Benalla based racer Jaimi Barber is the new Victorian standard saloon title holder after she won out in a sensational battle with friend Felicity Roycroft and Katie Meyer at Bairnsdale Speedway.
The ladies put on a terrific display of racing with the faster of the competitors cutting paths through the traffic as they worked to the finish, the margin between the first two drivers just 0.163 of a second in the end, the closest finish many can remember to a ladies title.
In other racing, Bairnsdale’s Joshua Thomas won the open standard saloons, Shannon Meakins the hot rods, and Peter Cox the unlimited sedans.
Competitors in the Victorian Speedway Council Ladies Standard Saloon title competed in three qualifying races each with 20 starters qualifying for the title race.
Roycroft, Barber and Caroline Allen all won in the first round of heats, Allen competing in just her first title in her first season of racing. Defending champion Ally Morrison won in round two as did Roycroft and Barber.
In round three Allen and Katie Meyer her teammate and Kylie Lansdown were winners. Barber and Roycroft set the pace at the front of the 30-lap title race rarely being no further apart than bumper-to-bumper or side-by-side as they worked through traffic.
On lap 17, Roycroft made a pass three wide and up the middle of Barber and a back marker to lead the race through to lap 21 before Barber regained the lead.
On lap 24, while in fifth, Kylie Lansdown slammed the back straight wall ending her charge to a podium result. As the chequered flag dropped, Barber became the new state champion ahead of Roycroft, Meyer, Lea Judd, and Allen.
Joshua Thomas, with two qualifying race wins, started the open standard saloon class feature event on the front row with Tyson Cull, who also had won twice in the lead up to the 15-lap final.
In the final, the concrete wall claimed three victims with Don Fyfe, Steven Dadswell and Cull all succumbing to the powerful cement walls. Thomas went on to win with Rhys Lansdown from last at the start finishing second with Andrew Cormack, Jack Yeomans and Deon Fyfe rounding out the top five.
Shannon Meakins won two qualifiers in the Speedway Drivers Association of Victoria Hot Rod qualifiers with Eddie Ivermee the other.
Meakins then went on to win the 15-lap final ahead of Ivermee, Brendan Roberts, Russell Hovey, and Phil Jenkins.
Corey McDonald won two of the three qualifiers in the unlimited sedans, with Peter Cox the other, before the two started the feature at the front of the field.
McDonald tried to make a pass in turn one of lap three and spun Cox and himself and was penalised to the rear of the field for a re-start.
Cox went on to win from Peter Farley, McDonald, Daryl Nicolson, and Peter Camilleri.