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CAMPBELL CREATES HISTORY IN GERALDTON

The heat was just starting to come out of the Geraldton clay when the Legends rolled into life for the first time on Saturday night. The sun was dropping behind the hill at Geraldton City Speedway, throwing long shadows across the surface, and there was that familiar country speedway hum in the air, generators buzzing, kids on the bank arguing over which number was quickest, and the commentator rolling through the names and sponsors that make it all happen for the class.

Ten Legend Cars idled in the staging lane, noses pointed toward a race track that looked just about perfect. The surface still held a dark sheen of moisture, the cushion was low and inviting, and you could feel that the opening heat was going to say a lot about who had turned up ready.

When the Legends rolled out for Heat 1, all eyes went to the front row. Brendan Radford in the 70W had drawn the prime spot and he looked every bit like a bloke who knew what to do with it. Alongside him, Robbie Trenaman in the 26W sat poised, ready to make life difficult if Radford flinched.

The field formed up, the pace ute peeled away, and ten cars tightened their rows as they crept towards the chalk. For a heartbeat, everything went quiet inside the helmets. Then the green flag snapped, and the whole joint came alive.

Radford absolutely nailed the start. The 70W hooked up from the bottom and speared into Turn 1 with purpose, the Dalyellup driver planting the left front on the pole line and trusting the grip. Trenaman hung tough on the outside, trying to roll the momentum, but by the time they exited Turn 2, Radford had his nose in front and control of the race.

Behind them, Ken Melvin in the 42W slotted into third and immediately looked comfortable. The Collie driver found that sweet spot in the middle of the track, letting the car float in and drive off without drama. Just behind, Wayne Campbell in the 77W and Steve Barrow in the 16W were already locked into a proper scrap, swapping lines and looking for a way to break into the lead trio.

Further back, Mark Maczek in the 33W, Cody Roberts in the 78W and Phil Nicols in the 10W were sorting themselves out in the mid pack, while Brad McGregor in the 9W and Brittany Nash in the 3W fought to hang onto the back of a field that had come up to speed very quickly.

Lap after lap, Radford did exactly what you’re supposed to do from pole, he hit his marks and refused to give Trenaman a sniff. In low, out straight, no wasted movement. Trenaman stayed honest, close enough to keep him focused, but never quite close enough to throw a desperate slider. Melvin sat in third, watching it all unfold, waiting for any mistake that never came.

Campbell finally shook himself clear of the Barrow/Maczek/Roberts group and edged into fourth, but by then the laps were running out. When the chequered flag flew, it was Radford first, Trenaman second, Melvin third, Campbell fourth, Barrow fifth. Maczek, Roberts, Nicols, McGregor and Nash completed the order.

As the cars rolled back into the pits, the story of the night took an unexpected twist. A mechanical issue sidelined Nash’s own 3W, and rather than park up, she made the call that racers make when they’re there to get laps, she climbed out of the 3W and into Radford’s 70W for the remainder of the program. From that point on, the familiar yellow 70W wasn’t just Radford’s car, it became Nash’s ride for the rest of the night.

By the time the Legends rolled back out for Heat 2, the track had changed just enough to matter. The gloss had started to come off the middle, a faint slick sheen was appearing where the earlier races had burned the moisture away, and the cushion had crept a little higher up the banking. It was still racy, but it was going to reward feel more than raw aggression.

This was where Ken Melvin really came into his own.

When the green flag dropped, the 42W came to life. Melvin settled into his rhythm almost immediately, no wild steering inputs, no big corrections, just a smooth, fast lap repeated over and over. He rolled the car into the corner, let it take a set, and picked up the throttle just early enough to carry speed without lighting the tires. Within a couple of laps, he’d broken the field’s back and was driving his own race.

Behind him, the familiar green and black 77W of Wayne Campbell was on the march again. Fourth in the opening heat hadn’t told the whole story of his speed, and now, with the track starting to get technical, he went to work. Campbell searched high and low, testing the cushion, poking the nose under cars in the slicker middle, and using every scrap of grip he could find to move forward. He cleared the mid pack and set off after Melvin, but the 42W had done the damage early. Every time Campbell took a tenth out of him, Melvin found a little more, adjusting his entry, tightening his line, and keeping the 77W at arm’s length.

Just behind them, Steve Barrow put together the kind of run he’d been looking for in Heat 1. The 16W was much more settled, and Barrow held his ground in third, keeping Trenaman behind him this time. Robbie still looked sharp and another top five run underlined how consistent he was, but the balance of power in this one was clearly between Melvin and Campbell.

In the pack, Maczek and Nicols traded spots, Roberts tried to hang onto their tail, and McGregor did what he could on a surface that was now less forgiving if you missed your marks. And in the 70W, Nash was suddenly dealing with a very different job. Having started the night in her own 3W, she was now learning a new car on a changing track, trying to make sense of a different feel and different response while still racing hard. The results sheet shows her down the order, but from inside the helmet it was all about adapting on the fly and getting whatever she could out of a borrowed car.

When the flag fell on Heat 2, it was Melvin first but only just, from Campbell second, Barrow third, Trenaman fourth, then Maczek, Nicols, Roberts, Nash in the 70W and McGregor. The early Radford win had been balanced out by Melvin’s authority, and Campbell had now put two strong runs back to back. The night was starting to take shape.

Under full lights now, with the sky over Moonyoonooka gone deep blue and the air cooling quickly, the Legends came out for Heat 3 on a very different Geraldton surface. The cushion was right up near the fence, the middle was properly slick, and the bottom only worked if you were patient and precise. This was the sort of track that can make good drivers look average and smart drivers look very, very good.

Once again, Ken Melvin looked like he’d been waiting for exactly this.

From the moment the green flag waved, the 42W was in its element. Melvin read the surface perfectly, rolling that fine line between the slick and the grip, never over driving, never asking the car to do more than it wanted to. He floated it into Turn 1, let it breathe through the centre, and picked up the throttle in one smooth motion. The car responded, lap after lap, and within a handful of circuits he was gone.

But if Melvin was the benchmark, Wayne Campbell was the pressure.

The 77W had been edging closer all night, and in Heat 3 he was again the one making moves. Campbell hustled the car, trying different entries, flirting with the cushion, and using every inch of the race track to keep himself in the game. He couldn’t quite find the extra half tenth to get to Melvin’s bumper, but he refused to let the 42W disappear completely. Second place, again, but this time it felt like a chess match rather than a scramble.

Behind them, Trenaman continued to do what he’d been doing since the first lap of Heat 1, staying in that front pack and never putting a wheel too far wrong. Third in Heat 3 was another strong result in a night full of them. Nicols finally got a result that matched his potential with a tidy fourth, Barrow brought the 16W home in fifth, and Roberts and Maczek rounded out the mid pack.

McGregor and Nash, still in the 70W, completed the order, both of them dealing with a track that was now asking a lot of questions. For Nash, it was another eight laps of learning someone else’s car in the toughest conditions of the night, not pretty on paper, but the kind of experience that pays off later.

When the dust settled on the prelims, the picture was clear. Radford had opened the account before handing his car over. Melvin had stamped his authority with two wins and a third. Campbell had been in the fight every single time, going 4–2–2. Trenaman had quietly built one of the most consistent nights in the field. And behind them, Nicols, Barrow, Maczek, Roberts, Nash and McGregor had all ridden the ups and downs of a surface that never stopped changing.

Under the Busselton Bitumen & Civil banner, the Legends formed up for 20 laps to decide the night.

The grid told its own story: Barrow and Trenaman on the front row, Campbell and Melvin right behind, Nicols and Maczek on row three, then Roberts, Nash in the 70W and McGregor completing the field. Every one of them had had a say in the heats, now they had twenty laps to sort out who would own Geraldton.

When the green flag dropped, Barrow and Trenaman led the field into Turn 1, but you could feel the race brewing just behind them. Campbell had been building towards this all night. Melvin had the heat form. Nicols and Maczek had quietly sharpened up as the evening went on. Nash, still in the 70W, now had to put everything she’d learned in two borrowed-car heats into a full-length feature.

The opening laps were all about everyone settling into where they belonged. It didn’t stay settled for long.

Campbell picked his way into clean air, then went after the lead with intent. Over a short heat race, he’d had to live with what the grid gave him. Over twenty laps, he had time to work. He used it.

The 77W started to lean on the cushion where it was good, dropped to the bottom when he needed track position, and read the traffic like a bloke who’s done a lot of laps in a lot of different conditions. One by one, the cars in front of him became cars behind him. When he finally got to the pointy end, he didn’t hesitate, he made the move, took the lead, and then went about proving he belonged there.

Behind him, Phil Nicols produced his best drive of the night at exactly the right time. The 10W had been buried in the mid pack in Heat 1, then quietly improved through Heats 2 and 3. In the A Main, he put the whole thing together, neat smart laps that picked off cars without drama and put him into second by the time the laps started to run out.

Robbie Trenaman, as he had all night, was still there when it mattered. Third at the flag was a fair reflection of a night where he’d never been far from the front. Mark Maczek converted his feature grid into a strong fourth, and Steve Barrow brought the 16W home in fifth after a night that had shown both his speed and how hard he was prepared to work for it.

For Ken Melvin, the feature didn’t quite match the authority of his heats. Sixth at the end of twenty laps wasn’t the finish he’d have wanted after two wins and a third in the prelims, but it didn’t take anything away from how sharp he’d looked every time the 42W rolled out earlier in the night. Roberts came home seventh, Nash steered the 70W to eighth at the end of a long, busy night that had started in her own car and finished in someone else’s, and McGregor completed the order in ninth.

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