Talented South Australian racer Matt Egel has claimed the second running of the Tyson Perez Memorial for 360 Sprintcars at the Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway.
The race to honour Perez brought out a quality field of twenty six 360 drivers that included good mate Travis Rilat, who made the long haul from Forney, Texas just to be here to show his support for his long time friend.

Qualifying on pole Egel showed pure class to lead the entire thirty one lap A-Main, driving the Tony Bartlett owned Bartlett Auto Centre/PM Race Engines #75 Cool Chassis. The only time the very potent black machine came under threat developed during restarts before he showed the rest of the talented field the way to tackle the very fast Warrnambool surface.

It was Egel’s night as he opened the event with the fastest qualifying time of 11.115 seconds, an incredibly quick time for the 360ci Sprintcars around the Warrnambool venue. His heat form was sensational and it didn’t mater where he started his heats, either on pole or from the rear, as Egel showed he meant business and winning both with ease.

The heat racing during the night grabbed everyone’s attention with plenty of action and passing all event. Darren Mollenoyux opened up his heat racing with a win in the Parr Motorsports/Warrnambool Crane Hire #77 GF1 Chassis. The local youngster showcased his talent all night by also claiming a second place finish (to Egel) in his second qualifying race as well.

Bendigo hard charger Darren Hickman was another one to greet the chequered flag first during the heats in his Hickman’s Tree Maintenance #40 J&J, as too did Rilat aboard the LA Precast/Arbon Equipment #96 JEI and former midget racer Harley Bishop impressed with a win in the Melbourne Central Prestige/Nu Trans #15 Maxim.

Two heats were stopped as both Jamie Hennessy (Hennessy Transport #21 JEI) and Tim Van Ginneken in his Rick’s Handyman Service/Lowes Auto Repairs #86 Maxim inverted there brilliantly presented machines. Van Ginneken returned to qualify for the A-Main, while Hennessy would later be transferred to hospital for observation.

With two dashes to run and a B-Main as well, weather started to become an influence on the meeting as thunder and rain approached. Pushing ahead to try and complete the event, Egel took the win in the opening dash to start from pole, while Mollenoyux continued his fine night to win the second. The B-Main was unfortunately shortened to four laps as the impending rain hit the Warrnambool track as it was declared just as the heavens opened.

A short delay and some exceptional track prep by the local club with help from the entire A-Main field brought the track back to a point where the thirty one lap finale could commence. As mentioned earlier Egel was brilliant and wouldn’t be threatened all race. Behind him the battle for second proved to be a ripper as Mollenoyux and former Warrnambool resident now West Australian domiciled racer Chris Ackland fought it out for the last two podium spots, putting on a great display of side by side racing, with neither racer giving an inch the entire event.

Rilat the fairytale ending never happened as damage received in an incident involving Bishop would affect the handling of the Andy Caruna owned machine, pulling infield just after mid race distance. Bishop too ended his night early, making contact with the unforgiving concrete wall at the Warrnambool venue.

Egel went on to take the win as Ackland kept his Ausdrill Careers/Mayday Earthmovers #11 Schnee ahead of Mollenoyux, followed by Hickman, Shane Heathcote (Victory Lane Racegear #39 J&J), Keke Falland (JJ Ruston Engineering/Blindtec #78 Cool), Phil Lock (Aussie Drain/F.M. Mahar Associates #4 Cool Chassis), Michael Phillips (NRG Industries #57 Maxim), Tony Moule (Sunraysia Mildura Motel #26 QT Chassis) and Michael Cunningham (PRP Engineering #74 A.R.T. Chassis rounding out the top ten.

The meeting proved to be one befitting Tyson Perez, a much loved individual that left his mark on the sport prior to his tragic passing.