ALTERATIONS to the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic program are expected to produce an earlier finishing time and sharper racing.
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Premier Speedway has announced it will scrap hot laps and reduce car entries to 96 on the final night of its bumper three-night event in January.
General manager David Mills said the club hoped tweaks to the Grand Annual format would satisfy competitors and spectators after this year’s rain-affected meeting finished at 2am.
“It’s a refining of it. Initially when we set out and went from a two-night to a three-night classic in 2014, we said we’d conduct a review,” he said.
“Every decision was around making the final night a little slicker.
“Hopefully we’ll bring it (the finish time) back to 10.30pm.
“There are always incidents with motor sport, whether that’s accidents or rain, but we think by making changes we’ve done everything in our capabilities (to shorten the program).”
The decision to limit the final night’s entries to 96 – if they exceed that figure overall – will allow the club to reduce heats from 10 to eight.
The format for Sunday will be a D-main, two C-mains and two B-mains before the 40-lap classic final, which will again feature 24 cars.
The two B-main fields will increase from 16 to 20 cars, with the top four from each progressing to the decider.
Drivers who miss the final cut of 96 will receive a small gate refund payment plus their tow money and any prize money from their qualifying night.
Mills said scrapping hot laps on the final night was discussed thoroughly.
“The matter of hot-lapping on the final night actually came from the competitor input to our meeting,” he said.
“It was something that we had been tossing around and then wham, the competitors asked ‘why do we hot lap?’.
“In reality our track guys spend a number of hours after the races on Saturday night preparing the track and then they are the first ones back here on Sunday morning.
“They do an awesome job and then we put 100-plus cars on the track for hot laps, in short destroying all their hard work.
“We then ask them to build a track for arguably the most important night of the season in about half an hour, it simply doesn’t make sense.”
Overall prizemoney for the Classic on January 22-24 has been increased by roughly $5000 to $212,000.
It was something that we had been tossing around and then wham, the competitors asked why do we hot lap?
- David Mills
