Press Release Speedway Sedans Western Australia.
Last night the second annual SSWA Awards Night and Hall of Fame dinner got underway at the Esplanade Hotel Fremantle by Rydges, and it was bigger and better than the inaugural year according to all who attended!
Allan Smallwood returned as the MC and started off the night by introducing newly re-elected SSWA President Josh Macalpine before awarding the five WA Champions: Kye Blight (Production Sedans, represented by father Darren), Dave Gartner (Super Sedans), Joel Berkley (Modified Sedans, represented by Speedway Australia CEO Darren Tindall), Jake Leaman (Junior Sedans) and Jamie Oldfield (Street Stocks), with specially designed roof plates to recognise their wins.
National Production Sedan champion Kyle Sayer also received one in recognition of his win, going back-to-back!
After a short entree break the Hall of Fame portion of the evening kicked off, with an emotional Darren Blight accepting his induction. He talked about the importance of family across his career, and the speedway people that became family which keeps him coming back.
Second to be inducted was John Purser, who shared some great stories of his career, the highs and lows of a speedway investment that is quite literally a lifetime of work.
Jerome Sutton was the third inductee for 2024 and was clearly emotional as his video was played and then a speech from his brother Darren was read out. Jerome reiterated that he still loves the sport, and he will continue to be part of it as long as he can, in whatever capacity he can.
The fourth inductee was Jason Crowe, who unfortunately was unable to attend on the night. He did however send in an acceptance video and will be officially presented with his trophy at a later date.
The late, great Peter Brook was the final inductee on the night, with sons Troy and Scott clearly chuffed, if not slightly overwhelmed to accept the award. They shared plenty of stories about their father’s time in Speedway and were clearly proud of their fathers’ achievements.
A big thankyou once again to Jason Sutton (DTN) for all his hard work in putting together tribute videos for all our Hall of Famers.
After a break for dinner, the five divisional drivers were announced, with nominees having previously been decided by the public vote before being voted on by a panel of judges. Jake Leaman is the Junior driver of the year, Hayden Norman the same in Street Stocks, Kyle Sayer in Production Sedans, Luke Fraser in Modified Sedans and Dustin Higgs in Super Sedans.
Josh Macalpine returned to the stage and presented the President’s Award to outgoing Technical Director Fab Martinelli for his years of hard work. Fab, just as passionate about the sport as ever, was chuffed, and urged the crowd to keep getting behind Sedan racing here in the West.
Next up, IFuels Carnarvon Speedway did the double, winning both the Track of the Year and Event of the Year for their Northwest Championships meeting. Club President Trent Lyall received both awards and was quick to thank the committee that works with him, the sponsors who support the track and the drivers who continue to support them.
The final two awards of the night were the big ones, the Julie Green Dedication Award and the SSWA Driver of the Year Award. The Julie Green Award sees clubs nominate people as they see fit who make outstanding contributions to their clubs or the sport, then all clubs vote on those nominees at the AGM (which was held earlier on in the day), with Collie Speedway President Greg Avins honoured to be the recipient, lost for words as he joined a very small group of people who have claimed both the Julie Green Dedication Award and the SSWA Driver of the Year Awards!
The SSWA Driver of the Year Award saw the five winning divisional drivers again voted on by all clubs earlier at the AGM, with Kyle Sayer completing a great night to go back-to-back as the SSWA Driver of the Year, rounding out another sensational season.
This would bring the second annual Awards night and Hall of Fame dinner to a close. The event was a great success and the SSWA would like to extend a huge thankyou to all those who got behind the event and supported it.
A huge congratulations to all the award winners and in particular, to the 2024 SSWA Hall of Fame class!
We can’t wait to do it all again next year!
