Author : Jason Crowe – SSA Media
A good field of twenty one Super Sedans have nominated for the seventeenth annual Bill Gibbings Memorial to be held across this upcoming Easter weekend at Albany Speedway and with so many drivers capable of taking the win, it is certainly going to be a cracking show across Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
Defending Champions Michael Miller and Ryan Alexander, who jointly won the 2017 version of the event as part of the SSA Australian Super Sedan Title, are not in the field and in fact there is just one previous winner nominated, that being Damon Trouchet who won in 2013/14.
Surprisingly names like Gary Higgs, with three feature wins this season and numerous wins and podiums in big races across the State, veteran competitor Bert Vosbergen with four WA Titles to his name and Chris Pavlovich, who has been on a roll this season with six feature wins, have all never claimed the elusive trophy.
Kyle Larson has been in strong form all year and will be hopeful of a strong run while others including Kalgoorlie local Dean Shore and Lee Aylett, coming off a strong third place finish at Manjimup Speedway will be tough to beat across the weekend.
Adding some extra spice to this weekend will be the addition of former competitor Brad Ludlow, who, for the first time in a long time, will step back behind the wheel of a Super Sedan, driving the Dean Trotter 78 machine.
As if this weekend needed anything extra, the addition of New Zealander Mark Osborne will certainly make fans sit up and take notice. Osborne is competing for the weekend in the Adrian Geary owned machine and the regular Super Saloon competitor could be one to watch if he gets a handle on the well presented 3NZ machine quickly.
Action will get underway this Saturday and Sunday night, concluding with what is sure to be an action packed fifty lap final.
The event will also be supported by the Street Stock Rumble on the same program, with twelve nominations for the third annual running of the event at this stage.
Full results will be posted up on the SSA website and Facebook page as they become available.
Official Nominations – 21
NZ3 Mark Osborne
W3 Damon Trouchet
W4 Bert Vosbergen
W5 Kevin Bell
W6 Tristan Green
W8 Chris Pavlovich
W10 Kyle Larson
W11 Wayne Coleman
W25 Nathan Thiele
W30 Peter Wallinger
W34 Dean Shore
W63 Tony St Jack
W68 Rob Knox
W71 Adam Campbell
W76 Terry Green
W78 Brad Ludlow
W81 Gary Higgs
W86 Brett Higgs
W96 Stephen Larson
W99 Lee Aylett
W127 Luke OHanlon
Bill Gibbings Memorial Honour Roll
2001-02 Michael Nicola (VIC)
2002-03 Frank Does (WA)
2003-04 Marc Giancola (WA)
2004-05 Marc Giancola (WA)
2005-06 Frank Does (WA)
2006-07 Kemble Aylett (WA)
2007-08 Ash Bergmeier (VIC)
2008-09 Keith Higgs (WA)
2009-10 Marc Giancola (WA)
2010-11 Marc Giancola (WA)
2011-12 Marc Giancola (WA)
2012-13 Dustin Higgs (WA)
2013-14 Damon Trouchet (WA) & Kemble Aylett (WA)
2014-15 Warren Minshull (WA)
2015-16 Warren Minshull (WA)
2016-17 Ryan Alexander (SA) & Michael Miller (SA)
2017-18 ???
Photo of Chris Pavlovich courtesy of Fastlane Photography