MATTHEW Dumesny broke a Premier Speedway hoodoo while joining dad Max as a Victorian title winner on Saturday night.
The New South Welshman led from the opening lap in the New Year's Day showcase, surviving three re-starts, to score a memorable victory at the track with a hill named after his famous father.
Matthew, 27, held off three-time Victorian title winner David Murcott and emerging competitor Daniel Petska to win.
He shared a hug with his dad Max, who won nine Victorian crowns during his distinguished career, post-race before preparing for a long drive to Brisbane for another meeting.
"Having this (trophy) with me in the truck is going to make the drive a lot better," he told The Standard.
"I have been coming here every year and I always have a drama and it's been beating me down and to finally get it (a win at Premier), I am speechless."
Adding the Dumesny name to the Victorian title trophy again was special for the father-son combination.
"He doesn't say much but you can see that smile, he's happy," Matthew said of his dad.
Catching his father's record will take some time but Matthew was rapt to add a Victorian crown to his New South Wales' one.
"To get a Queensland one would be good too," he said.
"We'll just keep travelling around. We need to travel more and go to other tracks, obviously we were a Parramatta-based track and never really came and had much practice at other tracks but Parramatta has shut down and it's given us more time to get back.
"We have to get better at all the tracks."
The experienced driver will now enter the South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic in three weeks' time with belief.
"I am a nervous wreck every year and it's all about qualifying and we qualified good tonight, so I am pretty confident going into the classic now," he said.
Matthew, whose younger brother Marcus featured alongside him in the 30-lap A-Main, said drivers were being tested due to the tyre shortage affecting the sport.
His father provides Hoosier tyres to Australian driver but it doesn't mean his sons have an advantage as racers learn to adapt.
"Dad is making us try and use all of our second-hand tyres because it's not fair if we get new stuff and the others don't," Matthew said.
"In the last four nights we've only used three or four new tyres, so we've been pretty good and you've got to do that at the moment with how hard it is to get tyres."
The number 57 started behind Murcott, who earned pole position, but quickly found his way to the front.
He quipped re-starts worked in his favour.
"It was actually good because I am unfit right now, so I needed the little breathers," he laughed.
Brendan Quinn clipped the wall on turn two with 17 laps to run, forcing him out of the race.
The re-start was over just as it started with Warrnambool's Corey McCullagh rolling.
The B-Main stalled when Brett Smith was involved in a crash with 12 laps to run. He was clipped by race leader Glen Sutherland who lost a tyre.
Sutherland was also forced to the infield, denying him a chance to advance to the feature.
Bendigo's Rusty Hickman was ruled out when in a strong position to progress when he tagged the wall with three laps to run.
Ryan Jones, Darren Mollenoyux, Jordyn Charge, Matthew Reed, Peter Doukas and Callum Walker earned a ticket to the A-Main.
Michael Coad, a long-time super rod driver, came to blows with the fence in the C-Main in a spectacular crash.
It forced a delay with repairs made to the fence.
The re-start was shortlived with another Cobden driver, Rhys Baxter, flipping multiple times.
Both drivers walked away from the carnage.
Warrnambool driver James McFadden, who finished fourth in the A-Main after winning his first four races of the Australian summer, won overall speedweek honours for his consistent performances.
