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TROY LITTLE IS FAST TIME AT ELDORA AND FIFTH IN ALL STAR MAIN

Sydney’s Troy Little had his first look at Tony Stewart’s half mile Eldora Speedway tonight and set fastest qualifying time of 13.627 for the blistering hot half miler as Ohio Speedweek continued under the All Star sanction.

Stewart was busy at Daytona winning the Pepsi 400 in a morale breaking victory in the Home Depot #20 while Little, in the Best Hino #20 Eagle, set the pace at Eldora and finished fifth in the Speedweek main behind Dale Blaney, Greg Wilson, Ed Lynch Jr and Butch Schroder.

It was the Australian driver’s best All Star result, but the qualifying effort caught everyone by surprise.

“This is a real racy track and I can see why guys get into plenty of trouble here when things go wrong,” said Troy.

With his all Australian crew headed by Grizzly Racing’s Bill Roberts in the pits, Little looked completely at home on the steeply banked oval.

He shared the third row with Blaney in the $10.000 to win main event and was racing for fourth with Dean Jacobs and Lynch Jnr at the half way mark when a lapped car threw a wheel which slammed into Jacobs.

The fifth place result was a terrific result for Little’s sponsors and his parents who are his proudest supporters.

“This tour is to learn things, race safely and not tear up equipment and so far we’ve done fairy well,” said Troy.

“I’d like to thank Bill Roberts who seems to know everyone over here and has helped incredibly with car set up which has made it a little easier for me,” he added.

Roberts, in fact, gave Tony Stewart his first winged sprintcar ride at Parramatta when he toured Australia in a midget back in 1995.

“He went like a rocket, but got upside down in his first race” Roberts remembers.

“Tony was a real racer though and the fact we’ve come here tonight and set quick time at his track while he’s winning at Daytona gives you a nice buzz” he concluded.

Troy Little stuns Sharon Speedway in 2006 USA debut.

Sydney Sprintcar Superstar Troy Little made his 2006 American season debut with an almost fairytale first up at win at Ohio’s Sharon speedway last weekend.

With the absence of regular Aussie crew chief Bill Roberts, Intense Fabrication and Designs’ Doug Kekich stepped into the breach and gave Troy a brilliant car for his first race at the historic Sharon Speedway.

Little had never even seen the track before and after a handful of hot laps started his one and only heat in fourth place. “I backed the car up to sixth but then took it forward to finish the heat in 3^rd place.” Stated Little.

“I don’t know how it works but after that heat result they somehow started us off pole in the feature.” Explained the bemused Sydney-sider.

From the front row Little led the field away and had a handy gap after nine laps. Little then got held up behind a lapped car and fearing that the pack was closing in was a little impatient when he attempted to lap the backmarker and unfortunately spun out. After coming to a stop on the track Little was then hit hard by Scott Bonnell. “It was a big impact - It rattled my family jewels if you know what I mean.” He said with that impish grin on his face. “Incredibly it did severe damage to the chassis but hardly touched anything else.”

From the back of the pack in a car that was severely damaged Little put in a gutsy effort to get the car back up to an eleventh place finish, but more importantly he completed some crucial laps ahead of his next race at Sharon, in the All-Stars Ohio Speedweek race tomorrow night (28^th June).

Since then Little and Kekich have been working almost non-stop replacing tubes and rebuilding the car. Aussie crew chief Roberts, along with crew members Chris Solomon and Garry McKelvey have landed in Ohio and have added their manpower to the rebuilding effort.

“Dougs’ work is first class and the car will be as good as new, if not better, than it was to start with.” Stated Roberts upon examination of the repair work.

The Thunder rolls in at Bacchus Marsh on April 22

Rolling Thunder Raceway fires up again on April 22 to the sound of the thundering V8 Super Sedans who return to the Bacchus Marsh clay oval for another action-packed night of competition. Last time the mighty sedans visited Rolling Thunder (March 4) Victorian Champion Lucas Roberts set a stunning pace in the heats before losing a wheel in the closing stages of the final to allow Mike Burke a comfortable win over NSW pilot Wayne Aylett, with John Nugent third.

Speedcars also join the card, with a strong field expected as the Victorian drivers contest one of the final races of their current season. Expect a tight contest between reigning Victorian and South Australian Champion Troy Jordan, Darren Power, veteran David Crabtree and Darren Hossack. One driver who will make a tentative return to the venue will be Romsey's Jason Forbes who last time out at Rolling Thunder crashed out in spectacular fashion whilst leading during the heats, but as the old adage says, you have to get back on the horse, so expect a strong challenge from the #27 Breka as the night goes on.

The popular AMCA Nationals return to the venue with a strong field of title contenders expected. Recently crowned National Champion Ricky Barrand is expected to campaign what is rumoured to be one of his final races in the car that has also dominated every major state title this season, Barrand expected to move into Sprintcars for the coming season. National title runner-up Mick Clark will again present a challenge to Barrand's continued domination, as will Chris Best, Michael Jackson, Kevin Peachey and rising star Gavin Harris.

The Sportsmans will provide the final class on what is expected to be a busy night of racing.

Gates open at 4:30 pm, with racing underway at 6:00pm.

For further information please call 0400 005 588

Rolling Thunder Raceway this Saturday night

Sportsmans return to Rolling Thunder Raceway this Saturday night the 22^nd of April for Round 4 of the VSSS (Victorian Sportsman Shootout Series), proudly sponsored by Racer Magazine & J. McNaughton & Sons Earthmoving - Colac. The 5 round series is starting to heat up now as we get closer to the penultimate round at Laang Speedway in the coming weeks.

14 cars have entered for the return to the third of a mile Rolling Thunder Raceway which will certainly be a challenge on the big fast wide open track. The track will be a real test of setup and engine as it generally stretches both to the limit.

After our last series round at Mt Gambier's Borderline speedway, drivers will be keen to finish the 3 heats and cement a good starting position for the final. The points chase was turned upside down, as the series leader had a spell from the podium allowing other drivers to catch up making it extremely close going into this round.

Some of the big movers will be Series leaders Gary Balcombe & Mark Walsh both on 337 pts, Mark Balcombe on 307 pts, Troy Stuart on 236 pts & Murray Lock 188 pts. The top 5 will drivers will certainly be the cars to beat.

With a good field of cars, watch out for some of the young guns carving there way through the field, Ashley Burke & Brett Walker to name a few will all be keen to impress and take some valuable points. Ashley had a disappointing last round engine blow up in hot laps, so he will be on a mission to claw his way back into the top 5.

Back in the pack, drivers Darren Walsh, Ken Woff, Matt Tuckett, Darren Chapman, Andy Baulch, Peter Merrett & Jason Langdon to name a few will be fighting it out tonight. They are all capable of taking heat wins as shown through the season so far.

For those who haven’t seen Sportsman before, they are basically non wing Sprintcars, the main difference is the use of late model 6 cylinder engines, predominately the Holden V6 with no gearbox. This makes for some very close even racing with out the huge costs of a Sprintcars.

Spectators are invited down to the pits after the race meeting to see the cars up close and meet the drivers who have posters to give a way and 'T" Shirts for sale.

Remember fans, if you want to race, get a Sportsman and have a go!

Front page news

Chad Kemenah in the Rolling Thunder Raceway Eagle made the front page of the Warrnambool Standard newspaper this morning after riding out a car crushing sole destroying wreck in his opening heat of the 2006 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

Kemenah was the fastest car to lap the circuit until that point, eclipsing countrymen Donny Schatz, Daryn Pittman and National champions Brooke Tatnell and Max Dumesny. Ace crew chief Bill Roberts had the car locked down to perfection and Kemenah was screaming away from the pack and heading for an easy win until he came across Simpson racer John Baynes in turn four. Baynes’ engine had shut down and was a slow moving obstruction.

“I got on the binders so hard and I thought I was going to just miss him.” Explained Kemenah. “Then it just launched off into the wall. And I thought, shit, this is going to hurt. It felt like it got some serious air time.”

The chassis was understandably totally destroyed and the driver dazed and aching. A build up of a new car was considered but abandoned.

“I don’t think we’ll need to worry about washing the car tonight.” Chad quipped to Roberts some time after the event. “I’m so glad a got my new seat with the reinforced plate underneath because I think all the energy from the impact went through my butt.”

Kemenah is already homeward bound to fulfill his commitments down south at East Bay Raceway.

The big K slips quietly into town

Four times All Stars Circuit of Champions champion Chad Kemenah slipped quietly back into Australia last night with a no fuss top ten finish in the Presidents cup at Avalon raceway.

Kemenah was not too upset by the result realizing it was juts a warm-up to the all important Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

“It was cool to work just with Bill Roberts” said the Ohioan. “It’s been a couple of years since I last ran here but I don’t remember it being as rough as it was tonight.”

For last nights race the Avalon promoters tried a different format similar to Parramatta with three car groups qualifying over three laps.

“That’s the first time of done that three car qualifying deal and it was kind of neat. The car was really good and I guess we got lucky.” He laughed. Lucky indeed Kemenah had timed in as 3^rd fastest of the strong field.

The heats were sorted according to qualifying times but then the top six cars were inverted.

“We were penalisd for being fast.” Stated Kemenah. “It’s hard to pass when it’s that narrow. The car was good, we could catch but we couldn’t pass anybody. We were unlucky that we were in a heat where there were no wrecks.” He laughingly continued.

Only the top four cars from the heats made the leap straight to the A-Main which left Kemenah off pole in the B-Main.

“Starting off the front row was nice.”

Fellow front row starter Matthew Reed made Kemenah work hard for the lead but the American did just enough to take the win easing up towards the end.

Starting from 13^th in the feature on a rough and narrow track was always going to be tough especially with the likes of Paul McMahan, Brian Brown, Max Dumesny and Brooke Tatnell off the front.

“We missed it a little bit in the feature.” Chad explained. “The car was too tight because the track actually got faster after those sedans ran around but it was still a one laner. David Murcott and I both got stuck behind (Kurt) Winker and the only way we both got past him was when he bounced out of the pot hole in turn one. If you made a mistake you would lose a couple of places.”

Crew chief Bill Roberts was not too perturbed with the 8^th place finish.

“The cars straight, it ran well and Chad’s settled in now so we’re looking good for the Classic.” He said. The only issue Cha had with the car was the unique exhaust system that he found too fumy, so the crew changed the pipes following qualifying.

The teams next race is tonight at Mt Gambier’s Borderline Speedway for the running of the Kings Challenge.

The rut continues for Rilat.

Texan Travis Rilat may have finished his 2005/2006 Australian tour last night with the running of night 2 of the Outlaws Down under III. A bad time trial draw and a slick track saw Rilat slated to run the alphabet if he was to make the feature however a blown diff ended his run early.

“We don’t know whether we’ll even race tonight because there’s someone interested in buying our car so I may have finished this tour already.” Said Rilat.

Time trials set the scene for the night and it was always going to be an uphill battle..
“We got a bad number in time trials.” He explained. “We went out in the 23^rd group (second last group) and the track was bad. There was nothing left. Rilats' time of 13.667 seconds was officially 40^th quickest behind Kraig Kinsers fast time of 12.783 seconds a reflection of how slow the track was.

Once you miss the inversion for the top 20 cars you’re in big trouble in your heats and so it was for Rilat who started 10^th and finished 9th.

“The track was slick and tough to pass on and as well as that our rear end was failing.” Rilat stated.

For Rilat to make the feature he was going to have to put on a real charge and starting from 5^th in the C-Main was a tantalizing prospect for his fans. However time was against the team and they never took the start of the C-Main due to the rear end damage.

“We didn’t get the rear end back in the car in time so we never even got to run the C-Main.” Said a dejected Rilat who flies home to Texas tomorrow afternoon.

Once arriving home Rilat has a couple of new cars in the workshop awaiting the installation of the race engines and loading into the teams new trailer before making the 20 hour haul south west to Florida for the opening three rounds of the 2006 ASCS championship.

Rilat up and over (almost) in Outlaws down under.

If Texan Travis Rilat ever considers a career change he should think about taking up motorcycle racing because he’s spent a bit of time running the Rolling Thunder Raceway Eagle on two wheels at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway Saturday recently. For the second meeting in a row Rilat “biked” the eagle and almost rolled it over.

In time trials with 76 cars in the pits Rilat was in the 13^th group of 3 cars to go out and time trail.
“We timed okay and were fourth fastest for a while.” Stated the Texan. “As the time trials went on though the track got better and some of the latter guys improved on our times and pushed us back to 13^th.” Rilats' time of 12.073 seconds was officially 14^th quickest behind Max Dumesny’s fast time of 11.793 seconds

The fourth heat of the night saw Rilat race starting from 3^rd, which is exactly where he finished.

“There was not much going on in the heats or in our dash.” Rilat explained.

The dash was more of the same. After starting 5^th Rilat brought the Daytec/Forbes Auto Centre car home in the same position.

“The track didn’t move up like it did last week and the weather conditions were overcast all day which I think affected the track.” Rilat surmised.

The feature race proved to be equally as frustrating. Having started from position nine the car was a bit tight early on.

“We’d dropped a couple of spots early on.” Said Rilat. “Then we hit the cushion and nearly tipped it over again like we did last week. This time when the car came down it stalled and I had to go to the rear of the field. The problem with that is that on the restart the leader hits the start line while I’m still only half way down the back straight which means that it doesn’t take long for the leader to come around an be on you because some of these back markers were all over the track and were hard to get past. Once (Donny) Schatz came past me I just pulled her in because it wasn’t worth the aggro to move from 21^st to 18^th.

Rilat has two more opportunities to show the PCR crowd his best tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night (Saturday) as the running of the Outlaws Down Under IIII heads towards its conclusion.

Rilat – Fast but frustrated.

The frustrating run of Texan Travis Rilat continued at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway Saturday night (14^th) after he was once again forced to charge back through the pack after being sent to the rear of the field – again- thanks to another competitor. Rilat was the fastest car on the track after changing the flat right rear tyre (faster than race winner Donny Schatz) and stormed his way back to a sixth place finish.

“It was another one of those not so good not so bad nights.” Rilat said. “At least we rolled the car back into the truck in one piece.”

Once again things started out well when Rilat had a reasonable time trial after going out 45^th of 60 plus cars and recorded the 8^th fastest time just 2 tenths off Joey Saldana's fast time.
“The time trial was acceptable.” Was all Rilat had to say about it.

In his heat Rilat started 5^th and finished in the same position. Incredibly when two cars racing behind Rilat clashed and were sent ROF, so too was Rilat!!!

“We were running 4^th with a good car and I biked it (refer picture) and almost tipped it over. It gave me a bit of a scare because it wasn’t far off rolling over.” Rilat explained. “At the same time a couple of other cars had an issue and they pulled the yellows. For some reason they made us restart at the rear of the field also. I had to pull a last lap pass to make sure we transferred straight into the feature and the pass also put us into the dash.”

The dash proved less favorable after starting from pole he only managed a 3^rd place finish

Rilat explained the performance as, “We started on pole which wasn’t the place to be as it was slick on the bottom and both Stewart and Saldana got the jump on me and we finished 3^rd.”

Once again the pure statistics don’t tell the full story of Rilats' feature race. Statistically Rilat started 5^th and finished 6^th. What happened in between was something that made car owner Ray Solomon quite pleased. Running at the head of the field Saldana had a huge wreck. Rilat, racing just further behind got on the binders to avoid the incident and was drilled in the right rear by another competitor. The team was again forced to change a tyre and Rilat restarted at the back of the pack. Fired up he then put on a huge charge as he worked his way back towards the pointy end of the field running out of time and laps and eventually finishing 6^th.
”I was running 5^th or 6^th early in the race when Stewart and Saldana got together and Saldana became a casualty. When they put on the reds someone behind didn’t see them or whatever and ran into my right rear tyre and cut it and damaged the wing.” Rued Rilat. “The guys did a great job once again but we had to restart at the back of the pack.”

Crew chief Bill Roberts also took the chance to tweak the drivers ear and the car.
“After the restart we had the fastest car. We came from 24^th or something and drove back up to sixth, actually we got to fourth because I’d passed Brandon Wimmer and Ian Madsen and was right on Trevor Green when the yellows flew.” Rilat continued. For the green, white chequered final sprint they put the lapped Bruce White in between Rilat and Wimmer.

“White wanted to race me and it took me a lap and a half to pass him and by then it was too late. I think once again we had a good car capable of winning or running a podium but lady luck wasn’t riding with us. The top of the track was were we needed to run and we were capable of running up there through both ends of the track and in fact that was were we made the most ground and passed the most cars. As I said the car was excellent, just like in the $50,000, it’s going better now and we just need to get lady luck riding with us.

Rilats’ Aussie summer will conclude this weekend with the running of the Outlaws Down Under IIII.

For further information contact

Bill Roberts on 0411 470 712 or

Brett Swanson (Pirate Media) on 0410 198 138

Or visit www.formula-motorsports.com. or www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au

AUSSIE BOUND CHAD KEMENAH JOINS WORLD OF OUTLAWS

Posted 4 January 2006

Four times All Star sprintcar champion Chad Kemenah has been nominated as Dirt Motorsports final ‘Mean 15’ member and will celebrate his inclusion by touring Australia for the end of January major shows at Avalon Raceway, Mount Gambier and Premier Speedway, Warrnambool.

Kemenah has been an outstanding performer with the All Stars group where he has won everything for the past four years in Jim Harble’s pale blue #15 Eagle, sponsored by UUI.

Part of the success of Chad has been the prowess of his brother Brian who has supervised everything from motors and Eagle frames to race dates and travel.

The Kemenahs have been particularly close to Bill Roberts and it was he who put the deal together just before the PRI Show in Orlando.

“We had Travis Rilat coming for the racing over Christmas and New Year, but Travis wanted to be in Florida for the start of the All Star 360 National tour which ruled him out of the three majors at the end of the month,” said Bill Roberts today.

Formula Motorsports chief Ray Soloman wanted a solid performer in his Rolling Thunder Raceway #00 Eagle for the Avalon, Mount Gambier and Warrnambool shows and Chad was the obvious driver.

The OO Eagle is from the Kemenah inventory while the engines are amongst the fastest to be found anywhere.

“Bob Hampshire always produces mega horsepower figures and he’s got a couple of grease lightning units here,” said Roberts.

Kemenah was today nominated by Dirt Motorsports and WoO as their 15^th ‘Mean 15’ contracted driver and will be financially supported in the travel fund on the road this year.

Negotiations had been underway for almost two months to lure Chad and Brian away from the All Stars to WoO – and today it was made official.

The break between the Outlaws and National Sprintcar Tour is now on track to explode in both Florida and California as Donny Schatz, Craig Dollansky, Brooke Tatnell, Terry McCarl, Daryn Pittman and Kemenah head up the Florida-bound Outlaws.

Steve Kinser, Danny Lasoski, Joey Saldana and company form the basis of the new group who open at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California next month.

WoO has announced a stunning flow of major events throughout 2006 with an influx of $50.000 to win events.

Williams Grove, Knoxville, Eldora, Skagit, Chico and Las Vegas have been the prime majors for WoO while the National Sprint Tour is still playing catch up.

“I’m really happy Chad will be with Formula Motorsports starting at Avalon and finishing at Premier which will give him just enough time to make a dash back home and be ready for Florida,” said Roberts.

Rilats retched run continues at RTR.

For the second meeting in succession Texan Travis Rilat has endured a horror run of luck in the RTR house car while competing at Rolling Thunder Raceway (RTR).

After being sensationally fast but out of luck at the December 17 meeting Rilat vowed to return and take the 10G’s on offer last night. Sadly that ambition was left in tatters as Rilat was the second retirement from the 25 lap feature race.

“It’s frustrating to go out like we did with a broken power steering line and a broken radius rod.” Rilat said. “I know we didn’t look as fast as last time here but the way the car felt I’m sure we had something for the fans tonight. Whether it would have been enough for the win we’ll never know but after watching from the infield what went on I think we would have been a real chance.”

The team will now regroup and concentrate its efforts on this weekends $50,000 to win race at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway (TPCR).

“We’ve finished on the podium once there already this summer so I’m confident with the car that we’ve got we can do it again, hopefully this weekend.” Stated Rilat.

Peter Murphy proved last time out that Donny Schatz can be beaten at TPCR and the Texans knowledge of the vagaries of TPCR and how to run it is increasing all the time.

Rilat stated back in December that if his Aussie season came on like it did last season then he’ll be happy. So far the patterns have been pretty similar so the opposition had better start looking over there shoulders.

For further information contact

Bill Roberts on 0411 470 712 or

Brett Swanson (Pirate Media) on 0410 198 138

Or visit www.formula-motorsports.com. or www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au

Warm & Fuzzy to Hot & Heavy.

Texan Travis Rilat's first meeting at Tyrepower Parramatta City Raceway on boxing day (Dec 26) was a meeting where the driver got warm and fuzzy with the racetrack. Last night (December 30) Rilat got hot and heavy with TPCR bringing the Rolling Thunder Raceway Eagle home on the podium behind compatriot Donny Schatz and US based Aussie Kerry Madsen.

“Last night was not too bad.” Underplayed the Texan. “We moved up a lot of places from the other night. We were happy with it, it worked out good.”

With the revised three cars at a time qualifying system Rilat went out in the tenth batch and timed in as 3^rd fastest less than 2 tenths off Schatz’ fast time.

“I wasn’t sure how this system was going to go and I think it confused a lot of people but it worked out pretty good for us.” He said.

The much improved qualifying meant he was in the top 24 cars whose starting positions are inverted.

“If you miss the inversion, you’re pretty much done.” Stated crew chief Bill Roberts after the boxing day performance.

Staring out of position 6 in his heat Rilat charged to second behind Joey Saldana who’d started from the front row.

“The heat was okay, we got the car moving forward a bit.” The Texan explained.

In the dash Rilat got caught up behind Grant Tunks and could do nothing over the six laps to improve his feature race starting position.

In the Main race Rilat started from position 5 and once again it took him some time to get around Tunks. Having disposed of Tunks it was only a further ten laps before he was lapping him but by this time Schatz had already skipped away.

Late in the race Rilat and compatriot Saldana had a bit of a battle exchanging positions a couple of times.

“I passed Joey a couple of times but each time I then lost it back to him in lapped traffic.” Stated Rilat. “We had his measure when he lost an engine or whatever it is they said he did.”

“I’m just real glad to be on the podium in the Rolling Thunder Raceway Eagle, for my car owner Ray Solomon and the crew of Billy (Roberts), Rossco (Gillson), John (Shore), Paul (Solomon) and all the guys.”

“I think we can find some more to give Donny a tough time on new-years day once I work out the nuances of this racetrack.”

Following the teams next run on January 1^st at TPCR it will be a quick change of cars and a dash down to (RTR) Rolling Thunder Raceway (January 3^rd) for the $10,000 to win event which has already confirmed four other Americans including the legendary Jimmy Sills, Daryn Pittman, Brian Brown and Jason Johnson.

RTR $5,000 to win victor Troy Little is also expected to be back in action despite destroying his Best Hino/Kimbo Transport Eagle last night.

The Time Has Come

Rolling Thunder Raceway (Bacchus Marsh) will come alive this Saturday night to the sound of 372ci Sprintcars, with in excess of 25 (this number is increasing daily) drivers from all over the country looking to upstage Texan sensation Travis Rilat for a $5000 winner-takes-all purse.

Parramatta super-star Troy Little with ace-spannerman Billy Roberts on hand will lead a NSW charge against a string of Victorian stars and World Series Sprintcars (WSS) regulars like Ian Lewis, David Murcott, Mike Van Bremmen, Danny Reidy (NT), Ryan Farrell (WA) and Allan Barlee (NT).

To say the action will be outstanding would be a masterful piece of understatement, the super-fast 550 metre Bacchus Marsh oval likely to see speeds of up to 200 km/h as the fire-breathing winged warriors return to the Victorian venue for the first time in five years.

Speedcars will also be on the card, with a string of top Victorian drivers looking for victory on the fast wide oval, Darren Power, former V8 Supercar pilot Darren Hossack and Harley Bishop leading the charge.

The AMCA Nationals will contest the second (of three) round of the AMCA Hooters Pro Cup Series, which will see the leading pointscorer at the end of the January 3 round offered the opportunity to compete for a drive in the US Series in early 2006. Already a strong field of AMCA’s is entered for the night, promising another fantastic spectacle for the crowd.

So bring the family for what promises to be a night of pure excitement.

Entry will be $25 (adult), $15 (12-16 year olds/pensioners) and Under 12’s free. Family concessions are $60.

Gates are open from 4:00pm, with racing starting at 6:00pm.

Entry list…

SPRINTCARS
USA 00 Travis Rilat (USA)
V2 Wayne Milburn (VIC)
NT5 Danny Reidy (NT)
V6 Mike Van Bremmen (VIC)
N10 Adrian Maher (NSW)
V16 Matt Bourke (VIC)
V18 Ian Lewis (VIC)
N20 Troy Little (NSW)
NT20 James McFadden (NT)
V20 Domain Ramsay (VIC)
V24 Chris Campbell (VIC)
V31 Craig Lawless (VIC)
V32 Ian Thomsen (VIC)
V33 Sean Hebbard (VIC)
V37 Grant Anderson (VIC)
V44 Ron Dalton (VIC)
V54 Kenny Griffey (VIC)
V57 Ian Smith (VIC)
NT61 Allan Barlee (NT)
V68 Brett Milburn (VIC)
V69 Colin Barker (VIC)
N86 David Craft (NSW)
V88 Ryan Farrell (WA)
V91 David Murcott (VIC)
V94 Colin Lamb (VIC)

SPEEDCARS
V0 Harley Bishop (VIC)
V4 David Patterson (VIC)
V5 Eden Jordan (VIC)
V6 Brad Jackson (VIC)
V7 Richard Emmerson (VIC)
V11Troy Jordan (VIC)
V18 Butch Nankiville (VIC)
V21 Leigh Clayton (VIC)
V22 Darren Hossack (VIC)
V27 Jason Forbes (VIC)
V33 Craig Smith (VIC)
V55 Shane Smith (VIC)
V59 Darren Power (VIC)
V78 Luke Stanley (VIC)
V97 David Crabtree (VIC)
V99 John Truscott (VIC)

AMCA Nationals
AUS1 Adam Wallis (VIC)
V00 Mathew Giri (VIC)
V0 Ken Campbell (VIC)
AUS3 Paul Clark (VIC)
V3 Kris Reidy (VIC)
V4 Darren Power (VIC)
V5 Anthony Wilson (VIC)
V9 Bruce Tait (VIC)
V17 Mark Weaver (VIC)
V20 Brett Neylan (VIC)
V22 Paul Forrest (VIC)
V26 Phillip Worboys (Rookie - VIC)
V28 Paul Sullivan (VIC)
V38 Mat Hilbert (VIC)
V39 Michael Jackson (VIC)
V41 John Butler (Rookie – VIC)
V48 Michael Clark (VIC)
V51 Kevin Peachey (VIC)
V55 Alan Cullinger (VIC)
V61 Ricky Barrand (VIC)
V79 Stewart Grant-Campbell (VIC)
V80 Shae Bradley (VIC)
V92 Mark Lincoln (VIC)
V94 Michael Lincoln (VIC)

Rilat - Kemenah tag team match.

As a huge World Wrestling Enterprises (WWE) fan it’s appropriate then that the Formula Motorsports Group team headed up by Grizzly Dyno Shocks’ Bill Roberts will have a tag team arrangement with its two preferred American drivers this summer.

Original plans called for two cars for both last seasons driver 2004 ASCS Champion Travis Rilat and four times All Stars Champion Chad Kemenah. However, some family issues prevented Kemenah from accepting the drive at the time.

Now though Kemenah will compete in the FMG Rolling Thunder Raceway Eagle when Rilat cuts short his campaign in order to contest the opening three rounds of the ASCS championship held on the same weekend as the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic.

“I was really looking forward to doing the classic again this season because I think we had a little unfinished business from last year.” Stated Rilat. “However, the three races held in Florida carry points for the championship this year and I can’t afford to give any of those guys a three race head start. Both Bill and Ray (Solomon – the team owner) have been great about it and they both understand fully.

Roberts’ first choice to replace Rilat was of course Kemenah who also recently refused the drive in Tony Stewarts World of Outlaws now NSL team previously driven by Danny Lasoski.

“Chad normally runs another car in Florida on the classic weekend,” Stated Roberts, “but when the team couldn’t get their engine program in place in time that cleared the way for Chad to come back down under.”

Roberts and the Kemenah’s (Chad and his crew chief brother Brian) have a long history and in fact Roberts was actually part of the effort that saw Kemenah break through for his inaugural Outlaws A-Main win earlier this year.

“Chad was one of our first choices as driver and when he couldn’t make it initially we decided to scale back to just one car.” Said Solomon. “So in a way this is the best of both worlds without twice the amount of work for the crew who still get to work with two top class drivers in one season.”

The two drivers will be playing mid air tag somewhere over the pacific ocean as their paths cross while they head in opposite directions.

Media Release

30 September 2005.

Rolling Thunder Raceway.

Formula Motorsports Group (FMG) Pty Ltd announced today that the speedway facility previously known as Western Auto Raceway at Bacchus Marsh Victoria will now be promoted under the name Rolling Thunder Raceway. Promoter Ray Solomon said that a new name was introduced in an effort to re badge the facility and provide a fresh approach in the way the speedway will be promoted into the future.

The planned changes to the venue at Rolling Thunder Raceway include the relocation of the ticket boxes to the Western (entry) side of the track behind the corporate boxes which should relieve the congestion experienced previously around the pit gate area. Upgrade of toilet facilities, provision of a corporate box for the media, designated wheel chair area and car park with special parking areas for the media, corporate partners and the disabled will further enhance the facility.

The race track has now been widened to accommodate larger fields and promote safer racing and a revised layout of the pit area will provide easier access and egress for competitors.

Solomon went on to say that “Not all the changes to the venue can be completed in the first year but I hope the competitors and public appreciate the changes that have taken place and realise this is just the start of a continuous improvement program.”

Despite some hurdles from the Sprintcar Racing Association (SRA) of Victoria, the race calendar is slowly coming together with a number of high profile race meetings already programmed:

The official re-opening of the re-born racetrack will be a low key club night on November 26^th. Highlighted classes include the boisterous mainly V8 powered Super Sedans and the AMCA Nationals.

Fans who attend on December 17^th will get an early Christmas present with the first 05/06 appearance of Texan “Top Gun” Travis Rilat in the Rolling Thunder Raceway Eagle. Rilat really set tongues wagging last season winning some major events on the WSS series.

Determined not to let Rilat take home the cash will be last seasons winningest Sprintcar racer and current NSW champion Troy Little. Little owed a lot of last seasons success to ace spanner man Bill Roberts who also masterminded Rilats’ campaign so this will be an interesting showdown. Also expected for this meeting will be “The Big Show” John Shore. Shore is a regular star of WSS and is also a dual NSW Club Champion. This trio will have to battle hard with the local SRA stars if they want to win the $5000.

Just a few short weeks later on January the 3^rd will see Rilat take on the best of the WSS travelers as they fight it out for the $10,000 prize. It is expected that the likes of Tatnell, Dumesny, Farr, Gessner and Lewis will all be on hand backing themselves to win the big money. Last time the likes of Dumesny, Brazier and Co competed here the crowd witnessed a thrilling last lap three wide race to the chequered flag.

Also on the program will be the debut of the Late Model Sedans with their massive 410ci engines. These light weight high horsepower machines will be practically turning themselves inside out as they torque the left front wheel high off the ground and three wheel their way around the huge speedway. This will be a show not to be missed!

Sadly at this stage the only other sprint car race meeting is to be held on April 8^th.

“The SRA has only allowed Rolling Thunder Raceway three race meetings this coming season and these are subject to them (SRA) approving the venues Public Liability Insurance. Three other race dates during February and early March were rejected by the SRA on the basis that the dates clashed with other Sprintcar meetings in Adelaide and Brisbane.” Explained an exasperated Solomon. “This is most disappointing from a promoter and car owners point of view as this leaves a 6 week gap of Sprintcar racing in Victoria from the Classic in late January to the 11^th of March”.

“Even more incongruous is the fact that nine (9) other approved Sprintcar dates in Victoria, most of which are SRA Series dates, clash with other Sprintcar meetings in Adelaide or Brisbane.”

On the brighter side, a major midget (speedcar) meeting will now be held on the 18^th of February with $3000 prize money awaiting the winner. This level of payout should entice a hoard of quality cars from North of the border as well as from the growing South Australian ranks to take on the local hero’s like Troy Jordan, Darren Power, Luke Stanley and Co.

Other race dates include the 4^th of March, 15^th of April, 22^nd April and the 29^th of April.

Negotiations continue with numerous other classes with Solomon keen to raise the profile of a number of other Speedway classes

All race dates and classes when confirmed will be displayed on the Rolling Thunder Raceway web site at www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au

CALIFORNIA DRIVER BRAD SWEET WILL DEBUT AT ELDORA


19-year-old Brad Sweet will be a long way from home this Saturday night, 
April 2nd, as he makes his debut in the Valvoline USAC National Sprint Car
Series non-wing race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH. It will be Sweet’s
first non-wing race on a track this size. Sweet calls Grass Valley, CA home;
however, the next six months Indiana will serve as his new residence. He
will drive for the #53 Five-Eights racing entry, owned by California native
Eric Barnhill, who is currently residing in North Carolina working as
Sergeant in the Marines. Both Sweet and car owner Eric Barnhill are new
comers to the ultra competitive Valvoline USAC National Sprint Car Series.
The team plans on attending every Valvoline USAC National Sprint Car Series
events on dirt. Sweet hopes to earn a pavement sprint car, midget or silver
crown ride this summer.


Sweet grew up racing in the competitive outlaw kart ranks in Northern
California. He won six championships and over 100 main events. His next step
took him into a BCRA Midget Lite. He finished in the top five of points and
collected six main event victories throughout the season. Sweet moved into
his family sprint car operation in 2003. He quickly picked up his first main
event win at Twin Cities Speedway in Marysville, CA. He was nominated as a
National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year in 2003. Success followed him into
the cockpit of a full-time ride in 2004 with a local team. Two main event
wins, a third place finish in the California Sprint Car Civil War Series and
a ninth place finish in the Oval Nationals at Perris Speedway on Thursday
night propelled Sweet into the elite of young American sprint car drivers.


In 2005 he started the year off by finishing second to Cory Kruseman at the
inaugural 360 SCRA event at Tulare. That race Sweet came from the back to
finish second. In one lap, Sweet passed 13 cars on the 1/3-mile racetrack.
The race was shortened to 15 laps because of time restraints. Needless to
say, Kruseman was the winner but Sweet was “the show.” Sweet would put back
on the wing to race the Mini Gold Cup at Chico where he qualified third
quickest, out doing the likes of Jac Haudenschild and Tim Kaeding in their
respective Beef Packer Outlaw rides.


Along with Barnhill’s car, Sweet’s dad will tow the family car to Indiana
and race local events in and around Indiana. The family car will serve as
Sweet’s primary car for local races and will be housed at talented photo man
Greg Tyler’s house in Plainfield, IN. Barnhill’s car will be worked on out
of DRC Chassis on gasoline alley in Indianapolis.


“It’s pretty ambitious of Sweet to leave a successful Northern California
gig and head to Indiana racing against all the proven veterans of the USAC
circuit,” said car owner Barnhill. “I wanted to get my feet wet as a car
owner in USAC and I choose Brad to drive my car because of his talent, but I
also want to help a young guy get his name out back here and hopefully
somebody will hire him to a better deal next year. This first year is a big
learning experience for both of us.” He continued by saying, “We have
nowhere near the budget of many of the teams out here or even the financial
backing that other California drivers have come back here with. It will be
interesting how we fair compared to other California drivers and teams in
USAC with the bigger budgets and crews.”


“With the success of Josh Wise, Jay Drake and Bud Kaeding, all guys from
California, this is where I needed to be if I want to continue my racing
future,” said Sweet. “I hope to lean on these guys a little bit for help
throughout the season. Wise and Drake are affiliated with Tony Stewart and
now Kaeding is with Jason Leffler, I just hope to open some of the same eyes
this year.”

Paul Soloman's Sprintcar Sojourn

Posted: 31st March 2005

AMCA Nationals racer Paul Solomon finally fulfilled a long held ambition when he took the wheel of the BRD Group backed 360ci Eagle #83 Sprintcar last weekend at Avalon’s Great Southern Sprintcar Showdown.

Solomon as a youngster, to young to even enter the pits, regaled his car owner father Ray, and any others who were nearby, about how he would have a fleet of different race cars in a huge transporter when he grew up with the pinnacle being Sprintcars of course.

Solomon made his racing debut two seasons ago sharing an AMCA National with his good mate Matt Giri. This season a second car was added and both boys have competed eagerly in their pair of orange team AMCA’s. Paul won the Victorian AMCA rookie of the year in 2003/4

When Paul’s father Ray, decided to purchase an open Sprintcar to be run alongside the teams existing Stealth #27 360ci Sprintcar driven by Bob Forbes, Paul was in heaven. Texan Travis Rilat was the hired gun and some big wins came the teams way with Paul assisting with the maintenance and crewing of the #00 Eagle.

An ex John Shore Eagle was purchased as a spare roller but was never put into service until now. Having borrowed the engine from the V27 machine, So