Speedway part of life for Cobden's Walsh family

The Walsh crew, from Cobden, is part of the 50^th South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

Daughter Carly and son Blake followed dad Mark, known affectionately as Freddy, into sprintcar racing while mum Tania is part of the team too.

Carly, 23, raced on night one of the the showcase event on Friday as thousands of fans flocked through the Premier Speedway gates.

Blake is scheduled for Saturday's qualifying night.

They both hope to be part of Sunday's finale where 96 of the best cars from Australia and America will compete.

Carly said her father had been an influential figure in her racing career.

"He's helped with everything, absolutely everything," she told The Standard from the pits.

"He raced himself years ago, he's raced this event."

Speedway is a way of life for Carly.

"I just like the atmosphere, the friendliness of all of the teams and fans and everyone here is great, it's like one big family," she said.

"If you need anything, you can count on anybody here."

Carly said she entered the biggest race of her season with inner belief but her main aim was "just to finish" as she tried to make consistency a focus.

"We're feeling really good, we're coming off the back of a really positive night at Avalon two weeks ago," she said.

"The last classic I raced was in 2020 and we finished straight in one of the mains, I think it was the D-Main or the C-Main."

Carly joined experienced campaigner Lisa Walker, Rhiannon Burleigh, Tarhlea Apelt and Tasmanian teenager Mahtia Bissett as female drivers in the stacked classic field.

She said it was pleasing to see women racing.

"It's great - it means we're dominating in a male-dominated sport and it's good to see other cars getting involved because it's great for the sport," she said.

Early action on the opening night saw Ben Atkinson Jr involved in a big crash into turn three during qualifying.

He hit the wall, forcing a short delay.

Fastest qualifiers were Tasmanian and classic contender Jock Goodyer - twice a winner at Premier so far this summer - in flight one with 11.409 seconds and American Brock Zearfoss, driving the Western Australian number 95 car, with 11.589 in flight two as he acquainted himself with the Premier Speedway surface.

Zearfoss' car was being worked on in the pits just before qualifying laps with his result a win for his hard-working team.