AMERICAN sprintcar driver Geoff Ensign has a Wimmera man to thank for his stint down under.
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The Californian-based Ensign is driving for Lower Norton’s Doug Downs and Toowoomba’s Terry Black during his Australian tour.
He hopes to put on a show for those who have shown faith in him at the South Coast Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic this weekend.
“I’ve been racing since I was 14 and I’m 28 now. I got into sprintcars when I turned 18,” Ensign said.
It is Ensign’s third time competing in Australia and he said it was great to be back.
“These guys put a team together and invited me down to race their car,” he said.
“I love it down here. I can’t wait to jump back in the car.”
These guys put a team together and invited me down to race their car.
- Geoff Ensign
Plenty of work goes into maintaining and preparing sprintcars for races, with the team having travelled down from Queensland via Sydney before arriving in the Wimmera on Sunday night.
Ensign raced at Avalon on Wednesday night and will compete in Mount Gambier on Thursday night in readiness for the Classic.
He was drawn to race on Friday night at Warrnambool with the Classic’s 111-car field spilt in half on the opening two nights.
Ninety-six drivers will make it through to Sunday’s finale at Premier Speedway.
Downs said the thrill of having a driver in the field make the hard work worthwhile.
“There’s a lot of work involved, in between races there is a lot of engine maintenance and that’s if you don’t have any crashes,” Downs said.
Ensign said he was expecting tough competition.
“It’s the best of the best down here and some of the guys from the States come out here and it’s a tough competition,” Ensign said.