In the News - 2008 / 2009

SPEEDWAY fans were lucky to escape injury when a car crashed and debris flew over a barrier and into the crowd.

RACING fans were lucky to escape injury when a car crashed and debris flew over a barrier into a crowd of spectators at the Hobart International Speedway yesterday.
In the second heat of the 2008 World Series Sprintcar series, driver Gerry Hoekstra's car smashed into the fence at turn one and the top wing came off.
Hobart speedway director John Carr said it was unusual for wings to detach.

The action-packed, 25-event program included six heats, a semi-final and the main race over 30 laps at the track near New Norfolk.

Tasmanians won all three heats. Shannon Wynne-Allen won heat one, Tim Hutchins the second and Kane Cruise the third."They drew to the front of the field and their track knowledge helped their success," Carr said.
Tasmanian champion Jason Dawkins' thundering sprint car broke the lap record and set the fastest time trial of 11.02sec for a lap of the 440m clay-surfaced, oval track.
The Devonport driver's brilliant performance was described as "out of the blue" by Carr.
"We thought he would be competitive but this result is fantastic," he said.

The next five top time trials were won by Robbie Farr (NSW), Trevor Green (NSW), Kerry Madsen, Kurt Luttrell (Tas) and Peter Black (Qld).

With the premier speedway event on the Tasmanian racing calendar, yesterday's race meeting was the biggest ever in southern Tasmania.About 5000 racegoers surrounded the track, compared with 4000 for last year's title event.
"We have a record number of cars," Carr said.
Twenty-six drivers competed in yesterday's championship, a record for the Hobart round which is also round six of the $620,000 Sprintcar World Series.

Carr expects the Latrobe Speedway will be even bigger next Saturday with a strong following on the North-West Coast. Up to 7000 race fans are expected to attend.
Carr said the World Series race was equivalent to a V8 Supercar round and contributed to the meeting's success.
"It's been promoted as such and we have brought over the top drivers in Australia to compete in this event," he said."When you bring out quality drivers, people will come out for sure.
"The main highlight was the clash between Kerry Madsen, Brooke Tatnell, Max Dumsney, Robbie Farr, Adrian Redpath and Jason Dawkins."

It was the only opportunity in Australia to see expat Kerry Madsen race.
Madsen, who is in the top 10 Sprintcar drivers in the US, flew in for yesterday's race and for next Saturday.

The current World Series titleholder Brooke Tatnell said before yesterday's race he felt positive.
"We won the championship six times and are leading the points after the first five rounds this year," he said.
"I go in with the right mindset otherwise you are not going to get the results you want."
He splits his year and is based in the US for seven months and in Sydney for five months.

Warm weather bolstered yesterday's meeting.
"The weather was absolutely beautiful, not too hot, not too cold so the racetrack was in good shape," Tatnell said.

The support program included racing for Tassie Sixes, Street Stock sedans and Formula 500s.

The 2008-2009 Tasmanian speedway calendar has had its first wash-out of the season.

Last night's Wyllie Tiles Christmas Fireworks Spectacular at the Bendigo Bank Arena was cancelled late yesterday afternoon, disappointing drivers, promoters and spectators.

Continual showers during the day made track conditions unsafe, with large quantities of water around the grounds also making conditions uncomfortable for spectators on what is traditional a big family night.

Last night's meeting was also to have featured round three of the prestigious Farmers Union Iced Coffee Sprintcar Series and round four of the Island Couriers Mini-sprint Super Series.
Neither round will be re-scheduled with round four of the sprintcar series to be held at Carrick this Saturday night. Promoters were considering holding the Christmas fireworks show on December 27.

The next meeting at Latrobe will be on December 13, featuring a round of the Chickenfeed World Series Sprintcars championship.

ORGANISERS of Saturday's Monster Truck spectacle are hoping for a sell-out crowd, but this time they will be prepared for the masses.
Last year's event at the Latrobe Speedway attracted an unexpected crowd of more than 8000 people, causing a traffic backlog on the highway and long wait times for spectators.
But venue General Manager John Carr said a lot of money and time had been spent to improve the experience.
"We never thought we'd draw the crowd we did last year in our wildest dreams," he said.
"We've spent $60,000 on improving the traffic flow into the event this year."

Mr Carr has consulted with the Tasmania Fire Service, Police, the Latrobe Council, State Emergency Service, Workplace Standards and the Ambulance Service to develop traffic management plans, emergency evacuation procedures and other strategies to manage the crowd.

Some spectators waited for hours to get to the venue last year, were forced to park a long distance from the venue and several hundred missed out on tickets upon getting to the gate.

Mr Carr said the process of people driving to the gate, stopping to buy their tickets and then going into the venue to park contributed to the bottleneck of traffic on the highway last year.

Instead people will this year be asked to park first, before making their way to turnstiles to purchase tickets.
He said parking had been expanded and SES volunteers would help direct traffic.
"We put this in place in Hobart, which had a record crowd, and it worked magnificently," he said.

People with pre- purchased tickets will be able to use an express lane.
Tickets are available from the Devonport Entertainment and Convention Centre or online at www.centertainment.com.au

BENDIGO Bank Tasmania has announced its sponsorship of the Latrobe International Speedway including the naming rights of the complex.
The monetary value of the sponsorship wasn't disclosed but the Speedway will be renamed Bendigo Bank Arena immediately.

The bank says it is an ongoing commitment to secure the future of one of the region's major attractions.
"`Bendigo Bank has identified the Latrobe Speedway as an excellent opportunity to develop the region and engage the community," said Mr Robert Hanley, Bendigo Bank Tasmanian regional manager.

"We have committed a significant annual contribution which we believe will give the complex the necessary funding, to not only support speedway racing,but also extend the complex offering to the public beyond motorsports."

Mr John Carr, of the Latrobe Speedway, said he considered the partnership to be a watershed not only for the sport of speedway racing, but for the wider community.
"The support of the Bendigo Bank will allow us to reach new audiences as we now have the backing to widen the appeal of the complex and introduce more frequent and wide-ranging events to the region, including cultural events, varied sporting events and trade shows."

The newly named Bendigo Bank Arena will make its debut to the public on Saturday, October 18, with a line-up of racing including Super Sedans, AMCA, Tassie Sixes, Formula 500's, Mini Sprints, Junior Sedans and Side Cars.