A HUGE crowd turned out at Western Speedway last Saturday night to witness the SRA Sprintcars contest round eight of the Eureka Garages and Sheds Series.

It was a rather dramatic night, with rollovers and crashes in all classes, which took up a good deal of time, as driver safety in any of those instances, is paramount.

The track was fast, which caught some of the drivers out, providing plenty of thrills and spills during the evening.   

Daniel Pestka continued his strong form taking out his series round win with a flag to flag win from Grant Anderson and Grant Stansfield to extend his lead in the 2021-2022 Eureka Series Championship.

It was a night where some of the more fancied competitors found themselves in trouble during the qualifying heats.

Both Brock Hallett and Tate Frost dropped valuable heat points in their first heat races when they did not finish, and that would see both drivers having to transfer to the A Main via the last chance B Main event.

Anderson was another driver that dropped placings in his second heat races to just make it to the finish with front end damage after contact with the turn four pole line tire.

Two drivers that were on their game were Pestka, who was third fastest in his time trial group and took two heat race wins, and Stansfield setting a fast time in his time trials, before winning a heat race and took a third place in his next heat to tie with Pestka on points after the qualifying event.

Pestka won the pole position for the A Main by way of setting the fastest time in the heat races that would see Stansfield lining up beside him.

The last chance B Main was a disappointing affair for Leigh Mugavin after leading all the way only for contact with a lapped car with one lap to go brought Mugavin to a halt and saw him at the rear of the field for the restart.

Frost went on to win the B Main from Hallett who was followed home by Blake Walsh, David Donegan, Andrew Hughes and David Aldersley, who would transfer to the A Main.

Mugavin just missed the last transfer spot after a valent effort.

As the field rolled around the track for the start of the feature race, the question was could Stansfield get the race start and take another win at this venue where has won before or would Pestka deny him that chance?

The green flag was waved to signal the start of the race that was very short lived when Milburn got into trouble going into turn one that would see Carlin, Hallett and King left with nowhere to go.

Milburn rolled and received major damage that would end his night, also taking out both Carlin and Hallett.

King was able to restart but was carrying top wing damage.

Take two and this time the race only went as far as the middle of turns one and two when Van Ginneken rolled to join the other cars in the infield.

Finally underway on the third attempt and Pestka took the race lead from Stansfield with Anderson slotting into third place.

The two leaders set a strong pace, as Stansfield looked to have the pace to match Pestka and was staying with him, while Anderson retained third place before the race was brought to a halt on lap 12.

Underway once more, Stansfield was matching Pestka’s pace and was having a few looks to try and make a pass, but as close as he got on a few occasions, Pestka was still in command.

Anderson was also now in close company of the leaders.

The mover in the pack was David Donegan who started in 16th place to be up into eighth place by lap 20, while Frost had also moved forward to 10th place.

Stansfield was not giving up as the laps ticked down and was doing everything he could to try and snatch the race win from Pestka.

With one lap to go, Stansfield went into turn one deep and it looked like he might be able to go for a challenge but he was a little unsettled as he came of turn two going a little wide and the close-following Anderson seized on the opportunity to go for the gap, as both Anderson and Stansfield were now side by side into turn three but Anderson had enough steam to pull off the pass and take second place from Stansfield.

Daniel Pestka did a great job once again to go on and take the race win and his second feature win of the series, ahead of Anderson and Stansfield, who would have been disappointed to lose second place on the last lap.

 In their first visit to Hamilton, the VSC Sports Sedans showed out as extremely fast and competitive during the heats, with Jamie Lock scoring two out of the six heat wins, while Aiden Copeland, Caleb Lincoln, Dale Smith and Lucas Condor shared the others.

The final saw Lock lining up on pole with Condor on his outside, and at the drop of the green it was Condor to the lead, but was quickly overtaken by Lock, who dropped out of the race shortly after.

With Condor retaking the front, he was never headed despite several stoppages and was followed home to the flag by Dale Smith and Tommy McDonald, while Hamilton’s lone entry, Jason Berger, finished in eighth position.

Partway through the final, Daniel Brittain in the L88 Sports Sedan, turned up the heat with his car catching fire due to a power steering hose which split, releasing oil on to the hot exhaust.  

The resulting fireball caused a few tense moments, but the fire crew were quickly on the scene, and the driver emerged unscathed; another testament to the safety equipment and the dedicated infield crew.

The Vintage Sprintcars and Super Modifieds also provided interesting moments with their demonstrations, as a couple of drivers will have some repairs to do after being caught up in unavoidable incidents.   

The class was well received by fans with plenty of interest in the past history of the cars, and the work that had to be done to restore them.  

The next meeting at Western Speedway will be on March 5, when Hamilton hosts the Speedway Sedans Victorian (SSV) Production Sedan Championship.  

There will be plenty of local interest in this event, with several Hamilton based competitors expected to be on the nomination list which already includes former state champion, Trevor Mills.  

A complete list of entries will be available shortly, and the program will also feature the JSPA Junior Sedans and VSC Standard Saloons.