From Valvoline Raceway
Sydney, AU — (November 5, 2014) — This Saturday night’s fourth round of the Sydney Sprint Car Premiership at Valvoline Raceway takes on an even deeper significance as it honors the man who designed and built the venue back in the late 1970’s – Sid Hopping.
Sid’s vision, his grit and determination, his commitment and his unwavering desire to create a permanent home for Sprint Cars in Sydney has built the foundation for what fans the world over have enjoyed at the ‘Speedway by the freeway’.
His reach has extended far beyond the mere fact that he broke the earth and built Australia’s most iconic still operating clay oval with his many family members actively involved as competitors, administrators and officials in both Speedway and second tier aspects of the sport.
This Saturday night Valvoline Raceway will honor Sid and his original business partner the late Bert Wilder for creating the then Parramatta City Raceway.
“Sid is a living legend of our sport,” smiles VR Managing Director Steven Green, “it’s impossible to measure the size of his contribution to Speedway in not only Sydney but Australia as well. Over the last almost four decades the best drivers in the world have come to race at this venue, and certainly the best in Australia. We are very honoured to be entrusted with building the future of this venue and continuing on the legacy that Sid and his family have left us.”
This Saturday night’s nominated field again sees Sprint Car teams from across many points of the Australian compass including Victoria, Northern Territory, South Australia, the ACT and Queensland in addition to the huge field of “Parramatta Posse” New South Wales men and women.
Victorian Jamie Veal will miss this Saturday night’s competition allowing his rivals a chance to close the gap on the Warrnambool 26 year old in the track championship point score which (top ten) looks like this:
1. Jamie Veal Warrnambool VIC 762
2. Danny Reidy Oxenford QLD 726
3. Robbie Farr Iluka WA 716
4. Ben Atkinson Darwin NT 712
5. Toby Bellbowen Cranebrook NSW 706
6. James Thompson Kellyville NSW 700
7. Max Dumesny Nelson NSW 696
8. Marty Perovich Denham Court NSW 694
9. Matthew Dumesny Nelson NSW 692
10. Darryl Campbell Cranebrook NSW 677
Northern Territory born now Queensland based Danny Reidy returned home last weekend to race at Archerfield Speedway where he promptly won the A-Main.
The 29-year-old returns to battle at Valvoline Raceway for the Sid Hopping Shootout armed with plenty of confidence and car speed in the Desert Palms Resort #5.
“We had a good win on Saturday,” he explains, “I’d just like to back it up with a win in Sydney this week. We’ve been on the money, we just need to convert that to a race win. It’s not easy to win at a place that week in week out gets over 50 cars.”
Reidy placed on the podium at the last Sprint Car event at Valvoline Raceway on October 25 and currently sits second in the Track Championship points.
“With Jamie (Veal) away this week we need to get as many points as we can ahead of him. There’s a lot of guys to watch out for anyway so I can’t be too concerned about points I guess, we just have to race as hard as we always do.”
In all 55 Sprint Cars will contest the fourth round of the Sydney Track Championship with a special “Pole Shuffle” format also included.
Also on the program will be 50 wingless sprints and a doggedly determined to destruct field of “Fender Benders” including the crowd favorite Mini Dave “Shrek” Brown.
Gates open at 2pm and fans can visit the pits from 3-4pm to meet the stars and have photos with their race cars.
Hot Laps commence at 5.30pm with qualifying at 6pm.
Valvoline Raceway is located at 21 Wentworth Street Granville – phone (02) 9637 0411 – www.valvolineraceway.com.au