LISMORE SPEEDWAY SEASON FINALE – JUNE 7/8      

 Feature photo: A demolition Derby at Castrol Lismore Speedway on Sunday will be a part of the two-night season finale this coming King’s Birthday long weekend. Photo: Tony Powell.

By Dennis Newlyn

The final June 7-8 fixture of the season at Castrol Lismore Speedway will be high on nostalgia and emotion as another chapter is written into the history of the iconic showground venue since uninterrupted Lismore seasonal racing commenced in 1969.

It’s another big variety programme to see out the season with AMCAs, Wingless Sprints, Production Sedans, Legend Cars, RSA Sedans and Junior Sedans programmed. There are impressive entry lists across the sections and a big car count will ensure plenty of competitive racing over the two days.

It’s also the end of an era as current promoters Kim and Mick Sauer present their final show before handing over the promotional lease – and speedway control of the venue – to Grafton track operators Cindy and Mick Corbett, effective June 30, 2025.

There’s plenty of wonderful family entertainment planned for the season finale – one of the highlights is a bash and crash demolition derby on Sunday and a spectacular fireworks sky show.

The racing part of the two nights, branded as the Chilly Nationals, is highlighted with Saturday’s running of the NSW AMCA Sedan Championship, while the AMCAs on Sunday will contest their annual Fallen Memorial in memory of past drivers, this year honouring Col Randall, 91, who passed away a couple of months ago.

One AMCA entrant who will be keen to win the Fallen Memorial is former Australian V8 Dirt Modified Champion Mitch Randall, the grandson of Col Randall.

HARDY’S WINS AUSTRALIAN AMCA TITLE

Another AMCA driver who is hoping to continue his great recent success is Matt Hardy who last weekend at Toowoomba Speedway took out the Australian AMCA Championship.

This is national title win number three in his career, having won his first crown at Lismore in 2016 followed by victory in 2019 at Toowoomba. “When I started racing, I was not even thinking of titles, just competing for the fun of it,” Matt said.

“Next year the title is back at Lismore and I’ll be defending it there,” he added.

Matt said the national title-deciding 40-lap final was a tough contest. “Daniel (Cassidy) got the jump and he had a decent lead at one stage. I caught him in lapped traffic and then we had a stoppage, which I really did not want, but then we had a few yellows and when Daniel went high on the track later in the race I was able to make a pass and reach the lead.”

He also said the racing was very competitive throughout the weekend because of “how close the cars are and how controlled they are.”

It’s interesting to note the top three national title placegetters ran the interstate-built Panther chassis design. Many of the AMCA drivers who competed in the Australian Championship have entered for Lismore June 7- 8.

An entrant in the Wingless Sprintcar division this weekend is V8 Dirt Modified driver Seiton  Connor Young who will race the car owned by long time Lismore Speedway photographer Tony Powell.

Last year Kim and Mick Sauer inaugurated a very special event – that has the potential to only grow going into the long term future – the Lismore Speedway Wall of Fame. As the name suggests, this significant landmark and showcase milestone in the track’s history honours those who have made a significant contribution to the circuit and this coming weekend will name its next four inductees to this very exclusive club.

Two will be announced at the Saturday night meeting and the other two making up the quartet will be named the following night in what clearly represents two very special – and emotional – moments of the weekend.

For the Sauer family, it’s time to hand over the baton after three years as promoters.

They have given so much to the venue, worked so hard promoting the speedway facility and introduced new innovations – all in the best interests of maintaining the very high profile Castrol Lismore Showground Speedway enjoys – not only throughout the Australian speedway community – but also in local mainstream media circles.

“We have given it everything because we know what this venue stands for in the history of the sport,” Kim Sauer said.

“Few would realise the hours we have put in and the amount of work that’s involved with the running of a speedway track,” Kim explained.

“It can be very demanding at times and totally time consuming and we do also have another business to run, so we had to make a decision on our future direction.

“I want to thank all members of our track personnel, our own staff, race officials and competitors for the support during our three years.”

It also will be a weekend for fifty lap main events with the half century distance listed for Wingless, Production Sedan, RSA Sedan and AMCA feature races.

A special fireworks display also will be featured Sunday as part of the King’s Birthday long weekend celebrations.

The demolition derby is proudly presented by the Australian Demolition Derby Association and Castrol Lismore Speedway. Note: The Sunday fixture will commence at 1pm.