mmg.com.au

A big crowd enjoyed a full night’s racing at Moama’s Heartland Raceway on Saturday night.

Raceway general manager David Roberts said about 3000 people attended the meet, which involved SRA sprintcars, wingless sprintcars and SDAV hot rods.

‘‘It was a good crowd and was well received,’’ he said.

‘‘We had a full complement of cars.’’

The open sprint class had 42 competitors, which was won by Brett Milburn ahead of Matt Reed and Darren Hickman, while there were 16 wingless sprint cars and 13 hot rods.

Roberts said the track suffered a little bit towards the end of the night due to the heat and humidity, while the crowd was well behaved and saw some ‘‘fairly fast’’ racing.

The scheduling of the meet during the Southern 80 weekend was not intentional and it had its positives and negatives, Roberts said.

‘‘It makes it a bit hard when there’s no accommodation and slow traffic movement,’’ he said.

‘‘Boat people are a separate entity and car people do their own thing, but I think there was a few people from the boating world out there.’’

Roberts said the timing of the meet was determined by the sprintcar association, which offered the club the date.

The general manager said although the timing had not been planned, it was something the club could look at in the future.

‘‘It is something that over time we could work with and to an advantage of both parties,’’ Roberts said.

‘‘It just gives the boating people another alternative in the evening to go somewhere.

‘‘It is another opportunity to make a huge weekend even bigger.’’

The club would look at communicating with Moama Water Sports Club to cross-promote, Roberts said.

‘‘Absolutely,’’ he said.

‘‘There is a similar situation in Mildura with the Mildura (100 Ski Race) and the speedway on the same night and they seem to be able to do it quite well with displays around the town, interaction and so forth.

‘‘It gives people the opportunity to have a look at both worlds.

‘‘I think that as we attracted so many people, it is a reflection that we have a steady following and we probably attracted a few people from the river as well.

‘‘We would certainly consider it in the future.’’

Stephen Bell won the wingless sprints from Justin Barton and Sam Wren, while Dean West was the winner of the hot rods ahead of Eddie Ivermee and Jason Kavanagh.

Heartland Raceway’s next meet is on March 9, with super sedans, marsh modified sedans and GV open saloons.