Cobden’s Blake Walsh scored his first win driving the Victoria number 97 wingless in the Victorian Super Series at Borderline Speedway on Saturday night.
Walsh drove well during his heat races, not making any rash moves and waiting for the right time to pass on the wide-open fast track.
For Walsh, having finished his heat races and gaining the points needed to start the A Main, he was out of position four.
As racing got under way the chief steward wasn’t satisfied with the launch and recalled the field for a restart.
The drivers regrouped and it was a green flag with Todd Hobson, Kirby Hellyer and Walsh into the first corner, which set the tone for the majority of the race until lap 23 when an incident occurred, resulting in three cars touring back to the infield after sustaining too much damage to continue.
On the re-start it was Hobson who led Hellyer and Walsh to turn one for the next few laps until a battle between Hobson and Hellyer gave room for Walsh to make a move and claim the lead from the squabbling front runners.
Once in front Walsh was never challenged and drove remarkably, but the battle for the minor places was heating up with Hobson and Hellyer trading places numerous times during the final laps.
Walsh’s victory on the bull ring was a momentous occasion for the young leadfoot, being his first win on South Australian soil.
Mitchell Broome also competed in the race and started deep in the field, but managed to bank some points despite not getting the chance to move forward, while Rory Button recorded a DNF after being caught up in the three-car chaos earlier in the race.
In the F500 open class a field of 17 drove the speedway well, putting on some great racing and giving the crowd a great show with a duel between Brooke Buckingham, Brendan Zadow and Max Owen.
The three showed the rest of the field how to drive on a fast track with plenty of passing both down low and up high.
At the drop of the checkered flag Buckingham was home first ahead of Zadow and Owen.
In the Junior 500s Rusty Ponting finished first from Koby O’Shannassy and Caleb Langon who all are future stars in the making.
Borderline Speedway also paid its respects to the late Graham Dycer – a long time driver and supporter – showcasing some old-time cars on the track in a demonstration and Graham’s son Mark driving the SA11.
