The Final SRA Race meeting for 2015-2016 season the Hickman's 360 Sprintcar Challenge
The SRA & Hickman’s Tree Maintenance present the 360 Challenge
Author : Ian Vale
The final event on the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria’s calendar for the 2015-2016 seasons heads to Heartland Raceway this Saturday night for the Hickman’s Tree Maintenance 360 Sprintcar Challenge with both Matthew Reed the winner of last season’s event and the man he took the win from on the line Darren Hickman who will resume their battle for supremacy.
What an interesting field for this event! It is more like a family affair, Darren Hickman returns to the driver’s seat in the V40 that has been driven by Dion Bellman for the first time this season and he will be lining up beside his son Rusty in the ACT40 sprintcar who is in his rookie season. Cousins, Brad and Anthony Foster have also nominated while the Solomon Brothers, Paul and Chris have also thrown their hat into the ring.
Jack Gartner will be making the long trip over from Penola in South Australia to join a couple of the other regular 360 Sprintcar competitors Brenten Farrer, Michael Holt and Andrew Thompson.
The defending Hickman Tree Maintenance Champ Matthew Reed is normally a strong campaigner in both the Open and 360 Sprintcars but this season he has mainly raced with the360 sprintcars, Matthew will be hard to beat once again and showed his good form at the recent SCCA 360 Sprintcar Australian Championship where he came home in second place.
Now some of the other drivers that normally race the 410ci open sprintcars entered with their 360 power plants in for the Challenge are Eddie Lumbar, David Aldersley, Jordyn Charge and Stephen Bell who will be stepping back into the Victorylane V88 race car once again. The V88 was a last start winner here at Heartland Raceway back in February in the Eureka Garages Sheds Series with Daniel Pestka at the wheel, while Daniel was booked to drive this weekend a late commitment left the opportunity for both Stephen Bell and car owner Matt Eastham to rekindle their racing relationship. Stephen is no stranger to winning races with many feature races to his credit in both open and 360 sprintcars, he might be the big challenger on the night.
While Hickman’s Environmental & Tree Maintenance are the naming right sponsor for the SRA 360 Challenge other sponsors AUTOPREMIER Fleet Maintenance , Parr Motorsports and Ascot Vale Sports & Trophies are also supporting the event.
Rusty Hickman has missed most of the season due to a broken leg but Rusty got a chance to race against the open sprintcar drivers in the recent Easter Sprintcar Trail. He showed he has what it take when Rusty took his first heat race win ahead of some of the country’s best drivers, Daniel Pestka, Jamie Veal and Grant Anderson at Mt Gambier’s round of the trail.
Brenten Farrer had some good results last season and he has carried that over to this season to be a contender at any 360 event, a fourth place last year in this event, anything less than a top three this time will not satisfy Brenten.
Another of the new boys on the block is Jordyn Charge driving the V60 Western Nissan Sprintcar, as it takes most new drivers a little time to settle into sprintcar racing Jordyn was no different but his second part of the season saw him settled into a good rythem that has been rewarding with some good runs. Last time out at Heartland Raceway Jordyn did a great job to take sixth place in the Eureka Garages & Sheds A Main, another top six is not out of the question.
Paul Solomon is having a good season where he has picked up fourth place in the SRA of Victoria 360 Sprintcar title then he went onto take fifth place in the SCCA Australia 360 Sprintcar Championship, he is worthy of keeping an eye on him. Brother Chris is a past Victorian SRA 360 champion, his season hasn’t been what Chris had hoped for but he can be a main player on the night.
Once again with the talent of the drivers nominated the Hickman’s Environmental & Tree Maintenance 360 Sprintcar Challenge will be just that a Challenge.
On Track Action will commence at approximately 6pm at Heartland Raceway located on the Cobb Highway NSW, 6ks north of Moama.
The Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria thank the following 360 Sprintcar Sponsors.
.JPG)
