WESTERN Speedway is gearing up for its final race meeting for the season today, with a full program of VSC classes, backing up the Victorian Limited Sportsman Championship, which has been postponed several times this season, in part due to the unseasonable weather.

Drivers out to showcase their class tonight include several locals, with Daniel McLeod making a return after a lengthy absence, along with Craig Ansell who has taken the win in the past, as well as featuring in the minors several times.  

 A driver change in the HA38 machine will see Dillon Siely taking the wheel for tonight, while Mark Noonan will be piloting Daryl Carpenter’s HA91.

The Bairnsdale club will be represented by Daniel Hurley, David Knight, Malcolm Siely, Chris Woeltjes and Darren Adams, while Bowen Donkers will be holding the flag high for Portland.

The defending champion, Jock Baker, from Horsham has notched up a plethora of feature wins in his career, including several South Australian titles and five previous VSC Victorian Limited Sportsman titles so far, but he will be facing some strong opposition tonight.

He will face the likes of Mark Laity, who has also won the event five times, and from Siely, who has notched up three wins over the years, while Rod Hetherington, Bowen Donkers, Craig Ansell and Malcolm Siely have each won one of these events. 

While Baker has succeeded many times, he will have his hands full with so many other former title holders in the field, and he can also expect a challenge from within the family, with his son Tom also a hot contender.

Drivers will contest three heats each before a 30-lap decider to crown the new Victorian Champion.   

The VSC Limited Sportsman class was formed in the early 1980s after splitting from the Sportsman class and taking on its own identity, forming a class where drivers can enjoy driving an open wheeler within a reasonable outlay.

 The Dirt X Industries VSC Sports Sedan Power Series Round has attracted a field of 15 cars from around Victoria, including Braiden Webster, Bradin Claridge, Brendan Miller, Connor Claridge, Shannon Burke, Jason Berger, Caleb Lincoln, Tommy McDonald, Reece and Bailey Kakoschke , Russell and Dale Smith, Dennis Read, Albert Fell and Felicity Roycroft.    

Most of these drivers come from around Wangaratta, Nagambie and Alexandra areas where the fields and competition are quite strong.

A strong field of 22 Standard Saloons are set to do battle, with Nicole Vaughan, Matt Keiller, Matt Watts, Luke King, Robin and Sam Rundell, Clay Fitzgerald, Austin Chivers, Charmaine O’Brien, Cody McCabe, Darren Fitzgerald, Patrick Walsh, Dylan Shelton, Lachie Chivers, Luke and Jacob Head, Ian Walsh, Bailey Sinclair, Rick Stowe, Brad Shepherd and there are two lone entrants from Hamilton, Lily Davis in HA15 and the HA41 of Greg Hutchins.

Spectators should have plenty of action with the class always putting on a show.

For their inaugural venture to the Hamilton track, we have the VSC Sprintcars with a field of 10 cars which includes many well-known drivers, such as David Dennison, Sam and James Wrenn, Matt Grist, Koby Noonan, Steve Hodder, Mark Laity, Shane Stevenson and Hamilton’s Dane Court, who is also gridding up for the fray.

Court, who has been out and about achieving success in several classes, has not been deterred by the massive accident he suffered at Warrnambool earlier in the season and will be all out to do well in front of the home crowd.

Drivers will contest two heats each before engaging in the last race of the night, a 25-lap final.

With a 24-event program which includes four 20 or 30 lap finals, this should be a great show to finish the local season.

Racing is set to commence at 3pm with the pit gates opening at 10 am, and the public gates opening at 2pm.

Further information is available on the Western Speedway Facebook page or the Western Speedway website.