WHETHER a King of the Mountain is crowned at Buninyong’s Redline Raceway on Saturday night or not is in the lap of the heavens.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Street stock drivers from across the country are looking to Saturday’s weather reports to see if the annual speedway classic goes ahead.
A decision will be made by the Belmont Speedway Drivers Club at a meeting today.
The King of the Mountain was called off last season, four days before it was scheduled to run due to forecast bad weather.
It was decided to run the 2011-2012 King of the Mountain this coming weekend, with the 2012-2013 event on April 12, at the end of this season.
However, it appears history is set to repeat this weekend with heavy rain expected.
“It’s looking grim,” Redline president Mick Purdie said yesterday.
“It’s the way it is. We get great weather during the week but it doesn’t look good for the weekend.
“The drivers will want to race but we have to make a decision based on what is best for the event. If we don’t race this weekend we might try again for the following Saturday night or even next year, but we really want to hold the 2011-2012 race in 2012, not 2013.”
Ballarat-based Falcon driver Dale Blomeley admitted it was a frustrating wait for competitors.
The 32-year-old has spent hours preparing his Ford Falcon BA and says cancelling the meeting will undo much of that work.
“I’ve been rushing to get the car ready. We’ve been preparing the car all week in every spare hour,” he said.
“Each set-up depends on the track, so if we head somewhere else to race next time we have to do it all over again.
“It will be worse for others. There will competitors from across the state, and South Australia.
“It is frustrating. I was all set to run last time and this happened. Hopefully the weather swings around and we can run.”
While Blomeley finished second in each of his last two starts at Redline in the street stocks, he is yet to finish a King of the Mountain meeting. After a run of bad luck he is particularly keen to have a good result.
“King of the Mountain is a pretty big one,” he said. “We’re expecting 45 cars this weekend if the weather holds.
“It’s a feature race, with a 40-lap final, 20 one way and then 20 the other.”
Racing, if it goes ahead, will start from 5pm, with the support cast including AMCAs, standard saloons and Formula V8s.
Redline will host another Street Stock eliminator feature event on February 9 before the 2012-2013 King of the Mountain on April 12.
gavin.mcgrath@fairfaxmedia.com.au