The Australian Super Truck Nationals is just one championship that will be decided at Wakefield Park this weekend, with the event program also featuring endurance races for the popular Pulsar and Series X3 NSW categories, along with sprint races for the Legend Cars and a non-championship event for the NSW Production Touring Cars.
After a consistent season highlighted by several race victories, Shannon Smith enters the weekend well-placed to secure his first national truck racing title aboard his ex-John Bomberle Kenworth.
Smith carries a 37-point advantage over Volvo driver Robbie Fern, who was the round winner last time the trucks visited Wakefield Park earlier in the year.
Mack Superliner driver Marcus Prillwitz is third in the points ahead of Barry Butwell, who suffered some terrible luck with mechanical problems earlier in the season, but had a strong result in the previous round at Winton.
A total of 10 trucks are entered for the race meeting in one of the strongest fields for the category to date, including three of the Isuzu SBR light trucks.
The Australian Pulsar Racing Association series has attracted a whopping 42 entries for the pair of one-hour endurance races; Harrison Inwood holds a 116 point lead over Michael Osmond, with Josh Craig third in the standings. While co-drivers are permitted, the three main contenders have all elected to drive solo.
Other notable entries in the Pulsars include Australian newspaper motoring writer John Connolly, and production car front-runner Dimitri Agathos.
Like the Pulsars, the Series X3 (Hyundai Excel) category will stage a pair of 60-minute endurance races with the option of one or two drivers. A lot of the main contenders have opted for co-drivers, including series leader Wil Longmore, who has signed Australian Formula Ford race winner Cody Burcher, and Canberra driver Paul Quinn, who will be joined by Wakefield Park manager Dean Chapman.
Another interesting name on the entry list is last year’s Legend Cars Australia champion James Burge, who will join Tamara Wheeler. The other female racer in the field, Jessica Martin returns to NSW after competing in the Excel Nationals at The Bend last weekend, and will be joined by former champion Matt Stockwell.
Speaking of Legend Cars, they are on the program with a mixture of youth (Lachlan Ward) and experience (Brendon Hourigan and Rick Christy) represented on the entry list, along with Brayden Wilmington who slots into the Legend Car off the back of his Super 5000 appearance at The Bend last weekend. The Legend Cars will stage five races over the course of the weekend.
The program will be completed by the Kennards Hire Production Car Sprint, with competitors in the non-championship event to include BMW M4 racer Anthony Soole, NSW PTC veteran Matt Holt and Paul Loiacono in his Mitsubishi Evo X.
