It was a good weekend for Leeton drivers as Watts defeating club mate Mark Gordon while GOSA President David Walton finished in third place.

Four heats were held with drivers competing in three of them each, and the racing was fast and furious with Peter Schmetzer setting an eight-lap record, Mitch Watts a one-lap record, Ross Maclean a seven lap record and Watts a new fifteen lap record at the venue. 

‘Flash’ Gordon (# 91 Euroley Engineering – VL Commodore) started the evening in fine form winning the first heat ahead of Watts by just .251 of a second race margin, extraordinarily Walton was in third place just a further .006 back form Watts at the line. Lap times for the fast cars were in the 22.3 bracket for heat one.

Peter Schmetzer lost power to his coil in the VL Commodore and also decided his gearing was way too low for Swan Hill and parked infield. Mick Bunt broke a ball joint on his AU Falcon after hitting the wall and also finished the race infield.

In heat two Schmetzer made up for the DNF result in heat one by setting the eight-lap record which looking at faster racing later in the night, should be broken next time the class attends Swan Hill, Schmeltzer’s time was 3 minutes 2.383 seconds. He defeated Watts by .727 of a second with Ross McLean next across the line.

Watts took a win in the third heat with a new fast time of the night for a lap reaching into the 21-second bracket. Gordon ran well finishing almost two seconds back behind Watts with Granger (# 29 Juts Race Engines – VK Commodore).

A shortened seven lap heat race in heat four finished with a race time of 2 minutes 38.825, and it is fair to say that the Sheriff is going to hang on to this one for a long time as it is rare for seven lap races to be run. McClean defeated Granger and Walton (# 42 Maverick Marine – VS Commodore).

Closing out the evening was a fifteen lap final that Watts (# 54 Ace Smash Repairs Leeton – VS Commodore) was keen to go on and win. Gordon, Walton, McLean and Granger were all in the mix to cause some issues for Watts, however, setting a one-lap record time of 21.793 along the way Watts defeated Gordon and Walton. Race margin was a healthy 7.5 seconds and a new fifteen lap record time of 5 minutes 32.498 was recorded.

Picking up the win Watts was understandably pleased.

“I had an absolute ball here tonight, win, lose or break down,” he said.

“I can’t wait to come back here and race again, I hope the Swan Hill people enjoyed having us. Thank you to all my supporters, my family and wife Karissa and the other competitors for being fun to compete with.”

The next round of the series is at Nagambie Speedway on April 29.