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Australian V8 Dirt Modified Championship take two

Robinson

By Auto Action

Date posted: 26 September 2024

After last season’s disappointing postponement of the 2024 Australian V8 Dirt Modified Championship at Bundaberg’s Carina Speedway in Queensland back in May, this event is set to be run this Saturday night back at the Carina Speedway track.

Amongst the 21-car field are a total of five current and past Australian Champions, including five-time winner Kevin Britten (Qld), four-time winner Mark Robinson (NSW), 2014 winner David Clark (Qld), 1993 winner Andrew Pezzutti (NSW) and defending Australian Champion Mitchell Randall (NSW).

All five of the aforementioned drivers have their sights on adding another Australian Championship winning trophy to their resume and there is no doubt that they are all more than capable of doing that, and the likes of Britten, Robinson and Clark head the list of this Saturday night’s top contenders.

Chris Corbett (NSW) had one hand on the 2023 Australian Championship winning trophy at Lismore Speedway, but in what was a cruel twist of fate, he was forced to retire in the closing stages due to a flat tyre while comfortably out in front, so to say that he is hungry to make Australian Championship amends would be quite the understatement.

Corbett’s previous best Australian Championship finish was a third place finish in the 2017 event at Rockhampton Speedway.

The likes of veteran Ray Klarich (Qld), Geoff Phillips (Qld) and Mick Turner (NSW) have previous minor Australian Championship podium finishes to their name, and they would love nothing more than to make a return to the podium on Saturday night.

Turner, who finished second in three Australian Championships in a row (1993, 1994 and 1995), has recently made a return to the V8 Dirt Modified class after nearly 30 years away from the class while he went off and raced Sprintcars. 

Despite not featuring on the podium in past Australian Championship attempts, drivers such as youngster Ryley Smith (NSW), Joshua Rose (NSW) and Steve Milthorpe (Vic) certainly have what it takes to challenge for spots on the podium. 

Completing this Saturday night’s Australian Championship field will be Phillip Roberts (Qld), Sam Bruggy (Qld), the father and son duo of Brad and Brenton Bennie (NSW), Dale Corbett (NSW), Scott Quirk (NSW), the Armstrong brothers Brock and Kyle (NSW) and Mitchell Haynes (NSW).

Heading into this Saturday night’s 2024-25 season opening event, the V8 Dirt Modifieds class moving forward to ensure its future, especially when it comes to its engines, with the class now comprising of a range of engines, such as the 525 Crate engines which is helping make it more affordable to get into the class and then of course the Open engines. 

Although it’s been a five-month wait to crown the 2024 Australian Championship, this Saturday night’s action is going to be action packed and predicting a winner from this season’s opening event won’t be an easy task.  

Following what was a sensational 2024-25 season opener at Sydney International Speedway a fortnight ago, the NSW Wingless Sprint Club Championship is set to resume back at Sydney International Speedway with this Saturday night’s second round, which will be presented by Pro-Action Driver Training, and will see an increased field of drivers, including the addition of a number of the state’s leading racers.

After not contesting the season opener, the likes of Jason Bates, Bailey Goodwin and Tyson Williams will be making their first appearances of the 2024-25 season, and there is no question that they all have their sights set on playing catch up by starting their season campaigns off in winning fashion, which either one of this trio are more than capable of doing.

Andrew Sayre was in outstanding form in the season opener and was rewarded with the feature race victory, and he is hoping to continue that form and make it back-to-back wins on home soil. There is no question, if Sayre can qualify for the feature race towards the front, he is more than capable of achieving that.

The likes of John Egan, who was the long-time leader, and Brayden Shute joined Sayre on the feature race podium a fortnight ago in second and third place respectively, and they would love nothing more than to finish this Saturday night’s second race meeting a few spots higher on the podium.

By Daniel Powell

Image: ZP Images

2024 Australian Championship schedule 

Saturday, September 28

• 2 x 10 Lap Heat Races

• Silver Dollar Shootout (x 2)

• 35 Lap Australian Championship Feature Race

2024 Australian Championship Nominations (21):

A1 Mitchell Randall

Q3 Phillip Roberts

Q5 David Clark 

N9 Mark Robinson 

V9 Steve Milthorpe 

Q10 Sam Bruggy 

N17 Ryley Smith

N21 Brad Bennie 

N22 Brenton Bennie 

N25 Andrew Pezzutti 

Q33 Geoff Phillips 

Q34 Kevin Britten 

N47 Dale Corbett 

N48 Chris Corbett 

N52 Joshua Rose

N61 Mick Turner 

N73 Scott Quirk 

N76 Kyle Armstrong 

N85 Brock Armstrong 

N88 Mitchell Haynes 

Q95 Ray Klarich 

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