Sixteen Whyalla Car Club drivers contested the first round of the Dirt Circuit State Titles in Roxby Downs at the weekend.
Most came home with huge smiles and look forward to round two held in Ceduna.
This event was held in a new format with scrutineering and practice held on Friday.
The first two rounds were held on Saturday afternoon and the final two rounds on Sunday afternoon.
This meant an extended weekend with some drivers enjoying it, while others not adapting well to the stop and start race meeting.
Only time will tell if people will accept this new concept.
Father and son team Barry and Josh Pickert had an unfortunate weekend.
B Pickert developed a head gasket problem that his team worked furiously to rectify.
After a short test on the track they had the misfortune of heavily colliding with the track fence, destroying his car and making him a spectator.
J Pickert, in his first race, managed two laps at a fast pace, before his engine failed forcing him to join father Barry in the spectator area.
In the modifieds division, another father and son team of Geoff and Chris Pickert were joined by Trevor Driver, Stacy Harris and James Priestley.
All these drivers performed at 100 per cent against the best Modifieds drivers in the association and showed all of them are potential contenders in the overall points at the end of the season.
Chris Pickert amassed a total of 20 points and on the count back system earned third place outright.
Priestley narrowly missed a trophy with the best racing of his career and Harris pushed to his limit, accounting for more valuable points.
Driver, who races at only a few meetings each year due to work commitments, also excelled on the track.
But his poor marble draw starts saw his tally at a lower level than normal, but again produced some excellent driving to earn the points that will see him an outright contender after the next round.
Chris Pickert accumulated sufficient points to return home with the third place trophy.
Priestley, Pickert and Driver only just missed out on points for their share of the silverware.
Throughout this round all the Whyalla drivers showed they will battle against all other competitors and earn every point they can accumulate towards an overall high position in the end of the competition.
In the Street Stock class, once again every driver showed the club is never short of class.
Outstanding drives from every start saw Simon Moore come home with a creditable fourth place outright.
Justin Moore rose to new heights in his career as did Alan Kirkwood, who unfortunately broke an axle in his last heat.
B grade Open Wheelers saw local drivers Brett Walden, Richard Tapley and veteran Arnie Weir represent the Whyalla club and all did an excellent job.
Walden came to terms with his newly acquired and powerful car making a very creditable debut, and with a few more laps and a little fine tuning here and there will be a force to contend with.
Richard Tapley once more showed that he is prepared to challenge at every opportunity and with decent starting positions, is always a contender.
Weir had a creditable meeting and topped his weekend with the trophy for Best Prepared car in this class.
Once again a great effort by the Whyalla drivers.
In the "A" Open Wheelers Whyalla only had one contender and that was Kevin "Crazy" Smith, who in his beautifully prepared car, mixed it with the best of them.
The tenacious driving style of Kevin and speed that his car can produce, saw him battle hard all weekend and be rewarded with second place outright, only two points behind the eventual winner Dale Theile from Ceduna.
The local constabulary actually recorded Smith at 149kph on the short track, which was faster than almost 5km than any other driver in all classes.
Smith also recorded the fastest race time for the weekend, earning him yet another trophy.
At each round of the State Titles there is a trophy that all clubs treasure greatly and this goes to the club with the highest accumulation of points.
Whyalla has always been a contender for this trophy, managing to win the trophy by the margin of just one point over the very strong team from Ceduna, who managed to take home three of the four class first place trophies in the competition, finishing with 157 and 156 points respectively, from Port Lincoln on 139, Port Pirie on 136, Roxby Downs 132, Port Augusta 121 and Black Rock on 79.
All of the Whyalla drivers who contested the round came home with many stories and more importantly points and all deserve credit for the manner that they represented the club.
All are looking forward to the remainder of the season at their home track, which resumes later this month, but also preparing for the next round in Ceduna on the October long weekend.
Many Whyalla spectators also made the long trip.
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