Speedway V8 action galore

THERE will be plenty of high-octane action in this Saturday night’s V8 Triple Treat at the at the Mountain Dew Ice Raceway at Sorell Creek near New Norfolk. The 22-event meeting will include action-packed racing from three V8 divisions, namely sprintcars, super sedans and V8 AMCAs. But the action won’t just be restricted to the V8 divisions, with the Tassie Sixes sedans doing battle for their state title, plus support action from bombers and junior sedans. The gates will open at 3pm, with racing from 6pm.

Super sedan and sprintcar drivers will be out to regain lost pride and restore reputations after several weeks of major events recently, while the V8 AMCA drivers will be using the meeting as an all-important last hit-out ahead of the state title at Latrobe on March 1. Despite major recent super sedan events being run and won, this weekend’s field will be one of the best of the season and will include reigning Australian champion Jarrod Harper, his son and reigning Tasmanian champion Callum Harper, both of Hellyer Beach, former two-times Australian champion Kevin Purton, of Deloraine, former national Super Sedan Series champion Brad Smith, from Devonport, and six-times Tasmanian champion David Nichols, of Launceston.

Harper Snr and Purton finished second and third respectively in Australia’s richest V8 super sedan race, the Bendigo Bank Grand Prix at Latrobe behind winner Matt Pascoe, of Queensland, and both will be keen to assert themselves as Tasmania’s top driver. Callum has already tasted victory twice this season, including his memorable state title win at the local venue last month, while Jarrod has yet to record a feature win after a belated start to the season. David Nichols will jump back into the car he prepared for American ace and world champion Jimmy Owens, who drove it to victory in the Tasmanian Grand National last month, and Nichols will be fired up to take advantage of the changes Owens made to the car and continue its winning form.

Sprintcar drivers will also be out to salvage damaged reputations after last weekend’s state title at Carrick.
With newly-crowned state champion Jason Redpath taking a week off, his brother Adrian Redpath, from Latrobe, will be keen to score his first win of the season after finishing third in the state title. The driver who split them, Launceston’s Kurt Luttrell, will have other ideas as he looks to extend his lead in the state series, of which this Saturday night is round 12. Launceston teenager Callum Zizek and Ulverstone rookie Chris Johns were both impressive in last week’s state title and will race with renewed confidence.


Meanwhile, Hobart’s Luke Gunn will be chasing his third successive state title in the Tassie Sixes Championship and on recent form he could be hard to beat. His biggest dangers appear to be experienced local Marcus Cleary, New Norfolk’s Cameron Briggs and Dwayne Sonners, who is well overdue for a state title after a number of seasons as one of the leading drivers in the Tassie Sixes division.