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Speedway Sedans Australia News
Author : Jason Crowe – SSA Media
One of the biggest Street Stock events in the Pilbara region of Western Australia will be held this weekend and with a stout 44 car field, it is set to be a huge event.
The sixth annual running of the Brett Johnson Memorial has attracted competitors from all over the State to Karrathas Nickol Bay Speedway, as well as two Northern Territorians and the Australian Street Stock Champion Anthony Beare.
This will be Beares first appearance at Nickol Bay Speedway where he will be driving the Craig Clayton/Samantha Dodd owned machine, while Justin Brumfield and Jorj Park will be representing the Territorians.
Defending and two time champion Paul Joss all the way from Collie headlines the WA based part of the field which also includes current WA Street Stock Champion Jack Barnewall from Kalgoorlie in his first BJM event and former WA champion Wayne Thomson who has again made the trek up from Bunbury for the fourth time.
The southern half of WA has seen a number of competitors making their way up North: Margaret River has a good representation with five competitors including Clint Hadley and Joe Wilson while Ellenbrook will see names like Josh Martinelli and Evan Wakefield competing.
Not to be outdone, the North of WA has drivers like Russell Gunn from Kununurra and Rowan Drysdale from Derby also making the journey to join the cast of around ten local cars, with other northern clubs being represented including Carnarvon, Broome, Newman and Port Hedland.
Incredibly, this is just the sixth running of the event with car numbers rapidly increasing every year: last years event attracted twenty nine cars while this year there is no less than 22 drivers, or exactly half the field, making their first appearance in the BJM event.
The event is held in honour of Brett Johnson, a young man who upon birth had medical issues which would continue throughout his short life. In 2013 Brett was given the opportunity to come out to the Nickol Bay Speedway Club where he had a ride in a two seater Street Stocks, something that he would never forget. Sadly, Brett passed away later that year and the Brett Johnson Memorial was held for the first time in 2014.
It is because of this connection that the event also supports EPIC, a well-established not-for-profit organisation which provides a range of services and programs in the Pilbara including disability support, parenting & resilience programs, school and community-based programs as well as pre-employment support. The kids from EPIC will come out to the track this Friday and Saturday night for the two night event, with the kids getting the opportunity to go around the track in the two seater Street Stocks where their smiles light up the track!
The event of course would not be possible without the support of the valuable sponsors including Karratha Smash Repairs, Karratha Beach Tyres, ODH Mechanical, Karratha Machinery Hire, OBrien Glass, NZA Hydraulics, LWP Logistics, Jolly Good Auto Electrics, East Pilbara Tyre Services, Karratha Little Champs Family Daycare, Hadley Earthworks, KBSS Engineering, Karratha Taxi Trucks, EBM, KPN Diesel Performance, Karratha Tilt Tray Towing, Coldpoint Refrigeration, Belle Ame, Repco, Joyce Krane, PMG, Pearlers Rest, Crane Corp Australia and More Than Trophies.
Full coverage of the event will occur this Friday and Saturday nights, with results posted as they happen on the SSWA Facebook page, race monitor to be up and running and all the usual articles posted each night, while there will also be an event live stream available via the Dirt Track Nutters Facebook page.
Official Nominations 44
W1 Jack Barnewall (Kalgoorlie)
W2 Kade Helms (Bunbury)
W3 Matt Lowe (Derby)
NT5 Justin Brumfield (Darwin)
W7 Clint Marks (Nickol Bay)
W8 Paul Joss (Collie)
W9 Clint Justins (Nickol Bay)
W11 Rowan Drysdale (Derby)
W12 Brinley McGaffin (Derby)
W14 Damon Lyall (Carnarvon)
W15 Wayne Thomson (Bunbury)
W16 Clint Hadley (Margaret River)
W17 Josh Martinelli (Ellenbrook)
W19 Stevie ODowd (Nickol Bay)
W21 Evan Wakefield (Ellenbrook)
W23 Steve Griffiths (Nickol Bay)
W24 Mark Murray (Broome)
W25 Bradley Roberts (Ellenbrook)
W26 David Padmore (Margaret River)
W27 Shane Snell (Nickol Bay)
W29 Jake Hoath (Derby)
W31 Alan Veldkamp (Port Hedland)
W32 Ben Ferris (Kellerberrin)
W35 Craig Clayton (Hillview)
W37 Jeremy Ferris (Ellenbrook)
W38 Joe Wilson (Margaret River)
W39 Al Couper (Nickol Bay)
W41 Leanne Couper (Nickol Bay)
W42 Matt Herbert (Nickol Bay)
S46 Anthony Beare (Borderline)
W52 Shay Roberts (Derby)
W72 James Pigram (Derby)
W73 Russell Gunn (Kununurra)
NT77 Jorj Park (Northline)
W81 Peter Walker (Ellenbrook)
W82 Colm ORiordan (Nickol Bay)
W94 Robert Dunbar (Derby)
W95 Lourens Lamprecht (Port Hedland)
W96 Jack McAuley (Nickol Bay)
W97 Brad Wilde – Nickol Bay
W101 Glen Chinnery (Margaret River)
W136 Paul Fiedler (Margaret River)
W182 Dale Roberts (Port Hedland)
W194 Petrus Lamprecht (Port Hedland)
Brett Johnson Memorial Honour Board
2014 Matt Herbert
2015 Matt Herbert
2016 Hayden Norman
2017 Paul Joss
2018 Paul Joss
2019 ???