Fastest in Gippsland
Winner, winner: Leongatha’s Dayn Bentvelzen took out the Gippsland Wingless Sprint Car Series recently. A Round 3 win at Nyora helped him to secure the series victory. He will be presented with the series trophy at a presentation night in the coming weeks.
“YOU reach about 100ks and then you throw them in sideways and hope you make it around the corner.”
Seems like a crazy way to drive but that’s how Leongatha’s Dayn Bentvelzen took out the Gippsland Wingless Sprint Car Series.
“Racing is an adrenalin rush. I get out of the car sometimes and I’m shaking. It’s good,” he said.
Bentvelzen overcame 27 other entrants in the four race series and ended with the most points.
Third, sixth, first and eighth placing in the races were enough to get him over the line.
The racer has managed this feat after only three seasons in the sport after enjoying motocross before that.
“It had come to a point in time where I had a little bit of money and I thought I will step up and go to the cars where I really want to be,” he said.
“There’s no comparison from motocross to sprint cars, two wheels to four wheels is very different.
“I just have more natural ability in the car than on the bike I think; I never won a race on the bike and was always in C Grade.”
Bentvelzen is a self made racer and does a majority of the mechanical work himself.
“Since I bought this house a couple of years ago it’s been housed in my shed,” he said.
“I do most of the maintenance and preparation. I pretty much do most of it myself. My main crew man Anthony helps out heap on the day and my dad and his partner help me get the car to the track because I don’t have a tow vehicle which is a great help.”
Because he is racing on a race to race budget Bentvelzen – even though he goes hard – cannot afford to crash.
“There’s a hell of a lot more lows than highs in this sport,” he said.
“We all run exactly the same motor under the same specs it’s really hard to win. It all comes down to your driving ability and the car’s set up.
“In my first season I had a big stack at Rosedale. I went into the wall almost flat stick and did about $3000 worth of damage to the rear of the car.
“I haven’t had any major incidents in the past two season touch wood, I’ve kept my nose clean and stayed out of trouble which has helped the results and helped me afford to keep racing.”
The next step for Bentvelzen would be to place in the state series.
“It’s something I want to do but haven’t had the funding to be able to do it,” he said.
“There is a lot of travel and staying away and more rounds. It’s one of those things that if I had more sponsors on board that would help finances I could have a crack at.
“I’d really just like to thank all of my current sponsors as well: Foster Tyres and Service, Autobarn Leongatha, Inverloch Motor body Works, SG Exhausts, HPC Coatings and Victory Lane Racegear as well as all my friends and family who give up their time to help me and support me. It is much appreciated.”
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Posted by Simone Short on Apr 30 2013. Filed under Featured, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
