Last Saturday night (January 5) the Timmis Speedway at Mildura hosted the most recent South Australian Late Model Association (SALMA) club event with 8 drivers fronting for action. With the meeting being staged in Victoria the small South Australian contingent was joined by a couple of Victorians along with Queenslander Brett Watson, who was competing at his first SALMA show of the 2018/19 season.

The opening heat of the night saw Fiona Verhoeven drive her black and pink #8 to the barest of wins over Mat Crimmins as she held out Crimmins by .188 of a second. Zac Tyson was next across the line with Whyalla rookie Andy Maxwell Jr, Jason Robinson and Cary McCarthy completing the finishers.

The second preliminary saw six cars o track with McCarthy and Watson missing the call for heat 2. Impressive rookie Jason Robinson drove a great race to take the win after trailing Crimmins early with Steve Vaughan, Fiona Verhoeven, Andy Maxwell Jr and Mat Crimmins rounding out the top 5.

Following the heat races the final saw Warrnambool racer Fiona Verhoeven and Jason Robinson pace the field on the front row with Matt Crimmins, Steve Vaughan, Andy Maxwell Jr, local Mildura driver Zac Tyson and Queenslander Brett Watson completing the field. Veteran Cary McCarthy failed to line-up for the time shortened 10 lap finale.

After the initial start was called back, for Verhoeven jumping too early, Robinson roared straight into the lead with Verhoeven and Vaughan filling the minors. The opening lap saw Crimmins retire to the infield after breaking the steering rack mount.

The order remained this way until Vaughan spun on the exit of turn two on lap five handing third to Tyson. From this point Robinson continued to build on his lead and went on to win his first Late Model feature by close to 1.5 seconds ahead of Verhoeven, Tyson, Maxwell Jr and Brett Watson. With two laps remaining Vaughan joined Crimmins on the infield resulting in only five cars greeting the chequered flag.

Release By: Phil Michell Motorsport Media for SALMA.