By T.J. Buffenbarger
WARRNAMBOOL, VIC (January 25, 2025) – Jock Goodyer did not let lapped traffic stand in the way of dominating Saturday’s preliminary feature at the 52nd Flying Horse Bar & Brewery Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway. Goodyer, from Launceston, Tasmania, opened up his lead masterfully handling the slower traffic to a 2.652 second advantage over James McFadden at the finish.
Blasting around the top on Premier Speedway’s razor thin cushion proved key for Goodyer being able to pull away from McFadden.
“It wasn’t by any means easy, that was very demanding track,” said Goodyer about the technical racing surface in victory lane. “I was just trying to hit my marks as much as possible. I know when I have James (McFadden) breathing down my neck, it isn’t going to be easy.”
Callum Williamson joined Goodyer starting on the front row for the 30-lap main event. Goodyer took the lead and Williamson dropped back through the field with James McFadden squeezing into second position with Cory Eliason in tow. One lap later Eliason slipped past McFadden to take away the second position.
“I never really felt a sniff from behind. I just felt what my car was doing and how we were racing. It was really good, so I’m just excited for tomorrow.”
Goodyer leads as Williamson drops back to fourth. McFadden squeezed into second position with Cory Eliason in tow. One lap later Eliason slipped past McFadden to take away the second position
The only caution flag during the feature took place when Matt Dumesney spun in front of the field, collecting Brendan Guerin and Bobby Daly who had had nowhere to in the incident.
While Goodyer pulled away from Eliason and McFadden after the restart, Garrett Williamson made his presence felt from 18th starting position moving into the top five on lap 10. Williams was able to wrestle away the fourth position from Grant Anderson on lap 19 and quickly closed in on the top three cars.
On lap 13 McFadden stared to pressure Eliason for the second position. McFadden continued to stalk Eliason until they exchanged second on lap 25 with McFadden taking over the position one lap later.
Williamson quickly caught McFadden and Eliason in traffic, passing Eliason for third position on lap 27.
Up front it was all Goodyer blasting through slower cars for the win. McFadden, Williamson, and Eliason also locked into Sunday’s finale by finishing in the top four positions.
One of the keys to Goodyer extending his lead in slower traffic was having Tate Frost in front of him to judge his speed off of while in slower traffic.
“I was judging myself off Tate, because I know he can rip the lip around here pretty good, so I was just following him how he was picking markers off,” said Goodyer. “I knew he’s pretty fast around there, so if he’s getting around there, I’m happy to follow him.”
McFadden felt his second place run in the preliminary feature accomplished the team’s mission to start near the front in Sunday’s finale, indicating he might have more in store for the field on what he felt is a tricky surface to traverse at Premier Speedway compared to years past.
This is a completely different Warrnambool than I’ve ever raced,” said McFadden of the new surface at Premier Speedway. “It’s really hard to get a hold of and really hard to follow another car. I felt I was a fair bit faster than Corey (Eliason), I just couldn’t maneuver and do anything. The risk versus reward for that was there, and that gave us another row. I feel like that was pretty important.”
Part of Eliason dropping back in the later stages of the race was due to a issue with his seat belts during the main event.
“I run ratchet belts in the tang that kind of holds the ratchet from coming undone Kept coming up and it wouldn’t stay latched” said Eliason of his belts loosening up. “It started happening on warm up laps, I got it where I thought was stuck, then I got into the fence once good, and it popped loose. After that every time I’d hit the curb, I’d have to reach down and try to ratchet it back tight, then just try not to hit the curb and just let the car barely let it touch it so I could still make speed but not come undone.”
For Williamson, the fourth-place finish was a strong end to a night that did not start out well.
“If you saw qualifying and our first heat race, you probably thought we should have loaded it up,” said Williamson of the team’s performance early in the night. “We put our heads together and went back to what we were fast with here for Speedweek. After the second heat race I told the guys it felt really good and close to what we had the other week. I wasn’t really sure what we were going to have in the first few laps. I knew we had a rocket ship and the top kind of stayed cleaned off, and guys weren’t really in my way too much. I could just build a lot of momentum up there and just kept up my speed and could feel whatever I wanted. The car was amazing, I just pounded it and set sail.”
After the strong finish to Saturday’s feature, Goodyer is already looking towards the $40,000 to win finale on Sunday.
“I never really felt a sniff from behind. I just felt what my car was doing and how we were racing. It was really good, so I’m just excited for tomorrow.”
52nd Flying Horse Bar & Brewery Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic
Premier Speedway
Warrnambool, Victoria
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Qualifying Flight A
1. N47-Marcus Dumesny, 11.222[15]
2. USA17-Cory Eliason, 11.444[16]
3. N57-Matt Dumesny, 11.486[12]
4. S98-Luke Dillon, 11.514[14]
5. T22-Jock Goodyer, 11.541[13]
6. W2-Dayne Kingshott, 11.583[8]
7. N78-Kobi Wright, 11.584[17]
8. S96-Brendan Guerin, 11.603[1]
9. S20-Glen Sutherland, 11.642[7]
10. VA88-Grant Stansfield, 11.701[2]
11. N15-Luke Thomas, 11.811[18]
12. V49-Josh Buckingham, 11.834[21]
13. V55-Parker Scott, 11.842[20]
14. USA45-Riley Goodno, 11.850[11]
15. N36-Eddie Lumbar, 11.898[19]
16. Q10-Adam Butler, 11.956[9]
17. S11-Scott Enderl, 12.002[3]
18. Q46-Dylan Menz, 12.033[4]
19. N53-Alex Attard, 12.034[10]
20. D7-Jordan Rae, 12.039[5]
DNS: N88-Kalib Henry
Qualifying Flight B
1. W3-Callum Williamson, 11.457[15]
2. V11-Chris Solomon, 11.520[2]
3. VA71-Domain Ramsay, 11.626[10]
4. V8-Bobby Daly, 11.701[12]
5. T15-Ethan Wyllie, 11.708[20]
6. S3-Ben Morris, 11.718[9]
7. S97-Ian Madsen, 11.723[11]
8. VA36-Ashley Cook, 11.729[21]
9. V37-Grant Anderson, 11.732[16]
10. USA44-Garet Williamson, 11.735[14]
11. WX23-James McFadden, 11.766[13]
12. V98-Peter Doukas, 11.768[7]
13. NT25-Will Carroll, 11.783[1]
14. Q54-Randy Morgan, 11.794[22]
15. T62-Tate Frost, 11.824[5]
16. W14-Jason Pryde, 11.839[4]
17. T7-Tim Hutchins, 11.869[3]
18. S27-Daniel Pestka, 11.877[6]
19. S14-Brendan Quinn, 11.927[8]
20. N42-Zac Pacchiarotta, 12.289[19]
21. V15-David Dennison, 12.587[17]
22. V89-Jamie Heyen, 12.884[18]
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. T22-Jock Goodyer[3]
2. N57-Matt Dumesny[2]
3. S20-Glen Sutherland[5]
4. S11-Scott Enderl[9]
5. N78-Kobi Wright[4]
6. N15-Luke Thomas[6]
7. V55-Parker Scott[7]
8. N36-Eddie Lumbar[8]
9. N53-Alex Attard[10]
10. N47-Marcus Dumesny[1]
DNS: N88-Kalib Henry
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. USA17-Cory Eliason[1]
2. S98-Luke Dillon[2]
3. S96-Brendan Guerin[4]
4. V49-Josh Buckingham[6]
5. D7-Jordan Rae[10]
6. USA45-Riley Goodno[7]
7. Q10-Adam Butler[8]
8. Q46-Dylan Menz[9]
9. VA88-Grant Stansfield[5]
10. W2-Dayne Kingshott[3]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. W3-Callum Williamson[1]
2. WX23-James McFadden[6]
3. T15-Ethan Wyllie[3]
4. S97-Ian Madsen[4]
5. V37-Grant Anderson[5]
6. T62-Tate Frost[8]
7. VA71-Domain Ramsay[2]
8. NT25-Will Carroll[7]
9. S14-Brendan Quinn[10]
10. T7-Tim Hutchins[9]
11. V15-David Dennison[11]
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. V8-Bobby Daly[2]
2. S3-Ben Morris[3]
3. V11-Chris Solomon[1]
4. VA36-Ashley Cook[4]
5. V98-Peter Doukas[6]
6. Q54-Randy Morgan[7]
7. USA44-Garet Williamson[5]
8. S27-Daniel Pestka[9]
9. W14-Jason Pryde[8]
10. V89-Jamie Heyen[11]
11. N42-Zac Pacchiarotta[10]
Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. T22-Jock Goodyer[6]
2. Q10-Adam Butler[1]
3. N47-Marcus Dumesny[8]
4. S96-Brendan Guerin[5]
5. S11-Scott Enderl[10]
6. V49-Josh Buckingham[3]
7. V55-Parker Scott[2]
8. D7-Jordan Rae[9]
9. S20-Glen Sutherland[4]
10. S98-Luke Dillon[7]
DNS: N88-Kalib Henry
Heat Race #6 (10 Laps)
1. USA45-Riley Goodno[2]
2. N57-Matt Dumesny[7]
3. N15-Luke Thomas[3]
4. N78-Kobi Wright[5]
5. USA17-Cory Eliason[8]
6. W2-Dayne Kingshott[6]
7. VA88-Grant Stansfield[4]
8. Q46-Dylan Menz[10]
9. N53-Alex Attard[9]
DNS: N36-Eddie Lumbar
Heat Race #7 (10 Laps)
1. NT25-Will Carroll[2]
2. V37-Grant Anderson[4]
3. W3-Callum Williamson[8]
4. V98-Peter Doukas[3]
5. W14-Jason Pryde[1]
6. V8-Bobby Daly[7]
7. VA36-Ashley Cook[5]
8. V15-David Dennison[11]
9. N42-Zac Pacchiarotta[9]
10. T7-Tim Hutchins[10]
11. T15-Ethan Wyllie[6]
Heat Race #8 (10 Laps)
1. Q54-Randy Morgan[2]
2. WX23-James McFadden[3]
3. USA44-Garet Williamson[4]
4. T62-Tate Frost[1]
5. S97-Ian Madsen[5]
6. V11-Chris Solomon[8]
7. S27-Daniel Pestka[10]
8. S3-Ben Morris[6]
9. V89-Jamie Heyen[11]
10. VA71-Domain Ramsay[7]
DNS: S14-Brendan Quinn
B-Main (20 Laps)
1. N47-Marcus Dumesny[3]
2. V49-Josh Buckingham[1]
3. T62-Tate Frost[5]
4. W2-Dayne Kingshott[9]
5. S11-Scott Enderl[4]
6. S20-Glen Sutherland[6]
7. T15-Ethan Wyllie[7]
8. V55-Parker Scott[8]
9. S27-Daniel Pestka[14]
10. Q10-Adam Butler[2]
11. W14-Jason Pryde[11]
12. Q46-Dylan Menz[15]
13. VA88-Grant Stansfield[13]
14. N53-Alex Attard[16]
15. N36-Eddie Lumbar[21]
16. V15-David Dennison[18]
17. N42-Zac Pacchiarotta[20]
18. VA71-Domain Ramsay[10]
19. D7-Jordan Rae[12]
20. T7-Tim Hutchins[17]
21. V89-Jamie Heyen[19]
DNS: N88-Kalib Henry
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. T22-Jock Goodyer[1]
2. WX23-James McFadden[5]
3. USA44-Garet Williamson[18]
4. USA17-Cory Eliason[4]
5. V37-Grant Anderson[8]
6. Q54-Randy Morgan[10]
7. N78-Kobi Wright[12]
8. V98-Peter Doukas[16]
9. W3-Callum Williamson[2]
10. V11-Chris Solomon[9]
11. S98-Luke Dillon[19]
12. T62-Tate Frost[23]
13. USA45-Riley Goodno[11]
14. N47-Marcus Dumesny[21]
15. W2-Dayne Kingshott[24]
16. S97-Ian Madsen[13]
17. S3-Ben Morris[14]
18. V8-Bobby Daly[6]
19. V49-Josh Buckingham[22]
20. VA36-Ashley Cook[20]
21. N15-Luke Thomas[15]
22. NT25-Will Carroll[17]
23. S96-Brendan Guerin[7]
24. N57-Matt Dumesny[3]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. T22-Jock Goodyer[1]
2. WX23-James McFadden[5]
3. USA44-Garet Williamson[18]
4. USA17-Cory Eliason[4]
5. V37-Grant Anderson[8]
6. Q54-Randy Morgan[10]
7. N78-Kobi Wright[12]
8. V98-Peter Doukas[16]
9. W3-Callum Williamson[2]
10. V11-Chris Solomon[9]
11. S98-Luke Dillon[19]
12. T62-Tate Frost[23]
13. USA45-Riley Goodno[11]
14. N47-Marcus Dumesny[21]
15. W2-Dayne Kingshott[24]
16. S97-Ian Madsen[13]
17. S3-Ben Morris[14]
18. V8-Bobby Daly[6]
19. V49-Josh Buckingham[22]
20. VA36-Ashley Cook[20]
21. N15-Luke Thomas[15]
22. NT25-Will Carroll[17]
23. S96-Brendan Guerin[7]
24. N57-Matt Dumesny[3]