By Dean Thompson
Drouin Speedway completed its second race meeting of the season on Sunday with the annual Eliminator Cup for Standard Saloons sharing top billing on a packed card of racing.
Also prominent was the Lucky-7 series for Unlimited Sedans and the “Remember When, Remember Them” opening round of the season for Division 2 Hot Rods.
Mark Miles from Catani won the Eliminator Cup whilst Peter Cox from the Northern Suburbs won the Unlimited Sedans and Bobby Devine the Division 2 Hot Rods.
Other winners on the day included Colac’s Zac Barwise in Junior Standard Saloons, Trish Dike in Ladies Standard Saloons, and Danny Cox in Sports Sedans.
Six qualifying races were required to determine the starting line up for the Standard Saloon Eliminator Cup final.
Bunyip racer Jeff Blencowe started with victory in the first race, with Mark Miles the victor in race two followed by Stephen Douglas, Chris Miles, Blencowe again, and Andrew Miles.
Throughout the feature race – which is segmented into three eight lap stints, with a change of direction after the first two – Blencowe, Chris Miles and then finally Mark Miles were race leaders.
Blencowe eventually became a non-finisher while Mark Miles – a Pakenham businessman – won from his brothers Chris and Andrew with Kacey Ingram of Warragul fourth and Leigh Gooding from Trafalgar East in fifth.
Unlimited Sedan action in the Lucky-7 series started with the Victorian Champion Johnny Young from Sale winning the first of four qualifiers with Peter Farley the second.
Young then backed up with a second win in the third heat before Peter Cox won the final qualifier.
Cox was under early pressure from Young in the feature event before Young suffered mechanical issues and pulled infield.
Cox went on to defeat Drouin member Daryl Nicolson, Darren Forrest, Peter Farley, and Peter Camilleri.
Division 2 Hot Rods were competing in their first ever round of the new “Remember When, Remember Them” series that honours previous racers and members of the Division 2 Hot Rod class and association.
Bobby Devine from the Latrobe Valley won the first of three heats, before completing the trifecta with the second and third also.
The final was never close with Devine the clear star of the class winning from Troy Hutchison, Kevin Hayes, Peter Disher and Allan Ward.
Across the day there were four different winners in Sports Sedan action with veteran racer Ray Gould from Warragul winning the first qualifier then Troy Glassborow flying the Drouin club colours, taking the second, before Rhys Lansdown won the third.
However, none of them would win the feature with visiting driver Danny Cox taking the win in the final ahead of Gould, Zach Leeson, Matt Sgroi and Will Leeson.
Beau Stuchbery, the previous Drouin events Junior Standard Saloon winner, looked on track to double up as he won all three of the qualifying heat races on his way to starting from pole position in the final.
However, Colac racer Zac Barwise, who led most of the final except for one lap, went on to claim the win by .364 of a second over Stuchbery, Zoe Hunt, Cooper Joynson, and Tom Braz.
Maddison Miles, Trish Dike, and Caroline Allen won the Ladies Standard Saloon qualifying races before Allen led every lap right into the second last corner of the final.
Dike then passed by for the lead and the race win by just a .473 margin at the chequered flag.
Miles finished in third, with Stacey Sheedy and Michelle George rounding out the top five.
Drouin Speedway will return to action in the middle of January.
