Wingless Sprints W.A 2009 / 10 Season Trophy Night

June 27 - The second Wingless Sprints W.A Trophy Night was held at East Fremantle Football Club last night, returning to the same venue as their inaugural season. Approximately 140 people turned out for a wonderful evening, that also doubled as the Gala Auction. Special thanks must go to Gavin Migro, who did a superb job MC’ing the night, as well as stepping up as Auctioneer.

Fab Martinelli, Ellenbrook Speedway President, got the evening's formalities off to a start with the presentation of the 2009 Winter Series trophies. Phil Moylan (3rd), Liam Dowling (2nd) and Daryl Clayden (1st) all stepped forward to receive their awards and kick the evening off.

Next up was presentations to the Top 10 from the Our Car Autos Perth Motorplex Season Pointscore, proudly supported by Parr Motorsports, Classic Contractors, Walsh Logistics, All Star Towing & Tilt and Consolidated Diesel. A big thank you to all the season sponsors who helped make this series such a success. Brad Parr joined Gavin on stage to present the Top 10 as follows;  

There was absolutely no question that Nash was the dominant driver of the 2009 / 10 season and confirmation of his placement as top driver over the 10 rounds was a worthy recognition of his efforts right through summer. Nash was also awarded the All Star Towing & Tilt sponsoredMost Feature Race Wins trophy, having been first to the chequered flag in 4 feature races.

 Nash soon found himself back on stage, this time as award presenter rather than receiver, as he handed over the mantle as Rookie of the Year, sponsored by Winsell Race Engineering. Liam Dowling took out the award that can only be won once, after an impressive rookie year that saw him finish 2nd in both the 2009 Winter Series and the 2009 / 10 Our Car Autos Series. Dowling was first to find himself on the receiving end of the return of Gavin's Grill, and made the relatively simple error of admitting a preference of pasties over pies. Job done, Gavin had his target for the evening.

 A special presentation was made to W.A's two national title representatives, both of whom came home with Top 5 finishes. Lee Nash was joined by National Champion Daryl Clayden, who was presented with a wonderful framed caricature.

 Trevor Reynolds was called up for a special presentation supported by Consolidated Diesel as Wingless Sprints W.A State Title winner for the year, and while on stage also accepted theFastest Lap of the Series award, thanks to Greg Migro. In more ways than one, Reynolds timing was perfect, after setting his 17.005 second lap on the very last night of the season. After an up and down season mechanically that saw the car absolutely spot on for the title night, Reynolds  had mixed feelings about the success of his year, but no one can question his efforts in early January, or the fact he then backed it up with a further 2 feature wins before the year was out.

 Not all the racing was at the Motorplex in season 2009 / 10, with Country Rounds at both Bunbury and Margaret River. The winners of these races were called forward to accept their awards;

 Rd 1          Bunbury                     Darren Sutton

Rd 2          Margaret River            Marshall McDiarmid

Bill Stocks was awarded the appropriately Laubman & Pank optometrists sponsored Crash of the Season for a big dump at the Motorplex. Whilst Sutton's final night effort was a worthy contender, Migro pointed out that Sutton had been disqualified as he'd actually been injured. Given it's the award no one really starts the season trying to win, I'm not sure anyone at the Sutton table was too upset.  

 From bent, to best presented……the Best Presented Car  trophy was awarded on the night as well, with thanks to Gary Walsh. MC Migro made his biggest error here, confessing that Adrian LaMacchia was amongst the nominations for the prize. LaMacchia proceeded to give the longest recognition speech of the night, for a prize he ultimately didn't win.  Ben Migro was a popular and deserved winner, with no argument that the blue and white Classic Contractors backed #7 was always looking a treat at the track.

 Migro (Ben) thankfully took his seat and remained firmly planted as the Hard Luck Award for the year was presented, having taken this one out the year prior. Phil Moylan took the Motorworld Wangara supported 'prize', following being caught up in an incident at December's Fast Friday meeting and missing the State Title. In one of the more impressive surprises shared during Gavin's Grills, the room learned that Moylan has previously played ice hockey at a high level. One can only hope Moylan never body checks someone into the wall at the Motorplex with the ferocity combatants in that particular sport often do.

 The new Driver's Driver Award, supported by Consolidated Diesel, saw Darren Sutton duly recognised for a season that until the final night was full of positives. Sutton confirmed to the crowd in attendance that he was no longer going to be behind the wheel following the accident, but was full of praise for his fellow drivers and thankful for their recognition. This award is sure to be keenly sort after, with recognition from your peers always highly valued.

 The Encouragement Award, with thanks to Colin Schipp, went to Nikki Nash who had a good first season that culminated in a fine 7th place in the Our Car Autos Series and saw her make the Top 6 shootout in one of the rounds. Nikki will likely be looking forward confidently to season 2010 / 11 after her first forays into the pack.

 Carl Pickersgill was called up to accept the All Star Towing & Tilt sponsored Most Improved Award after a positive entry into the sport that saw him finish in 5th place in the Our Car Autos Series.

 The Andrew & Tania Winsell sponsored President's Award saw a very popular winner in Adam Brauer. The familiar sight of Brauer, with or without smile heading down pit lane, was one of the real positives of the season, seeing a competitor who just wanted to race and enjoy his speedway go about his business.

 Rod Bottrell was called upon to present the Chief Steward's Award and Lee Redmond was another newcomer to the division to put an exclamation point on a positive first season. Gavin's Grill took a turn for the worse when Redmond's joking answer to 'something that no one knew about him', was something that is likely best kept a secret amongst the 140 or so in attendance.

 Lee Nash made a return, as the night came towards it's conclusion for awards, to accept the prestigious Club Champion Award, with thanks to Merv Lowther from Our Car Autos. Nash's wonderful

season, saw him not only win the Motorplex Series, but perform exceptionally well at the Wingless Sprint National Title, coming home in 5th place.

Finally (well not quite, but we’ll get to that), the Motorworld Wangara supported Club Person of the Year prize was awarded. Berend Kaaks took out the award after a season that at various times saw him as webmaster, treasurer, infield marshall, pit marshall...and once or twice even a driver. Kaaks was quick to thank his wife Kate for her support (well he should have been anyway, but when Gavin couldn't help point out who the better looking of the pair was, may have neglected to) as well as slipping a quick insult LaMacchia's way, before again recognising the remarkable inpact Greg Migro has had on the club's first two seasons.

 From there, some special presentations were made, firstly on a serious note, to recognise some special contributors to the club and the evening. Jeff McCann, Greg Migro, Des Nash, Colin Schipp and Craig Bottrell. Bottrell has been a wonderful supporter of the club via his Empire Graphics signwriting business over the club's existence, while McCann worked tirelessly to help put together the auction for later in the evening. The sight of Colin Schipp with a bundle of driver's forms and $5 notes is a familiar one to all involved in the club, while the contributions of Nash and Migro can not be done justice in a paragraph.

 On the lighter side, LaMacchia was given (limited) time to get near the microphone invited this time, with a presentation of a witches cone. Given his propensity to ignore the track owned ones, Gavin quipped that perhaps he'd feel more comfortable with his very own.

 Lee Redmond was called to the stage and reminded of his on track skirmish with Bill Stocks just one more time. Just to ensure that it's not forgotten, Redmond was presented with a pair of boxing gloves. As Stocks saw the funny side, the smile turned to caution as he too was called up. Following a couple of on track slip ups, in amongst some excellent performances, Stocks ended his first season with a pair of training wheels.

 The action moved onto the Gala Auction, with 38 items up for grabs, with a wide range of products from a magnificent complete front end supplied by Parr Motorsports, to pampering products for the ladies in attendance. Gavin was superb after admitting he was an auctioneer virgin, and some spirited bidding was mixed with some great bargains picked up.

 A fitting close to a wonderful first season, thank you to the Wingless Sprints W.A committee, drivers and valued sponsors for making the club a respected one in the speedway landscape, capped off with a fun evening.