Press Release by Speedway Sedans Victoria
After forecasted torrential rain dampened the original planned date of Saturday night to run the Victorian Production Sedan Title, Western Speedway took a never say die attitude.
Between the Track, volunteers, and Speedway Sedans Victoria officials, the event was moved to Sunday the 6th to start from mid day.
On a super juiced up track, race speed has a long ways to move as the track firmed up under tyre. Stephen Laidlaw was the first to claim the heat victory as he won heat 1A over Steven Aldridge.
In Heat 1B Trevor Mills pulled off a green white chequers pass to take the win from Steve Honeyman.
Matt Nelson had the AX61 hooked up around Western Speedway in heat 1C to take the win over Chris Fitzgerald.
The second round of heats saw the pace picked up substantially as the moisture in the track bedded in.
Leeton’s Danny Harrison made the first bout in round two heat 2A, with Queenslander Joel Berkley charging for second.
Trevor Mills backed up his first win with another in heat 2B, finishing above John Calderwood the nearest finisher.
Hamilton’s Jye Irving laid down the fastest lap of the day until that point, and held off Stephen Laidlaw for second in heat 2C.
Benny Barker fired his best shot of the day in heat 3A, holding off the N1 of Berkley by half a second.
Dehne Sparrow took another win for the locals as he drove the HA91 to the top in heat 3B from Chris Fitzgerald.
Trevor Mills would round out a perfect set of heats by winning heat 3C by a whopping 9 second margin back to Matt Nelson.
Mills would sit atop the points standing with pole position, along with Stephen Laidlaw outside front row.
Mills and Berkley would step out to an early lead and go bumper to bumper for 5 laps through a caution riddled main event.
Berkley would abruptly pull infield bringing the N1 to its end just 5 recorded laps in. Trevor Mills would continue to pull away and battle cautions from deep in the field.
However a mechanical failure would plague the G10 machine and render it impossible to drive before falling back and eventually retiring at lap 21.
Ben Barker would be right there ready to shine and inherited the lead after a restart and never looked behind.
Stephen Laidlaw would tuck in tight, but by the end of the 35 Lap Main Event, it was Barker who hung on by a second.
Stephen Laidlaw and Jye Iriving would make up the top three positions.
Danny Harrison and Wayne OKeefe would finish fourth and fifth respectively to render the top five. Mark Riley and Graham Gerlach were through for sixth and seventh, while Colby Hammond was the last car to finish the race in eighth.
A staggering 12 cars couldn’t see the full race distance of 35 laps.
Crowning Benny Barker in the HA13 Commodore the new Victorian Champion for Production Sedans in 2022.
Official Results of the 2022 SSA Production Sedan Victorian State Title
ROUND ONE
Heat One, Ten Laps- 1. RD30 Stephen Laidlaw, 2. P35 Steve Aldridge, 3. N1 Joel Berkley, 4. WNG9 Wayne O’Keefe, 5. L24 Danny Harrison, 6. L27 Wayne Bourke, 7. HA7 Colby Hammond, DNS SH91 Toby Carmichael.
Heat Two, Ten Laps- 1. G10 Trevor Mills, 2. HO22 Steve Honeyman, 3. HA13 Ben Barker, 4. HO27 Ryan Queale, 5. HO6 Graham Gerlach, 6. HA75 Mark Riley (9), DNF CR19 Jack Bear (3).
Heat Three, Ten Laps- 1. AX61 Matt Nelson, 2. WNG14 Chris Fitzgerald, 3. HA46 Jye Irving, 4. HA91 Dehne Sparrow, 5. P13 John Calderwood, 6. WNG89 Kenneth Mankey, 7. GL5 Richard Cook, 8. GV96 Jack Houlahan.
ROUND TWO
Heat Four, Ten Laps- 1. L24 Danny Harrison, 2. N1 Joel Berkley, 3. WNG89 Kenneth Mankey, 4. WNG14 Chris Fitzgerald, 5. HO27 Ryan Queale, 6. HA91 Dehne Sparrow.
Heat Five, Ten Laps- 1. G10 Trevor Mills, 2. P13 John Calderwood, 3. L27 Wayne Bourke, 4. HA13 Ben Barker, 5. HO6 Graham Gerlach, 6. HA7 Colby Hammond, DNF AX61 Matt Nelson (8), GV96 Jack Houlahan (7).
Heat Six, Ten Laps- 1. HA46 Jye Irving, 2. RD30 Stephen Laidlaw, 3. GL5 Richard Cook, 4. P35 Steve Aldridge, 5. WNG9 Wayne O’Keefe, 6. HO22 Steve Honeyman, 7. CR19 Jack Bear, 8. HA75 Mark Riley (8).
ROUND THREE
Heat Seven, Ten Laps- 1. HA13 Ben Barker, 2. N1 Joel Berkley, 3. GV96 Jack Houlahan, 4. HA46 Jye Irving, 5. P13 John Calderwood, DNF P35 Steve Aldridge (7), HO27 Ryan Queale (7).
Heat Eight, Ten Laps- 1. HA91 Dehne Sparrow, 2. WNG14 Chris Fitzgerald, 3. L27 Wayne Bourke, 4. WNG69 Wayne O’Keefe, 5. WNG89 Kenneth Mankey, 6. CR19 Jack Bear, DNF GL5 Richard Cook (3).
Heat Nine, Ten Laps- 1. G10 Trevor Mills, 2. AX61 Matt Nelson, 3. L24 Danny Harrison, 4. HO22 Steve Honeyman, 5. HO6 Graham Gerlach, 6. HA7 Colby Hammond (9), 7. HA75 Mark Riley (9).
FINAL POINTS
- G10 Trevor Mills 108
- N1 Joel Berkley 79
- HA13 Ben Barker 76
- HA46 Jye Irving 76
- WNG14 Chris Fitzgerald 73
- L24 Danny Harrison 72
- AX61 Matt Nelson 64
- RD30 Stephen Laidlaw 64
- HA91 Dehne Sparrow 63
- L27 Wayne Bourke 47
- HO22 Steve Honeyman 55
- P13 John Calderwood 54
- WNG69 Wayne O’Keefe 47
- WNG89 Kenneth Mankey 46
- P35 Steve Aldridge 45
- HO6 Graham Gerlach 39
- GL5 Richard Cook 31
- HO27 Ryan Queale 30
- GV96 Jack Houlahan 29
- HA7 Colby Hammond 28
- HA75 Mark Riley 24
- CR19 Jack Bear 18
- SH91 Toby Carmichael 0
A Main, 35 Laps- 1. HA13 Ben Barker, 2. RD30 Stephen Laidlaw, 3. HA46 Jye Irving, 4. L24 Danny Harrison, 5. WNG9 Wayne O’Keefe, 6. HA75 Mark Riley, 7. HO6 Graham Gerlach (34), 8. HA7 Colby Hammond (33), DNF AX61 Matt Nelson (30), CR19 Jack Bear (26), L27 Wayne Bourke (24), WNG89 Kenneth Mankey (24), G10 Trevor Mills (21), P35 Steve Aldridge (20), HO22 Steve Honeyman (12), HA91 Dehne Sparrow (7), P13 John Calderwood (6), N1 Joel Berkley (4), GV96 Jack Houlahan (2), WNG14 Chris Fitzgerald (1).
