After a whole year of waiting, this weekend will finally see the John Day Speedcar Classic return for the second time and if last year’s event is anything to go by, it is sure to be a hum dinger of an event!

Indeed, last year’s event was a thriller, with inaugural winner, Tucker Klaasmeyer starting from position three in the thirty lap feature after the demise of the original third placed starter Tom Payet. The front row of Neville Lance and Glen Mears both took turns in the lead but in the end Klaasmeyer, in the Bennett Motorsports machine and also in his first ever race meeting in Australia, outclassed them to take over the point and race away to take the win from Dayne Kingshott and Mears.

Fast forward one year and we have twenty one cars that have nominated for the event at the Perth Motorplex, which continues to honour one of the true legends of our sport, ‘The General’ John Day.

John was a huge supporter of Speedway, and Speedcars in particular, having helped out a number of the legends in the division, including former Australian Champion Graham Jones and legendary competitor George Tatnell to name just two. He waved flags for over fifty years, as well as fielded a whole fleet of shiny, bright orange starter utes, all of which contributed to making Speedway in Western Australia a real show.

We are thrilled this year to have three Americans in the field, with two now regular visitors and one brand new driver making their way to our shores.

Inaugural winner Tucker Klaasmeyer will head down under to defend his crown, once again driving the Bennett Motorsports #7 machine. Sporting some new livery, Klaasmeyer is again sure to turn some heads and could be a hot favourite to make it two from two.

As has been the case for a number of years now, Alex Bright from Pennsylvania will again match up with the Graham Jones Racing Team for this trip, a ride where he had much success before, including winning the prestigious Magic Man 34 race at the same venue as this weekend’s race meeting. Bright has also podiumed in three Australian Titles and after tipping over in last year’s event, then racing back to finish fourth, will be one to watch tonight.

The final American ingredient in this year’s field is Oklahoma native Jason Mcdougal. Making his very first trip down under, Mcdougal will be driving the potent Travis White Racing #38 machine and after some stellar results in his home country, including a great run through preliminaries to make the preliminary night feature at the Chilli Bowl, could certainly trouble the front runners this weekend.

There are also four interstate visitors this weekend, including Victorian Andy Pearce, New South Welshman Adam Clarke and South Aussies Robert Heard and Brett Ireland.

Clarke is no stranger to WA, having won a couple of features here at the Motorplex including the WA Title in years gone by and will be a tough nut to crack this weekend, particularly being aboard the Jack Berry Q#23 machine.

Andy Pearce came to WA last year for a trip, recording a DNF in the major race while Brett Ireland also came over and came home eighth. Both will be keen to improve on these results while Robert Heard makes his first attempt at the John Day race and could be a dark horse come feature race time.

Local hopes include the returning Dayne Kingshott, who looked very quick at the Motorplex in practice tonight and came home second last year, the fastest President in the West, Glen Mears, who also finished on the podium in the inaugural event and ‘Crackers’ Keenan Fleming, who is the last start feature winner here in the West.

Add in the returning ‘Lethal’ Lee Redmond, Dave Perry who has a podium finish under his belt already this year and the consistent Rob Golding, who coincidentally will be debuting a new livery with some new partners on board, amongst others who are all keen to show the visitors exactly what WA has to offer and it’s certainly mouthwatering to think of what action will take place this Saturday night!

Drivers will all get hot laps before competing in four heats (two per driver). The top eight cars will then participate in a series of knockouts, followed by the all-important, 40 lap feature event.

The time for talk is now over and the action will really begin and with $40,000 on the line, it is going to be a big one!

Release by DTN Media. Pics Courtesy Peter Roebuck.

John Day Speedcar Classic – 21 USA4 Alex Bright USA7 Tucker Klaasmeyer 9 Vaughan Manders 10 Dave Perry V15 Andy Pearce 15 Rob Golding 17 Dan Golding 19 Steven Henderson 23 Glen Mears 24 Dayne Kingshott 26 Keenan Fleming Q29 Adam Clarke 32 Stuart Yates 37 Phil Jeffrey USA38 Jason Mcdougal 47 Dene McAllan 51 Beau Doyle 52 Lee Redmond S57 Robert Heard 75 Steven Doyle S89 Brett Ireland

Pics Courtesy Peter Roebuck.

Inaugural champion Tucker Klaasmeyer is back in Australia to defend his crown, while the action is expected to be hot and heavy as we honour ‘The General’ John Day.