Triple state champion spectacular at Alexandra, wins to Dellar, Miller and Ingram

Dellar won the Speedway Sedans Victoria Junior Sedan Victorian title, Ingram won the Victorian Speedway Council Junior Standard Saloon title and Damien Miller won the Victorian Speedway Council Sports Sedan Victorian title.

In the SSV juniors class, four heats a round across five rounds determined where drivers would sit in qualifying points that determined if they had to run through a last chance main or direct into the title race at the end of the weekend.

In round one, Dellar, Linken Paterson from Healesville, Dylan Barrow from Wandin and Aidan Rigby from Queensland were winners.

In round two, another West Australian won the first heat, then another followed him in Brody Day winning the next, followed by Dellar making it a trifecta for the west before Tasmanian Brandon Austen won the last heat of round two.

Tasmanian Lachlan Robins won the first heat of round three, Dellar made it three from three, Australian champion Carter Metcalfe won his first of the weekend and Beau Oldfield won the last of the night.

In night two racing, Paterson claimed a second win for the weekend to start round four, then Metcalfe from Mildura took the second heat and Will Shore, another from the Sunraysia, won the third, before Rigby claimed his second win in the fourth heat.

Rounding out the qualifying in the final round, West Australian Donny Davis won the first heat, Metcalfe won for a third time, as did Paterson, then Rigby won the last.

In the last chance qualifier for the title race, River Spitzbarth from Northern Territory, Logan Mair from Melbourne, Lachlan Bull from Swan Hill and Tamika Simpson from Woori Yallock qualified for the big race.

The 25-lap title race began with Dellar, Metcalfe and Paterson the top three on lap one, with Paterson on his home track moving to second the next time around. At the 10-lap mark, Dellar lead Paterson, Metcalfe, Oldfield and Rigby and seven cars were already out of the race with 15 to go. On lap 16, Metcalfe moved to second, however Paterson kept him under pressure and reclaimed second position on lap 23.

As the chequered flag dropped at the end of lap 25, the new Victorian champion was determined to be Kayne Dellar from Paterson, Metcalfe, Rigby and Shore.

Drivers in the Junior Standard Saloon Victorian title also competed through five rounds, with three in each round. Starting with round one, Harry Cecil, Nathan Miles and Owen Cecil, all from South Australia, and Gippsland’s Nyora Club took wins. Harry Cecil and Miles took a second win each in round two, with Linken Paterson, who was doing double class racing duty across the weekend, winning in the third heat of round two.

Owen Cecil began round three with his second win, followed by another Paterson victory and a third win to Ingram. On night two in round four, Miles, Dylan Barrow and Harry Cecil were the winners, with Paterson, Ingram and Harry Cecil winning the final qualifiers in round five.

A 25-lap title finished the weekend for the Standard Saloon Juniors, with Ingram leading lap one from Harry Cecil and Miles, Paterson and Jack Braz. Barrow was the big early mover in the top five by the end of lap five and at lap 10 Ingram lead Harry Cecil, Paterson, Miles and Blake Smith, with Barrow out of the race. Owen Cecil moved to fifth ahead of Smith by lap 15 and at lap 20 Harry Cecil had snatched the lead from Ingram.

Ingram fought back to the front the very next lap and on lap 23, as Owen Cecil and Blake Smith exited the race, Alexandra member Noah Collette moved to fifth. At the drop of the chequered flag, Ingram was declared the Victorian champion ahead of Harry Cecil, Paterson, Miles and Collette.

Open age racing in the form of the Sports Sedans was the final of the three Victorian titles for the weekend, with five rounds made up of three heats each.

Round one began with Steve Kershaw from Healesville, Luke Fallon from Alexandra and Damien Miller from Pakenham, all Alexandra members winning to start the night.

Kialla woman Felicity Roycroft won the first heat in round two from top Nagambie driver Shane O'Brien and veteran racer Ian Thomsen. It was another triple delight for the Alexandra club in round three with Dillon Taylor and brothers Damien and Brendan Miller taking the wins.

On night two, eastern suburbs racer Josh Service took his first win of the evening, with Brendan Miller picking up another and Harry Orme claiming his first win of the weekend. In the final round, Jackson Barneveld, Robert Garlick from Badger Creek and Steve Kershaw were the winners.

A 25-lap title race saw Service and Damien Miler starting from the front and Fallon, Shane O'Brien, Barneveld and Nathan O'Brien all up the pointy end of the grid. Service had the better start, leading the first five laps ahead of Miller and Fallon, with Roycroft moving into the top five by lap four. Barneveld and Nathan O’Brien exited the race on lap seven, changing the top five to Miller, Service, Fallon, Shane O'Brien and Roycroft.

Roycroft moved to third by lap eight ahead of Fallon and O'Brien. At lap 20, Miller lead Service, O'Brien, Roycroft and Fallon. As 25 laps were completed, the Victorian title went to Miller, who crossed the line ahead of Service and O'Brien. After stewards handed Roycroft a penalty, fourth place went to Fallon, with Dennis Reid in fifth and Roycroft back to sixth after crossing in fourth.

Alexandra Speedway has had a huge two weekends with a tremendous effort and a lot of hours put in by volunteers and officials. Now it gets a couple of weeks’ break before doing it all over again.