Press Release by Speedway Sedans Victoria, Images by Rock Solid Productions
Alexandra’s Matt Nelson makes history in a thrilling win from the fourth row on the grid to claim the 2022 SSA Victorian Street Stock Title.
Day 2 of action kicked off at Sonic Speedway in Swan Hill with Justin Brumfield from the Northern Territory taking out the opening heat race of the day for the second day in a row.
Heat 4B saw Mark Purdie home in first for the second time this weekend with his Redline 39 machine hard to catch.
Not even running over the infield barrier could dampen the smile on Purdie.
Heat 4C would be won by Shane Ardley who would swoop back later on after missing the initial interview following his heat race win.
Anthony Beare checked off the fourth heat win of the weekend from four starts in what made the SA46 VF Commodore look impossible to beat for heat 4D.
Bearey would be back in the winners circle immediately following this by taking out heat 5A in spectacular fashion.
Drew Flatman would have his best result of the weekend come in heat 5B when the SA112 Mitsubishi Magna would take out the win.
Jason Degoldi worked hard on improving the Redline 27 and eventually found the form he’d hoped for and mustered up the win in heat 5C.
Ricky Cornwall was solid after lending the AX16 for Matt Nelson to drive earlier in the round to keep up points, Cornwall would get past Watts to control the race in first.
Drawing to a close all of the heat racing action this would set Anthony Beare as the undefeated defending Victorian Champion heading into the mains.
Mortlake’s Morris Oggie Ahearn would qualify outside the front row to give it everything at Bearey.
Just 4 spots would be on offer to join the already qualified top 16 starters for the all important A Main.
The B Main set over 15 laps would have a roller-coaster start with Ballarat’s Scott Secombe topping over the Redline #18 in a series of barrel rolls on the opening lap.
Secombe would climb from the car under his own steam and racing would get set underway once again.
The Hulk, Shane Roycroft would find himself in the lead at the halfway mark and be unrivalled from there.
Donald Irving would pedal up to second with Jayden Blomeley and Peter Kinnear holding off the field to be the top 4 qualifiers into the A Main.
Following a full medallion presentation and parade prior to the main event on the raceway, the 20 Victorian Title starters would be formed into a 4 wide salute with Sonic Speedway lighting up the racetrack with car headlights and mobile phone torches around the venue.
Morris Ahearn would get the better of starts over Beare who seemed to have something clearly amiss on the previously unrivalled Commodore.
Ahearn would pull away to a commanding straight away lead while Beare would fall back into the field.
Anthony Beare would join Drew Flatman infield at the lap 9 mark with a failed clutch robbing him of a full race title defence.
Tyler Barton, Jye Irving, Peter Kinnear and Jason Duell would also retire across the next few laps in what was a gruelling start to the feature.
Meanwhile, Ahearn continued to open the taps on the Mildura #4 and pull away.
A yellow on lap 17 with Steven Harvey getting turned would bring the whole field back behind Ahearn for a restart while the #4 would have a slowly draining rear tyre.
On the restart Cornwall and Nelson would charge after Ahearn where they would battle 3 wide for the next 9 laps before Nelson made a pass for the lead on Ahearn.
With the rear end becoming a major factor in the Oggie Ahearn racecar, Morris would retire infield heartbreakingly on lap 28 of the 35 lap feature.
Nelson and Cornwall would now go side by side battling for the race lead with Brumfield close by in third.
Going to the absolute wire with Cornwall giving it everything, Matt Nelson would be the first car across the line at the conclusion of the 35 lap full race distance and be crowned the new SSA Victorian Street Stock Champion.
Ricky Cornwall would be home in a close second with Justin Brumfield, Mick Dann and Jason Degoldi making up the top five podium place getters.
Following the main event, Morris Ahearn and the Ahearn racing team fittingly would be awarded the Best Presented Car and Crew award in what was an incredible close knit decision across 5 potential winners put forward.
Jayden Blomeley had the charge of the night driving out of the B Main up to sixth in the feature race with Mark Purdie, Shane Roycroft, Steven Harvey and Mat Crawford closing out the top ten and the last of the finishers with Paul Domberg ending infield with a handful of laps to run.
Official Result of the 2022 SSA Street Stock Victorian State Title
A Main, 35 Laps- 1. Q1 Matt Nelson, 2. AX15 Ricky Cornwall, 3. NT51 Justin Brumfield, 4. DDA0 Mick Dann, 5. RDL27 Jason Degoldi, 6. B62 Jayden Blomeley, 7. RDL39 Mark Purdie, 8. WG82 Shane Roycroft, 9. T44 Steven Harvey, 10. T71 Matt Crawford, DNF P15 Paul Domberg (30), MDA41 Morris Ahearn (28), RDL63 Scott Purdie (21), S78 Jason Duell (13), W35 Peter Kinnear (12), HA48 Jye Irving (11), AX94 Tyler Barton (11), S46 Anthony Beare (9), S112 Drew Flatman (5).
ENDS RELEASE
