AS THE BANNER UNFURLS ON THE NEW VICTORIAN SEASON FOR MODIFIED SEDANS Organisers are busily preparing for the first round of the Pakenham Plumbing Services VMPA Modified Series at Heartland Raceway, Moama next Saturday night. An integral part of the Victorian scene for the Modified Sedans are the two big banners that the VMPA display at each and every round of the Victorian Series. These banners this year have a few new additions to the sponsor line up and the VMPA warmly welcome Steve Grguric from Pakenham Plumbing Services as their major Series sponsor. Steve is an ex racer and has extensively supported Modified Sedans in Victoria over the years together with being the crew chief of former Australian Champion Andrew Blackwell. Other additions to the banner are South Australian Modified competitor Brendan Higgs of Higgs Contracting together with former competitor Perry McCowatt who is also crew chief for newly returned racer Ricky Clark as the ambassador for the Tritech Lubricants brand. We welcome all of these new sponsors and also welcome back our other loyal and staunch supporters as well. Another aspect of these banners is the right of last year’s Series Champion to adorn about one third of it with their car. This year we see Graham West with his LJ Torana on our banners after an amazing season last year, taking out the VMPA Series and winning the Victorian Title. It is a well deserved privilege to show Graham West as an ambassador for our class in this way. Many other drivers would love to have this coveted position but it is one that has to be earned by doing the hard yards over the entire season as has been proven in the past. Nineteen cars will do battle on Saturday night at Heartland Raceway, with some drivers sporting new cars including the Tritech Lubricant FG Falcon of Ricky Clark who has finally returned to the fold of Modified Sedans after leaving the division in the mid nineties. John Benson will be appearing in his immaculate new VE Commodore, Brenton Mills now driving the Madden Motorsport VZ Commodore will also be looking to get more familiar with this car after taking over the steering wheel from Ross Madden. Another driver returning to Modified Sedans after a short hiatus in VSC Open Sedans and Street Stocks is Matt Nelson in the former Hetherington VY Commodore. Nelson showed good pace recently at a run at Avalon Raceway. Ballarat drivers Zac Swanson and Garry Ainley driving their VS Commodore and EF Falcon respectively will be looking for a good solid start to their season with Swanson last year finishing a very creditable sixth position in the Series overall. Father and Son In Law team of Russell Bent and Russell Felsovary will again hit the track with Bent hoping to improve on last year’s third placing whilst that overall number one spot has eluded him for some time since his last Series victory over ten years ago. Drivers making the trip from the Western and Wimmera Districts include Kim Killeen in a VS Commodore, Kellie Atkins in a VZ Commodore, Neil Watson driving his VS Statesman and Daniel Simpson in a VS Commodore, all of them not having turned a racing wheel yet this season. The Mildura line up consists of Wade McCarthy once again campaigning the Spider McCarthy VE Commodore and Jake Drewett in the MDA69 XF Falcon. Wade took out fourth placing in the Series last season together with best first year driver after taking over the driving duties from perennial campaigner Spider McCarthy. Another Mildura contender is Martin Hawson in his VS Commodore who is making sure that he is ready to go at the start of this season after last season making a late start which hurt him in the Series standings after he missed the first few meetings. Avalon racers Justin Drew in the VE Commodore and Jeff Leahy in his EL Falcon will join the field with Drew hoping to find some consistency after being plagued with car problems last year. The final competitor of the nineteen cars going into battle is lone Rosedale representative Dale Hallett in a VS Commodore. Hallett will be juggling the ardours of racing and the challenges that come with fatherhood after he and his fiancée Tania became new parents at the end of the speedway season in late June. As the drivers take to the Heartland Raceway track on Saturday night there will be some wistful and some determined glances thrown over to the huge image of the West Torana on the VMPA banner. Many people have made light hearted jokes about the age of the current Champion’s Torana and what they have to do to beat it but at the end of the day this is the vehicle/driver combination to beat both in consistency and tenacity as well. Four time Series Champion with no one having accomplished that amount of series wins before in the VMPA history West is out to chase his fifth Series Championship to secure his name as the all time Modified Sedan Victorian circuit dominator. Racing starts at 6 pm. The Victorian Modified Production Association would like to thank their supporters: Pakenham Plumbing Services Nuts Wheels Pakenham Crane Trucks MacGraphix Atkins Autoworks I & J Speedway Equipment GW Racing Blackwell Race Engines Higgs Contracting Tritech Lubricants Bass Highway Waste Ern Overall Used Cars
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 00:50:08 +0000
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