Rob Eyeington and Rod Burns were left with nowhere to go when cars in front of them collided in the opening laps of the Compact Speedcar feature race at Goulburn Speedway on Saturday night.
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“I jumped on the brakes and thought to myself, “This is going to hurt,” Burns said after the crash was untangled. “But thankfully, everyone is okay.”
He and Eyeington, who ended upside down in the crash and had to be pulled out of the entanglement through the top of the car, could not say the same for their machines.
Eyeington had retired from racing last year, but was encouraged to drive Carl Yenne’s car at the Goulburn meeting. “I’m definitely retiring after this,” Eyeington said while waiting for the car to be towed.
In the end they brought in the trailers on which they had been transported to Goulburn, and loaded them up for the journey home.
This was the last race of an action-packed night, which was ultimately won by Darren Margules from the ACT, with Grant Lahiff second and Alan Day third.
Nine drivers started out in the heats of the GP midgets. Their feature was the club’s Bart Wilkinson Memorial Race.
The parade lap before the race was, as usual, lead by Wilkinson’s BKW Special driven by his daughter, Sue Hardy, wearing her father’s original helmet and a replica jacket.
Wilkinson died suddenly in 1966. His tiny BKW, with virtually no driver protection, highlights how far safety has come since 1965, when it raced at Westmead Speedway.
With crashes and parts failures, the race field in the feature was reduced to just three finishers on Saturday night with Australian champion Trevor Perry from Melbourne claiming a fairly comfortable win from David Bacon of Shepparton and, third, Kieran Macklyn from Marulan.
There was a dispute over the results in the Super Sedans after some very aggressive racing in the third round of the GJ Gardner Homes series. Local driver Paul Kranitis was forced to the infield after a heavy collision with the car behind.
Dean Johnson was declared winner ahead of Scott Haynes and Daryl Moon.
Results Saturday January 20
Fender Benders
- 1st Simon Kaczorowski
- 2nd Neil White
- 3rd Scott Campbell
Southern Super Sedans
- 1st Dean Johnson
- 2st Scott Haynes
- 3nd Daryl Moon
GP Midgets
- 1st Trevor Perry
- 2st David Bacon
- 3nd Gerard Macklyn
ModLites
- 1st William Butler
- 2nd Rob Swain
- 3rd Andrew Martin
Compact Speedcars
- 1st Darren Margules
- 2nd Grant Lahiff
- 3rd Allan Day
Formula F500s
- 1st Steve Curnt
- 2nd Nathan Pryor
- 3rd Kent McDonald