Plenty of action looms in race for King of the Hill Sprintcar crown despite fewer laps

It’s one of the biggest nights on the Geraldton racing calendar as the King of the Hill race returns for its seventh year with some of the best Sprintcar drivers from around the State set to hit the track. On Saturday night 20 drivers will hit the dirt to race for the crown, including defending champion Tim King who is looking to grab back-to-back titles. “We’ve always probably run from top three, top five over the last three, four years,” he said. “We’ve always enjoyed racing at Geraldton this weekend and we’re confident we can go back-to-back.” However, there will be one big change from last year, with the race reduced from 50 to 25 laps as Sprintcars continue to deal with a shortage of tyres nationwide. “Tyres are a big thing at the moment, we can’t get much supply at the moment so we just cut the laps back to try and save on tyres, especially with state championships taking place in Perth in a couple of weeks,” King said. On a track where it can be difficult to pass, King said qualifying would be even more important with less time to make up any mistakes in the feature. “It can be pretty hard to pass, so you’ve got to get through those heat races first and try and bang as many points as you can to start up that the front end,” he said. “If there’s not much passing in a feature race, you want to start up front to begin with as it makes it a lot easier for you.” While King is hopeful of a repeat of last year’s success he does have his eye on a couple of other racers who he thinks are the biggest challengers. “Craig Bottrell is having a good season and he’s been very fast the last few rounds,” he said. “Joel Ettridge from Bunbury has been pretty strong wherever I’ve gone, we’ve had a bit of an average season this year but hopefully can turn it around on the weekend.” President of the Geraldton City Speedway Jason Walsh said despite the shortened format it would still be an action-packed night. “It definitely will be an awesome show,” he said. “As well as the feature we’ve had really good numbers in the support divisions, so we should have something like 54 race cars in action... it will be a fantastic night.” Gates open at 3pm, with racing to get underway at 6pm.