The opening round saw one of the best races for some time with Aussie Champ Jamie Cobby having a real cut and thrust battle with Stephen Bell before the veteran Ian Lewis also drove himself into the mix. These three drivers along with veterans and state champions Wayne Milburn, Darren Hickman, Wayne Nicholls and Garry Chippindall create an extremely strong and experienced nucleus of drivers which will be augmented by the talents of Canberra’s Doug Christian and Wagga’s Ben Reid. Phil Lock is a multiple state champion in the sportsman category and Ricky Barrand is the defending National champ in the AMCA class. Throw in locals Paul & Chris Solomon, Bob Forbes, Ian Smith, “wild” Bill Fraser and Ken Hutchins and it is a tough field.

The SDAV Hot Rods and the awesome Super Rods will combine again as they occasionally do to field a strong support act. Former SDAV standout Jason Kavanagh has recently turned to the Super Rods after a disappointing run in the V8 Dirt Modifieds and swept the field in his debut at Avalon recently. Kavanagh has run many laps around the Bacchus Marsh venue and was virtually unbeaten here in its previous life as Western Auto Raceway.

Victorian Super Rod champ Leigh Podger will go head to head with SDAV state Champ Shaun Walsh and former champ Phil Jenkins. Jenkins and Ray Welsh are true veterans of the class especially Welsh who still runs his original steel bodied rod that he first used some 30 odd years ago.

Surprisingly this will be the debut of the Super Rods at Bacchus Marsh.

Just like the SDAV rods which were a stalwart class at Bacchus Marsh previously, the Marsh Modifieds are also a cornerstone of the speedway, probably even more so.

Damien Dannatt has been the star over the years however Linda Devlin is more than capable of snaring a win which she did recently at Nyora.

Jonathon Knight, Jim Devlin and Lee Howard have all spent time chasing Dannatt around the big track and would love to stop his run of wins here.

The action commences at 6:oopm and event information can be obtained by calling the event hotline on 0400 00 55 88 or at visiting www.rollingthunderraceway.com.au

Rolling Thunder Raceway is situated on Parwan South Rd,  Bacchus Marsh, VIC. Melways map 340, reference G12.