SPRINTCAR STATES SERIES SET FOR 2021-2022 SEASON

Last season’s Speedway Australia backed Sprintcar States Series will return this summer, keeping elite level racing active in the nation.

Industry heavyweights were left with no option but to switch from the previously planned fifteen round World Series Sprintcars tournament back to the States Series in light of unpredictable Covid border challenges, however the news has been met with a positive reception.

“The success of last year’s State’s Series has made the decision a lot easier,” said Speedway Australia General Manager Darren Tindal. “There’s been countless hours of conversations between the major stakeholders including teams, sponsors, tracks and the Speedway Australia board and it was a unanimous decision to put World Series on hold for another year and bring back the States Series as a duty of care to our sport and to our communities.

“Once again, Speedway Australia will back the initiative to the tune of $70,000 across the three regions, making sure that the fans get to see the best racers in their region battle it out over summer for an increased prize pool.”

Victoria/South Australia States Series co-ordinator David Mills was also upbeat about the States Series return, while also admitting the risk to run WSS was too high. “We don’t want to be front page news for all the wrong reasons and having a dozen teams travel over four states in two weeks would be irresponsible in this current climate.”

Krikke Motorsport’s Ryan Krikke was adamant that it would be difficult for his team to be contracted to travel interstate purely for the health risk.

“We’ve talked a lot about the physical challenge of getting teams across borders and potential lock downs, however I can’t send my team into states that are still struggling with the virus with a clear conscience. We’ve raced World Series for 20 consecutive years and no team is more passionate about it than us, but it’s just not worth the risk at this stage,” he said.

The SCCA state member clubs, in conjunction with the appointed state venue co-ordinators, will now effectively take over the reins of organising the States Series.

SCCA President Kathy Kelly was optimistic about the potential for international drivers making the trip downunder.

“We are working on Donny Schatz making it out this summer, Carson Macedo is a good chance also and Brock Zearfoss is a possibility to return to West Australia, so even though the unpredictability of the borders makes World Series is too risky at this stage, we’re staying positive about having some international flavour this summer!”

Last season’s States Series framework will essentially remain unchanged, with a few minor tweaks to be confirmed soon.

“The feedback we had from teams and tracks alike was fantastic from last year, and now we just have to work out the finer details for each state’s calendar in the next few weeks,” Tindal added.

Fans are urged to keep a close eye on their respective region’s tracks and Speedway Australia social media for calendar announcements in the near future.