POSTPONE that wedding day and cancel your fishing trip, the only place to be tomorrow night is the Fire Service Plus Nowra Speedway as more than 30 of the best dirt trackin’ sedan drivers from all over NSW invade the local track for round two of the 2008/09 Shannon Civil NSW Modified Sedan Series.
The meeting has the makings of what could well be the most exciting meeting for 2008 on the 400m Nowra clayway.
Thirty-four aces from far away places have nominated for tomorrow night’s awesome five star program that also includes the slip-slidin, rim-ridin’ NOS Wingless Sprints, Junior Sedans, Speedway karts and the super fast Formula 500s as they do battle for their 2008-09 South Coast title.
Sedan car racing is going through a real resurgence not seen since the halcyon days of the1970s in recent times and much of that credit must go to the NSW Modified Sedan Series which is in only its second season after the success of the inaugural series last year.
An amazing 32 drivers have committed to the six round series this season that saw round one run in controversial circumstances in Canberra three weeks ago whenthe final was cut short due to dangerous track conditions.
Round two will be held tomorrow night in Nowra, then the series takes a break over Christmas/New Year before the long haul up the highway to the Gunnedah Speedway for round three in February 2009, followed by an Easter double header on Good Friday at Gilgandra and then the following night at the Dubbo City Speedway before the much anticipated final round at the home of speedway in NSW, Sydney’s Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on April 25, which is expected to attract up to 50 from NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
Every major car manufacturer will be represented tomorrow night from the traditional Commodores and Falcons down to Ford Lasers, a Mitsubishi Scorpion, Mazda RX7, Toyota Celica and the awesome Nissan 300ZX driven by the “Trangie Tornado” Josh Gale.
Trying to pick a top 10 for tomorrow night is almost impossible with any one of 20 drivers capable of winning the 25 lap A-Main.
Not since the glory days of the Liverpool, Tralee or Newcastle Speedways has a field contained so many drivers capable of winning the feature on the night.
Looking at the top 10 from Canberra - Portland’s Ray Healey in his super fast Falcon BA is definitely a top three chance tomorrow along with series champion Kevin Sherwood, who provided fans with the best race in the history of the series at round two last season and both love the wide open spaces and smooth surface of the Nowra track.
Next is the incredibly talented Josh Gale who was second highest pointscorer at round one in his amazing Nissan 300ZX, which is believed to be the only one of its type on Australian Speedway.
The top 10 on points after round one are - Ray Healey BF Falcon 118 points, Josh Gale Nissan ZX 109, Kevin Sherwood BA Falcon 102, Freddy Murphy EL Falcon 97, Alan Marskell Commodore 90, Shane Murphy Commodore 83, Shane Duggan Commodore 78, Shannon Gallagher Commodore 71, Brett Mitchell AU Falcon 64, Kevin Hopwood Commodore 57.
Throw in the likes of Nigel O’Neill in his amazing new VE Commodore, Wayne Olive in his Mazda RX7, Canberra driver Clint Leibhardt in his super quick Commodore, Dubbo pair Terry Board and veteran Don Tudor, Newcastle Ford pair Garry Smith and Lindsay Cornwall, fellow Novocastrian Scott McCallum in his Mitsubishi Scorpion, Sydney’s Bob Hamilton who has won a feature at Nowra and you have a huge field of potential winners.
One unique thing that the series does boast is the inclusion of a husband and wife combination of Sue and Ray Healey and no less than three sets of brothers.
The series will see Ray and Wayne Healey in their Fords do battle with Sydney’s Chris and Keith Sims in their Commodores and Canberra’s Freddy and Shane Murphy who have split loyalties between Holden and Ford.
Throw in young gun Danny Sims who is the son of Chris and nephew of Keith Sims and you have a real family affair or sibling rivalries depending which side of the spectator fence you come from.
Organisers for tomorrow night’s meeting have put together an impressive support program to make sure the anticipated large crowd with be kept on the edge of their seats all night.
Headlining it are the slip-slidin’ rim-ridin’ NOS Wingless Sprintcars who are making their second appearance this season with some 14 entries including the only female NOS driver on the east coast, 19-year-old Monique Neve who will take it up to her more experienced male counterparts. Keeping the family tradition alive in the young guns juniors sedans will be the younger of the Neve sisters Rachel.
Topping of a great night’s racing will be the speedway karts and the super fast crowd pleasing Formula 500s who will contest the 2008-09 South Coast title.
Gates open at 4pm and the action kicks off at 6pm.
Meet and greet speedway stars
RACE fans will be in for a real treat tomorrow morning at the Joyce Mayne Store, South Nowra, as several of the top drivers from the Shannon Civil NSW Modified Sedan Series will have their cars on the grass for a special meet the drivers fan day.
Bring the whole family for a great morning of fun where the kids can meet the drivers, have a chat, they will be available to sign autographs, pose for photos, let the kids sit in the cars and be a speedway star for a few minutes.
Families are urged to bring along their cameras for some great snapshots that they can print instantly at the Joyce Mayne Photo Centre and even get the drivers to sign their own pictures for them.
There will be heaps of giveaways including posters, free passes to Nowra Speedway tomorrow night, passes to Sydney’s Parramatta City Raceway, show bags, hero card photos and much, much more.
Come and meet the Neve sisters, the youngest and most talented female speedway drivers in NSW, There will be Super Speedway Sedans, some NOS Sprints to sit in and a fun morning for all.
Come and meet the stars and their cars from 11am at the corner of Central Avenue and the Princes Highway for two hours of fun and excitement.
Also tune in to Rob Crawford’s Sports Saturday show on 2ST for a chance to win a monster show bag, tune in between 7 and 8am for details.