Three straight Bert Vosbergen Memorial wins for State champion Dustin Higgs after masterful Albany drive

In a masterful display State champion Dustin Higgs won his third Bert Vosbergen Memorial in Albany at the weekend. Super sedans were part of a bumper program for the National Modified Sedan Title but Higgs was in a class of his own in Sunday night’s super sedan feature race. Higgs was third on points after night one of racing, behind joint leaders Lee Aylett and Gary Higgs who each won two heat races on Saturday night. In his first qualifying heat on Sunday night, Dustin won by more than six seconds before he was just beaten by Mt Barker’s Rob Knox in heat 10. Dustin would start the 25-lap feature race from pole positon alongside Gary while Knox and Phil Barton, who had also enjoyed strong weekends, were on the second row. After two failed attempts to get the final under way, Dustin and Gary pulled away to begin a battle up front but it didn’t take Dustin long to find his groove as he railed around the top of the race track to establish a commanding lead over the rest of the field. He was untroubled by lapped traffic and powered away to win by more than six seconds and secure a third straight win in the memorial. Behind him there was a terrific battle for the minor placings as Gary Higgs was baulked by a slower car allowing Knox to snatch second place. Knox pulled away but finished 6.218 seconds adrift of the winner. On the final circuit Tristan Green slipped past Gary Higgs to finish in third spot and the hard-charging Brent Vosbergen rounded out the top five. Dustin Higgs set the quickest lap of the race with a 17.57sec. effort and Barton was the only non-finisher. Local driver Ajay Hammer was impressive all weekend and won a heat race on Sunday night. Aylett, who ran strongly on the first night, failed to start the main event. It was an eighth win of the season for Dustin Higgs, who hurt the engine halfway through the final. He praised the track crew from Albany for the surface all weekend and was honoured to again win the race dedicated to Bert Vosbergen.