Blackout ‘out of our hands’

Blackout ‘out of our hands’

The 2022 Kings Challenge will be a race that stands out in the memory of those who witnessed it at Borderline Speedway last Thursday night.

From lights out to the chequered flag, a classic battle for the big prize was fought between big guns James McFadden, Lachlan McHugh and Jamie Veal.

The contest went down to the wire with World of Outlaws star McFadden stealing the crown of 2021 winner McHugh and Australian champion Veal.

However, the fight for the win will not be the lasting memory from the race.

After just 10 laps of action, many feared the 2022 Kings Challenge winner may never be crowned when racing was halted by a power outage.

The sudden turn of events brought suspended the race immediately with the track once lit up the towering floodlights pitch black.

Somehow the drivers avoided a near-certain incident, while racing resumed once the lights returned to full life.

Borderline Speedway president Cary Jennings said he was as surprised as anyone when the race went from light to dark with the power supply disappearing instantly.

“The power supply just had a problem,” he said.

“There was not a problem at the speedway with our switchboard or anything, the whole power was okay, but somewhere the electricity input failed.

“We do not know why.

“It was like someone turned the switch on and off because it happened where the power comes in, so we were not sure if someone had an accident and hit a power pole.

“We can only put it down to the power having a glitch because it was total darkness.”

Jennings said it was a once in a generation event as he only recalls something similar happening twice across the many decades of speedway he has seen.

“It happened at Warrnambool at one classic around 48 years ago, so we have seen it happen before, but not during a final,” he said.

“It was during a heat race then, while back in 1995 the power dropped out for a reasonable amount of time during a race in Mount Gambier after a power outage.

“That took a long time because we had to control the lights and the PA system then.”

Jennings had to pay credit to the drivers for amazingly keeping the cars unscathed and putting on a show for the fans.

“It was excellent because the 18 cars on the track never hit each other or went into the fence,” he said.

“An interesting thing is they were doing around 140 kilometers per hour and they still pulled up in the darkness.

“Everyone was happy and the racing across the whole night was excellent, so the patrons got their moneys worth.”

Once the lights were warmed up and ready to shine on the racing again after a 20-minute delay, Jennings said not a single driver showed any displeasure at the race restarting after the blackout.

But the episode has shone the spotlight on the possible need for updated lighting at the venue in the future.

“We will look at what we do because we need to upgrade our lighting situation to LEDs which come back on instantly,” Jennings said.

“We will see where we go in the future, but we do not have blackouts normally and it is very difficult to control your power supply if you are not the supplier.”

Jennings said the biggest thrill was discovering the region’s “Bullring” had suddenly become news all over the world.

“We made national television because it was on Channel 7,” he said with a smile.

“It then went all over America as well because someone put it on Facebook.

“It was a very exciting time and it got the patrons talking, so Borderline Speedway is nationally recognised again, but not for the right reasons.”

The next race at Borderline Speedway is the three-day Australian Speedway Karts title, which starts on Thursday, February 24.

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