Let there be light: Mt Barker Speedway Club holds successful first meeting at night at daylight venue

Mt Barker Speedway Club created history on Saturday, holding its first race meeting under lights in front of a packed crowd at the traditional daylight venue. After a discussion last year by the club committee, plans were put in place to conduct the February 4 fixture as a twilight meeting and complete racing under lights. Mt Barker’s Les Gorman Park normally runs during the daytime, with no permanent lighting structures in place. The club hired 24 mobile light towers and positioned 19 around the race track, lighting up the venue after sunset. President Nathan Thiele said the response from competitors and spectators was amazing. “It was a 100 per cent hit,” he said. “I’m on the track committee as well and I know how hard it is to prepare a track in the daylight. A twilight meeting is far better for racing, the track was a lot more racy than normal and there was less dust. “The club paid for all the lights, we tried some a couple of weeks ago and realised we needed a lot more. “We had 19 light towers around the track and then some in the pits and for the spectators to light the whole place up. It took four days to get it organised, run the event and pack it up, but it was all worth it.” Thiele said the club was looking to make the meeting under lights an annual event. “There was a lot of planning that went into it and where to put the lights,” Thiele said. “We wanted to make sure we weren’t shut down for poor light. It was a huge success and we are hoping to make it an annual thing. “It is probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen at Mt Barker Speedway, I’ve been racing here eight years and I’ve never seen anything like it. “The lights being on was something that people hadn’t seen before and for the club it wasn’t about making money, it was about putting on a show. It was successful for the club and for where we are heading in the future.” The event was headlined by the Ronnie J Memorial for Street Stocks and the Super Sedan Summer Series round while there was also a Production Sedan feature contested.