For the fourth time in history, the Speedcars will honour WASDA legend Neville Lance with the now annual Neville Lance Twin 14’s event, to be held at the Perth Motorplex this weekend.
Saturday night will see no less that fifteen Speedcars hitting the track to honour the man himself, with double the action as teams get the chance to contest two separate feature race events on one night!
Yes that’s right, Speedcars will contest not one, but two, fourteen lap feature races as we pay tribute to a man who has won one Australian Championship (plus five more podiums), seven WA Titles (plus five more podium finishes), seven Laurie Matthews Memorials, five New Year Speedcar Derbies, is a nine time Top Dog winner (most feature wins in a season), has three President’s Cups and is a WASDA Life Member!
He is also one of the Perth Motorplex’s all tine greats, having also won two Perth Motorplex Track Championships (plus six other top three finishes), not to mention thirty-four feature races at the venue, which still leaves him fourth on the overall winners list across all divisions.
So, who is in the field to honour Neville? Well, heading the list is Tom Payet, who has won four of the six Neville Lance feature races so far and after a tough opening night by his own standards last fortnight, is keen to get back into place getters form and continue his awesome Twin 14’s streak.
Last start winner Dan Golding is not in the field this weekend, but in exciting news his car is, with Kaiden Manders jumping in as the super sub! Manders won one of the Twin 14 events last season and now behind the wheel of the Golding #71 machine, which is a proven race winner already this season, the potent combination will be a tough one to beat.
Rookie Cody Nash grabbed another second-place finish in last weekend’s show aboard the Redmond Racing #52, meaning he is two podiums from two (both in second place!) in Speedcar feature races, a stat that he would love to continue this Saturday night, while Keenan Fleming made up for some tough heat race results by nabbing the final position on the podium at the same show, again an effort he will be keen to repeat.
Beau Doyle and Glen Mears were fifth and sixth at the last show while Jake Robinson had a solid debut and Lee Austen is finding his feet aboard the Wayne Cover #9 machine, all four back in the field this weekend. They will be joined by the Watson Racing Team of Joel and Patrick who despite debuting new paint schemes were unable to fire a shot, something the team has worked hard to rectify, and they are keen to show what they are capable of this weekend.
Add in the welcome return of former Track Champion Rob Golding, whose is hopeful of finally having his engine back in the car in one piece after some transport issues kept him sidelined from the opening show, and Vaughan Manders who is back in his car which we haven’t seen since last season when he rolled the car in a big way un turn four.
Others in the field include Cory Smith, who is keen to honour ‘Big Rev Nev’ for all his efforts behind the scenes on the #89 team, Alfonso Guadagnino (back aboard his familiar #16 this season), Aron Sharp (who debuted a striking new paint scheme at the season opener) and Gary Mann who is again consistently staying out of trouble and finishing races to claim valuable points.
It will be a great way to honour Neville once again this weekend, with teams contesting hot lap qualifying and one heat prior to the two fourteen lap feature events. Racing will begin early at 4.10pm, so make sure you get your spot trackside on time this Saturday night!
Release by DTN Media.
Pics Courtesy Cochrane Photography.
Official Nominations – 15
7 Tom Payet
8 Jake Robinson
9 Lee Austen
15 Rob Golding
16 Alfonso Guadagnino
23 Glen Mears
26 Keenan Fleming
30 Aron Sharp
52 Cody Nash
57 Vaughan Manders
71 Kaiden Manders
75 Joel Watson
76 Patrick Watson
89 Cory Smith
97 Gary Mann
Neville Lance Twin 14’s History
2020/21 – Tom Payet/Tom Payet
2021/22 - Tom Callaghan/Tom Payet
2022/23 - Kaiden Manders/Tom Payet
2023/24 – ??