Sydney’s Rob Eyeington led a New South Wales domination of results in the ‘Parr Motorsports’ Victorian Compact Speedcar Clubs state title held at Wangaratta Speedway on Saturday the 21st of February when local hope Justin Paull broke down with one lap to go whilst leading into turn three handing the lead to over to Eyeington who pressed to the line to defeat Mark Cecil, Alan Day, Tony Aulsebrook & Carl Yenne.

The title was a re-schedule of the previously planned January race date that was washed out with rain & whilst almost half of the originally nominated field could not attend the new race date, those that did put on a fantastic show with no one dominating driver as heat results showed.

An all NSW front row began the evenings racing in heat one with Aulsebrook & Day leading the way from Carl Yenne, Andrew Lardner, Matthew Adams, Danny Allchin, Eyeington, Justin Paull, Will Van der Ark, Chris Curren & Mark Cecil.

When the green dropped to send the field on their way Aulsebrook lead Day & Paull on lap one as they passed the flag marshall, this continued on through the race over ten laps until the chequered flag dropped with Aulsebrook winning by 1.413 from Day, Paull, Adams, Eyeington, Yenne, Allchin whilst Curren (differential), Cecil, Van der Ark & Lardner (electrical issues) all failed to finish.

The heat result however was over shadowed by a devastatingly spectacular rollover in heat one by Matty Adams who as he finished in fourth place crossed the line riding the wheel of the car in front of him & launching himself higher than the catch fence that is there to keep his car inside the race track in such situations. ‘

Both the safety fence and the race driver’s roll bars & safety features did their job & kept Adams from any series injuries, he walked away from what many are saying is one of the most spectacular crashes ever seen.

Eyeington led Paull, Van der Ark, Cecil, Aulsebrook, Day & Yenne for the second heat start with Allchin, & Lardner non starters & Curren & Adams out of the event for the night.

Eyeington led Paull with Van der Ark back in third place starting strongly. Aulsebrook back in fourth put pressure on Van der Ark and on lap seven made a move into third and in a start to finish non stop race Eyeington won by 1.819 ahead of Paull along the way setting a one lap time of 17.344 fastest for the night through the heat races, Aulsebrook, Cecil, Day, Van der Ark & Yenne.

Cecil began from pole position in the final heat with Van der Ark, Yenne, Paull, Day, Eyeington & Aulsebrook.

Cecil made the absolute most of his starting position by shooting to the lead early. Yenne & Paull sat in behind with Paull getting past Yenne on lap three and setting about reeling in Cecil. Eyeington passed Yenne for third on lap nine & the laps ran out for Paull as he finished just .161 behind Cecil at the line with Eyeington third, Yenne & Day finishing whilst Aulsebrook failed to finish.

Victorian Justin Paull qualified top on points with Eyeington alongside, then Day, Aulsebrook, Cecil, Yenne, Van der Ark & Allchin who had loose wiring earlier in the night in the plug attached to the dyna 2000 system making up the field for the fifteen lap final.

Paull led from the start of the ‘Parr Motorsports’ championship race with Eyeington, Alan Day, Aulsebrook & Carl Yenne amongst the chasers.
Whilst third to sixth places would change over the course of the race, Paull was well on his way to being crowned Victorian champion when approaching the start finish line with one lap to go the coil lead came loose shutting down his igntiion leaving the young driver crushed as the car came to a stop allowing Eyeington to whizz past onto the win from Cecil, Day, Aulsebrook, Yenne & Allchin in a race that ran from green to chequered flag at 4 minutes 41. 154.

After the race Eyeington thanked his team. “I firstly would like to say bad luck to Justin, racing is full of ups and downs, his ups will come. To my team we stuck at it & I would like to thank you for your hard work, couldn’t have done it without you. Well done to all the NSW guys for their top five finishes tonight & thank you to the Victorian Club & Wangaratta for a great evening.”

The Victorian Compact Speedcar Club would like to thank ‘Parr Motorsports’ for their wonderful support once again of the Victorian title & Speedway Australia & Wangaratta Speedway for the management of the meeting & the track preparation efforts.

Written by
Dean Thompson
DMT Sports Media
for Victorian Compact Speedcar Club

Rod Eyeington in action during the title (C) Inaction Photos

Mark Cecil finished second (C) Inaction Photos

Justin Paull almost a winner, will come back stronger (C) Inaction Photos

Justin Paull almost a winner, will come back stronger (C) Inaction Photos