Right: Liam Williams is hoping his car, which he has spent $30,000 setting up, will have enough grunt in it for him to remain competitive over the 2007-08 speedway season. Picture: Scott Memery.By Marc McGowan
AFTER a six-month break from racing, Cranbourne’s Liam Williams is champing at the bit to continue his burgeoning speedway career.
Williams, 19, made his debut in Victorian Formula 500 ranks in the last two rounds of the 2006-07 season, finishing third overall in the final race in May.
It was a stunning introduction to the competition and he will look to build on those performances, starting with the Jack Willsher Cup at Premier Speedway in Warrnambool on Saturday night.
“I’ll definitely be taking a bit of confidence from last year and it will be good to get back into it,” Williams, a self-professed aggressive driver, said.
“It’s a bit hard to say what to expect, but hopefully those two meetings have helped me learn what the car does rather than just jumping in first-up again.
“I’m aiming to consistently stay up the front.”
The one-off annual event will aid Williams in gauging where he is at with the rest of the field before embarking on his first full season in the state series from 8 December.
The second-year graphic arts student will contest tracks in Warrnambool, Simpson, Hamilton, Horsham, Parramatta, Lismore and Moama, to name a few, to chase his dreams.
Williams will also compete for the Victorian and South Australian titles, but his holy grail will be the national title at Lismore Speedway from 22 to 23 March.
“That is the biggest race and every frontrunner in the country will be there,” he said.
“Victoria is one of the strongest states and we have a lot of the top guys here anyway, so I should be able to keep up.”
The reason Williams delayed his start in the Victorian Formula 500 championships, which are the stepping stone to the premier Sprintcars class, was because he wanted to be able to spend enough money to threaten the top drivers.
He will foot another huge bill to challenge in the 2007-08 season.
Williams estimates it has taken up to $30,000 to set up his vehicle and it will cost between $300 and $400 per racing night, as long as everything goes smoothly.
But despite the additional expenses required if he damages his car, he will continue to race with no fear.
“If there’s a little gap, I’ll definitely be trying to make it bigger to get through,” Williams said.
“But in the end it’s all about finishing, because if you don’t, you don’t take the points.”
