HAMILTON’S Western Speedway was awarded 2024 Track of the Year at the Speedway Sedans Victoria (SSV) gala dinner in Ballarat on Saturday.

After undergoing some track renovations earlier in the season, the news came as a pleasant surprise to all the club members and committee, led by Hamilton Speedway Drivers Inc president Travis McIntosh.

Other locals to receive awards on the night were Luke Brown (Volunteer of the Year), Brock Atkins (Super Sedan Ambassador of the Year) and Kellie Atkins (SSV Life Member).

McIntosh thanked all the people involved with the club for the copious amounts of work they had put in throughout the season.

“A lot of blood sweat and tears go into something like this, our volunteers worked their backsides off, if we don’t have all of those people, we don’t have this award,” he said.

“The Track of the Year award really belongs to them for their hard work, it was a great night and amazing to be recognised.

“I’m just one year in as president so it’s pretty exciting, but I can’t do anything without support from members committee members, sponsors, and the club which is turning out to be a well-oiled machine.”

The Western Speedway was recognised for the award as a result of the extensive developments it underwent during the season, and its ability to smoothly host some of the biggest events on the calendar.

The major changes were to do with the track and pit area, as well as the introduction of increased measures to make spectators and kids safer.

“We moved the back wall out a metre and a half to make the track wider and faster which took about five months all up,” McIntosh said.

“In the lead up to hosting the Australian title, we also extended our pits by about two metres making them a bit bigger and enclosed the spectator area with a fence to make it a bit safer.”

McIntosh said while the club as a whole was responsible for the great condition of the track, it was good to see some hard-working individuals recognised too.

“It’s amazing the amount of work these guys put in, Luke (Brown) helps us around the track and is always there at the working bees,” he said.

“Kelly (Atkins) is a life member of ours I’m pretty sure and if we ask her to help with something, she will.

“We also had a sub-committee for the Aus title which took a lot of pressure off out committee and if it wasn’t for them, we would’ve struggled a bit.”

The club also held its annual awards presentation on the Sunday night with one of the highlights being Peter Radley being awarded a life membership – recognising his 57-year contribution to the club.

The Hamilton Speedway Drivers Inc has an action-packed 2024-25 season which McIntosh hoped would get underway in a couple of weeks, weather permitting.