Compact Speedcars were on the program at Goulburn Speedway last Saturday night where open wheelers were the feature with the running of the GP Midget Australian Championships and the ACT F500 Championships with all classes providing a night of thrilling speedway action.

Stephen Birkett was the stand out performer in the Compact Speedcar races taking a clean sweep of the heats and the fifteen lap final.

Renai Willoughby had a helping hand when she spun bringing on the yellows early in the first heat. Gavin Gay was setting the pace with some fast and consistent laps, he was certainly benefitting from the run at Wangaratta the week earlier where he performed strongly, but it was Birkett in the Jackson / Mazda that was the big mover coming from the back row to run down the leader with three laps to go. Darren Hawksworth left it till the last lap to get the better of Adam Lawson to place himself in third.

Darren Hawksworth led the field away at the start of the second heat. Again it was Birkett who dusted them all off to be running in second, from the back, by the completion of lap two. A couple of laps later and he was in the front and Hawksworth was left to defend his position from the fast approaching Rowlands family owned Murphy / Kawasaki driven by Rob Eyeington. Hawksworth held out Eyeington for a few more laps before the pass was made. Gavin Gay managed to keep Carl Yenne at bay to claim fourth.

The feature only made it to turn one when Yenne spun the Breka / Suzuki and was duly sent to the rear for the restart. The green was waved again and the race was on in earnest this time with Ian Wilson in the Gardner / Yamaha R1 setting all a merry chase. Birkett and Eyeington were off the back row on a slick but smooth race track.

Wilson was doing a splendid job out front in the green and white number 66 machine. Meanwhile Birkett was making big inroads as he moved his way closer to the front. Carl Yenne was having all sorts of problems on the slick track and was struggling to make any progress. With a third of the race run Birkett took over the lead and began to run off into the distance.

With five laps remaining Wilson began to get a little untidy, this allowed Eyeington to slip into second. A lap later and Hawksworth moved himself into the third spot. Gavin Gay made one little mistake which moved him from fourth to seventh in the matter of two turns. When the checkered flag fell it was Birkett from Eyeington, Hawksworth, Wilson and Yenne, who recovered some ground to come in fifth. Adam Lawson was going easy on his engine after a rebuild following his last run at Gilgandra to come in sixth.

Another enjoyable night made all the more pleasurable thanks to the assistance offered by the injured Stephen Hill and fellow competitor Matt Hinton who both offered their voluntary services.

Ian Wilson in the Gravedigger.

Birkett moves around the outside of Hawksworth.

Eyeington slides past Gay

Adam Lawson in the Ellis / Yamaha

Carl Yenne runs beside Gavin Gay.