SATURDAY night was speedway night at Hamilton’s Western Speedway with good fields, a very large crowd and some of the most spectacular racing on a track that provided three car wide racing in every turn.

Although the classes for the twin titles were as different as chalk and cheese, each in their own way provided some of the most exciting battles seen for some time at the track.

The Victorian Late Model Sedans had the crowd on its feet from the start, with their ground pounding and the heats provided plenty of thrills.

Despite several restarts in the Late Model Sedan Championship event, Traralgon’s Peter Nicola proved dominant, starting from pole and fighting off challenges from Callum Harper and Kurt Millwood, while Chevy Edwards,  Brad Smith, Tim Ferguson, and Brock Edwards were all in the hunt at various times.

At the end of a very gruelling 30 laps, Nicola was declared the winner, successfully defending his title with Tasmanian drivers Callum Harper and Kurt Millwood in the minors.

The Gippslander said the second title meant just as much as the first.

“Definitely it is good to win it twice,” Nicola said.

“We had a clear sight, so we knew where the tacky part of the track was.

“The car went really well all night, it didn’t do a thing wrong.”

The Crash and Bash drivers also turned on the action from go to whoa, with surprisingly little damage throughout the night, and some very skilful driving by the competitors.

These events also had the crowd on their feet, as the cars slid sideways through the dog leg, into the pit turn and up the straight at full speed and close quarters.

The crowd favorite seemed to be Bungy Judd, who had an extra passenger on his back window, a life-size Krusty the Clown, and while the multitude of children in the crowd loved the car because of the clown, it wasn’t long before Krusty and Co had a lot of fans.

The main event saw Nathan Taylor on pole, Clint Robinson in position two and Judd out of three with another 20 cars behind them.  

Once again, the race was marred by several stoppages, but each time, it was Taylor and Judd fighting for the lead and plenty of action going on around the entire track.

Around the 20-lap mark, Judd shot to the lead, and what followed was an epic race ending with Judd taking out the Victorian Crash and Bash Title for 2022-23 with David Barrie and Nathan Taylor in the minors.

Judd said it was great to get out and put on a show for the crowd.

“It was magnificent, Krusty brought it home,” he said.

“It was really fast racing, take my hat off to the club, it was a great track and could put a show on for the kids.

“Just sat back and kept it smooth, kept the motor cool then went for it with about five laps to go.”

Rounding out the program, the Production Sedans took to the clay, with Hamilton’s Dehne Sparrow taking the win in the final along with two earlier heat wins.

Sparrow will be hoping that the new car’s recent achievements augurs well for his tilt at the Australian Production Sedan Title in WA next month. 

Young local, Colby Hammond, is also hoping to be contesting the event, and showed out well at Hamilton on the weekend.

The next meeting at Hamilton is set for April 22 and 23, when the SSV Victorian Street Stock Title is the main event, along with a Junior Sedan feature and supports.

The Hamilton club is also proud to announce that the club’s submission to host the 2023-24 SSA Australian Street Stock Championship has been successful, and drivers from all over Australia are expected to converge on the town for the Labour Day weekend in 2024.

The 2022-23 event was held at Bunbury in WA and attracted over 100 competitors, ending in a somewhat controversial win going to the defending title holder Anthony Beare, making it his seventh win in this event, an unprecedented record.

The 2024 event will be the highlight of a very varied 2023-24 program that is currently being put in place, and which will also include the Victorian Limited Sportsman Championship.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in the club as a volunteer or official for the coming season should contact the club via the Western Speedway Facebook page.