Murray Bridge, AU — (November 8, 2014) — The latest event at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway (November 8) featured a huge double series opener as it hosted the Australian 360ci Sprintcar All-stars and the MJS Street Stock Series. Both classes attracted quality fields from across South Australia and Victoria but it was the locals who walked away with feature victories as Luke Dillon scored a relatively easy win in the Sprintcars while the Street Stock honours went to Rhys Heinrich.
After setting a new 1 lap track record (11.411 seconds) in time trials Dillon stamped his authority on the field early and after finishing as the highest qualifier following the heat races he started from position two after being defeated by Chad Ely in the pole shuffle.
Despite starting from the outside of the front row he was actually never headed in the feature event and led all 25 laps of what proved to be an eventful 25 lap final. It all started on the opening turn of the opening lap when Matt Egel and Shannon Barry, who started on the second row, made contact with both cars rolling in spectacular fashion and in the process the accident involved half of the field.
On the restart Dillon once again got the jump from Ely but in turn four Ely spun sending him to the tail of the field. After a strong run through the field Ely would rally back to finish fifth.
Following Ely’s spin Shane Hendry was elevated to second but after falling back to third, behind eventual runner-up Sam Putland, he spun late in the race throwing away a potential podium result eventually recovering to finish tenth.
Therefore after 25 laps Dillon won easily by over 4 seconds ahead of Putland and Brendan Quinn with Chris Soloman being the best of the Victorians in fourth. Fifth place went to defending series champion Ely, with Scott Bogucki, Brenten Farrer, Harley Bishop, Phil Lock and Hendry completing the top ten.
The night also included six heat races with the wins going to Dillon, Egel, Putland, Lock, Michael Burford and Jack McCarthy while Burford, Dion Bellman, Wayne Logue, Bill Fraser, Shaun Forrell and Jed Bell transferred via the B-main.
Along the A-main melee other incidents throughout the night included Colin barker rolling in hot laps, Craig Vanderstelt going upside down in turn four in heat 2 and Jason Gibbons rolling in in the B-main.
The Wingless Sprints and Junior Sedans were also on the program with the Wingless Sprints attracting the b
iggest field ever for a Club event in South Australia. Unfortunately due to time constraints the feature event was cut short after Victorian driver Wayne Hurford rolled heavily in turn two on the second lap after contact with Jarman Dalitz. Current South Australian Champion Todd Wigzell went on to win the final ahead of Robert Heard, Joel Chadwick, Victorian Daniel Storer, Jason Gantz and veteran racer Peter Logue. Earlier the heat winners included Storer, Heard (2) and Wigzell (2).
The next event at the Murray Machining and Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway will be on Saturday November 22 with Round 7 of the Speedcar Pro Series which will double as the Tim Crouch Memorial along with the Formula 500 King of the Bridge.