPherson/Chiminello, # 43 Lock/Lock, # 11 Mi-

DALE MORRISON! DALE MORRISON!

chael Gorman/Brody Chrystie, # 8 Steve & Mick Lincoln, # 81 Campton/Campton, # 1

Miller/McKendry,# 3 Daniel Simpson/Chris Heard, # 36 Debbie Jones/Greg Parks/Rob

Garlick, # 02 Casey Newlan/Debbie Norris,# 44 Mal & Anthony Brennan, John Corcoran/

Kylie Rae and # 47 Gary & Adam Monti.

The 3 hour event began with the Lincoln #92 machine off pole straight to the front with a

gradual increase of space between them and the chasing teams right from the drop of the

green. The Ridd/Fallon, Cox/Simpson, McClure/Holt and Turnbull/Sparrow combinations

all put some distance between them and the rest of the field in the initial stanza.

Every team had different tactics and different sized fuel tanks. The lead car had a tank

that allegedly was a 100 litre tank. McClure for example was running a 30 litre tank. So

the lead Lincoln team had a one stop strategy where they would lose laps to circulating

competitors on the track whilst they refuelled which would take them longer than others.

The other disadvantage they had was they were a one car team and had no second car to

send on track whilst they attended to the lead car.

Whilst the teams behind the lead car of Cox/Simpson, Ridd/Fallon and McClure/Holt all

had to pit within the first hour, the Turnbull/Sparrow car stayed out much longer before

taking advantage of a yellow light situation and heading to the pits. What the rest of us

were about to find out was that the second team car had mechanical issues and a tactic

was put to plan where that car would come on track as he was tagged into the race and

roll around on the yellow laps and compete in as many racing laps as required until his

team signalled him to come into the pits and that Turnbull was refuelled, hydrated and

ready to go again.

The Dennis/Hampton car rolled in turn three and was put back on its wheels and after a

Sparrow and Turnbull — Victory Celebration

quick pit stop re-joined the field to continue

on.

It was at least 90 minutes or more in the

race before the Colin/Mark Lincoln car

headed to the pits to refuel and during this

time Turnbull got back a couple laps he lost

and gained 2 laps over the Lincoln team.

Ridd and Fallon were still up the pointy end

of the race and in front of the Lincolns be-

fore they needed another stop. The Lincolns

who were waiting for Turnbull/Sparrow to

take another pit stop and try and catch

back up onto the lead lap were drifting fur-

ther back as Turnbull made time on each

lap before the Lincolns’ engine let go on

their V8 and rods broke through the engine.

They were finished.

Michael Gorman and Brody Chrystie a pair

of 17 year olds moved up to fourth place

and third at one stage before being caught

and passed by Miller and McKendry who

were a two car team with one strong car

and the sister car suffering issues all night

pushed up from 19th place and found them-

selves in third as the 3 hour time limit ap-

proached.

When the time limit was over with 245 laps

completed victory was taken by the

Turnbull/Sparrow team with Turnbull doing

around 237 of the 245 laps due to the me-

chanical failure of the other team car in an

amazing effort. Second was the first team

of local’s home in Fallon & Ridd then Miller/

McKendry and the younger Gorman/

Chrystie combination of Michael & Brody.

Haisma & Bates Jnr made it two Crash N

Bash Club cars in the top five with current

Australian Street Stock Champion Brad

McClure and his team-mate Jason Holt in

sixth then Kettles/Stanley, Corcoran/

Newlan, Steve & Mick Lincoln and Casey

Newlan & Debbie Norris the last team to

finish from 25.

In the top ten there were six two car teams

and four single car teams with the latter

more so due to attrition with 15 teams

not finishing. The best placed single car

team being Michael & Brody Chrystie and

the best placed Independent team

(meaning non seasonal state body team)

being the winning combination of Turnbull

and Sparrow who only come to Alexandra

for the 100 lapper and now the Enduro.

After the event Dehne Sparrow shared

some wonderful words on his co driver’s

performance. “That was the most amaz-

ing drive I’ve ever seen. I would have

loved to compete in more laps myself,

however the car is set up for Paul and his

longer frame and it just wasn’t possible

for me to drive the thing so we put in

place a strategy where I would circulate

on yellow laps and go until he was ready.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be

his team-mate and for the drive of this

second car which is a top car to drive, it

just didn’t run tonight like it did at the

Queen’s Birthday weekend. It feels great

to win the first event and we couldn’t

have done it without our crew.”