The big things with wings are back at Portland’s Southern 500 Speedway this Saturday night, after an almost 30-year hiatus.
The speedway will host the first round of the 360 Mainline DynoLog Dynamometers Allstars sprintcars and with some 30 drivers nominated it looks set to be an action-packed night of racing.
The club has made extensive upgrades to the venue over the past two years, with the track now up to standard to run sprintcars and club president Bob Wilson said members were excited for racing to get under way.
“We are very excited to have them back on our track,” Wilson said.
“After 30 odd years without them running it is fantastic and a really good effort from the committee.
“We are pretty impressed that we have been able to nail them down.
“We have put in a lot of time and effort in trying to upgrade our facilities so we can grab these sorts of events.
“We have pulled down our old catch fence and we have pretty much built a new one over the past year with help from all our committee members and good sponsors around the town that have chipped in and helped us.
“The race calendar is jam-packed and it is probably the best one I have seen in my involvement with the speedway.”
The 360 sprintcars will feature in the first meeting of the season, while the 800-plus horsepower 410 sprintcars will take to the track on March 12.
Not only will the sprintcars return, but the mighty super sedans make a long-awaited comeback to Southern 500 on December 30 for the Tri City round, along with the annual caravan race on January 7.
“The talk of the town at the minute is the sprintcars,” Wilson said.
“Hopefully the whole season will be the impressive part and we have a fantastic range and variety of classes for every meeting.”
In his first year as president, Wilson is looking forward to what is shaping as an impressive year for the club.
“The guys and myself have put a lot of time and effort into getting these good classes involved in the club and hopefully the weather is going to be kind so we can have a good start and build on that for next year.
“Hopefully the sprintcars will not only draw the local crowd, but draw people from out of town and get the support.
“We also have been working closely with Allstars promoter Mandy Searle and she is excited to be coming to Southern 500 and kicking off their season too.”
Searle said she was looking forward to seeing the sprintcars roar to life in Portland.
“It is an honour for us to host the first sprintcars back at the venue after so long and we are excited to be holding our opening night there,” she said.
“We have 11 rounds locked in for the season and are looking forward to a great season.
“All of our competitors love racing at different racetracks.
“No one will have any home-track advantage here because we have not run here before, so everyone is on an even keel.
“It is a tradition of ours to have give-aways for the kids on race nights, so make sure you come along and be part of the fun.”
The event is set to draw some big-name competitors, with some ex-series champions amongst them.
V7 Paul “Cyclone” Solomon is a two-time series champion and has run with the series since it started back in 2008.
SA33 Mark Caruso is also a long-time supporter of the series and past champion.
Another past champion – V29 Michael Tancredi – is throwing his hat in the ring to be the first driver to pick up a win at Portland.
Nominations have also been received from V73 Charles Hunter, V39 Brett Smith, V10 Steven Loader and D26 Todd Moule.
