A SPRINTCAR double-header to open the new year and the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic highlight a packed 2014-15 Premier Speedway calendar.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
General manager David Mills yesterday revealed the Allansford track would host 13 nights of racing, plus a season-opening day show, from November to April.
The 43rd Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is on January 23 to 25 and the 74th Australian Speedcar Championship is on February 27 and 28.
Two meetings in 48 hours on the first two days of 2015 also offer unprecedented action for fans.
Rounds of World Series Sprintcars and formula 500 Speedweek headline the January 1 show.
A Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria round and the Speedcar Pro Series grand final feature 24 hours later, on January 2.
The 13 nights of racing is the most since the 2010-2011 season. All up, 10 classes will take to the high banks this season.
Mills labelled the Classic as the highlight but was excited about the introduction of the double-header to kick off 2015.
“Because January 1 floats a little bit with what day of the week it us, the next weekend World Series teams have been required to be in Brisbane,” he said.
“Next year it’s on a Thursday. We felt it might’ve been taxing on the teams to get there so we looked at running a second World Series round.
“But Brisbane has been able to accommodate a World Series round on the Sunday night (January 4).
“So we’ve got an opportunity for speedcar people to run ahead of the Australian championship. It created a viable option to run sprintcars with them.”
Mills was also keen to play up the December 20 meeting. A sprintcar twin feature and the Jack Willsher Cup for formula 500s headline the action.
“We think that’s a hidden gem. It’s a lead-in to World Series for all the teams,” he said.
“That January period through to the Australian Speedcar Championship is going to be pretty exciting.”
Other highlights include:
* night two of the Labour Day Clash for sprintcars on March 8. Night one is at Simpson Speedway on March 7. The newly-created series replaces the two-night Great Southern Showdown, run at Simpson and Avalon;
* the SRA Victoria series grand final on March 21, when the popular state-based series will come to a conclusion; and
* night three of the Easter Trail on April 5. The other two nights are at Mount Gambier and Avalon.
The increased presence of speedcars at Premier Speedway is the other major change. The class will feature four times, up from twice last season.
“We need to have some variety in the race calendar as well and we feel speedcars do that on nights we need something other than sprintcars,” Mills said.
He said the calendar was devised with the interests of neighbouring tracks — at Laang, Darlington and Simpson, among others — in mind.
Mills said the club had emerged from last season in a “sound” financial position, despite rain forcing officials to abandon two showcase meetings.
“We’ve made some capital purchases, a tractor and some stuff we needed and we’ve relied on donations and borrowing to do that,” he said.
“We’ve made some improvements to the facilities, as we always do, and repairs to things that people might not see but that need repairing.”