Saturday 20th of February saw Hoppers Crossing’s Darryl Nelson take home the Trevor Podger Memorial at Simpson Speedway 23 years after he last won this prestigious event. Nelson a veteran of the Super Rod class and Victorian Speedway in general proved that age is no barrier when the 45 year old beat home a strong field which included a number of drivers who were not even born when he last tasted success in this event.

Nelson got the night off to a strong start with a convincing win in the first heat leading home Paul Delaney by half a lap with Matt Clark in third. The second heat saw Sprintcar driver Tim Rankin behind the wheel of the W44 Jemma Gale car, unfortunately his night was brought to a premature end when he made heavy contact with the wall and rolled before the race could even complete a lap. A dominant performance from Shaun Walsh saw him easily take the win ahead of Geoff Leigh and Leigh Podger.

Heat three saw Nelson again surge to the lead, however newly crowned Victorian Champion Matt Clark was able to chase down Nelson in the fifth lap taking the win from Nelson and Delaney. It was Podger who was able to lead from the start in the fourth heat but on lap three but he turned his car around narrowly being avoided by the close following Leigh; At this time Dale Walsh who had spun to avoid the stricken car tangled with Wayne Williams who ended up rolling his machine as a result of the contact. Leigh went on to take win from Damien Falkingham and Podger making his way back to third.

At the fall of the green in heat five Clinten Scott jumped to the lead followed by Phil Jenkins, on the fourth lap Jenkins was able to make his way past Scott and assume the lead, Nelson had worked his way from his near rear starting position into third, when on lap six contact with another car saw Nelson roll to the infield with a broken steering linkage. Jenkins was first to the checker ahead of Scott and Shaun Toulmin. A green to checker run for Williams saw him claim the final heat of the night from Shaun Walsh and Podger.

The starting grid for the 33rd running of the Trevor Podger Memorial saw a front row of made up of Leigh and Clark, while the second row included Podger and Nelson, following these were Shaun Walsh, Delaney, Scott, Jenkins, Falkingham, Williams, Toulmin, Paul Singleton, Dale Walsh, Amy Duynhoven, Cameron Hardwick and rookie to the class having his first run Rob Richardson.

At the first attempt at a start the field was recalled when the front wheel on Falkingham’s machine departed company leaving him stranded on the track. At the restart it was Leigh who surged to the lead, hotly pursued by Clark and Podger, on lap six Nelson was able to move into third position. The leaders continued on in this way until lap ten when Toulmin, Delany and Shaun Walsh were all able to make their way past Podger. Leigh meanwhile was able to maintain a handy lead whilst Clark and Nelson were having a titanic battle for second position with Shaun Walsh moving up to fourth.

On the second last lap Nelson moved past Clark and when they entered the final lap they tangled leaving Clark momentarily stranded on the track, at this time Singleton made heavy contact with the wall bringing the race to a stop, the contact between Nelson and Clark was deemed a racing incident by the chief steward and both cars were able to resume their positions.

With a two lap dash to the Checker it was Leigh who led however his car drifted high on the track allowing Nelson through to the lead, in a desperate attempt to regain the lead in the final lap Leigh once again tried the highline however drifted too high making contact with the fence and allowing the cars of Clark, Shaun Walsh and Delaney through before recovering. Nelson went on to take a well deserved win ahead of Clark, Shaun Walsh, Delaney, Leigh, Toulmin, Podger, Jenkins, Dale Walsh, Duynhoven and Richardson.

The next meeting for the Super Rods will be the return to Ballarat’s Redline Speedway on Saturday 27th of February after an absence of several years.