Dressed to impress the drivers, crews, sponsors, supporters, officials and volunteers of Sprintcars Queensland arrived at the Shangri La Gardens Function Centre at Wynnum West last night ready to commemorate the season that was 2009-2010. The Black Tie Dinner was a rousing success, thanks largely to Mark Wode, Lyn Turner, Clem Hoffmans, the Sprintcars Queensland committee and a few select individuals who helped immensely with the organisation of the event, and celebrated the accomplishments of our club members over the past season.

First on the agenda was appreciation awards for the clubs many and varied volunteers – Brett Cheetham, Allan Swan, Des Rowe, Glen Wilson, Darren George, David Stock, David Tracey, Joanne White and Sandy Murray. Appreciation awards also went to valued season sponsors for their ongoing and invaluable support. Clem Hoffmans and Spanloc Tools, Glen Spence from Darra Mechanical, Ken Thorne from Myla Graphics, John and Kathy Kelly from Brisbane International Speedway and Bill Mann of Queensland Speedway Spares. Spanloc Tools supplied a tool box, to be awarded randomly to one of the 14 qualifying drivers in the Queensland Speedway Spares Sprintcar Series – for the second year running it was Richard Morgan who scooped the prize.

The Queensland Speedway Spares Sprintcar Series awards continued with David Muir collecting the Darra Mechanical Fast Time award, while Peter Thorley took home the Eagle Chassis award. The Capalaba Wreckers Heat Race Points award, and a $1,000 voucher towards a Vortex top wing, went to Peter Lack.

The fourteen Queensland Speedway Spares Sprintcar Series Qualifiers – those who completed a minimum of 12 of a possible 15 rounds – were each awarded a qualifying trophy.

1st – Peter Thorley
2nd – Richard Morgan
3rd – Peter Lack
4th – Allan Woods
5th – Dan Murray
6th – Kevin Titman
7th – Adrian O’Connell
8th – Mark Pholi
9th – Matthew Butler
10th – Brett Thomas
11th – Paul Rooks
12th – Craig Stevenson
13th – Tim Garrett
14th – Brent Kratzmann

Moving on to the Sprintcars Queensland Club Awards and it was Brett Thomas who walked away with the Rookie of the Year award, while Tim Garrett was awarded as the Most Improved . Sprintcars Queensland decided to present three encouragement awards this season, with awards going to Stephen Wright, Mark Pholi and Anthony Lambert.

The White Family Racing Team, presented every week in their orange, black and silver crew uniforms, was awarded Best Presented Crew, while Paul Rooks, with a striking blue colour scheme on his #64 racer, earned himself the Best Presented Car award. The Wings Award, the award that no one wants to win, nearly went the way of Allan Woods, for his many and varied attempts at aerial acrobatics, but Brett Thomas walked away with the award, and a brand new front wing, after his horrific early season smash on the back straight at BIS, in an incident that also involved Kevin Titman.

Each year Sprintcars Queensland present an award called the Drivers Driver award. Each club driver present at the Presentation Dinner votes on the night, for a driver at the dinner who they would like to see get the award, the driver who they consider to be best and fairest and one they most enjoy racing with. This year the drivers decided to bestow Richard Morgan with the Drivers Driver award.

We had three drivers receive the Clubmen of the year award this season. This award is awarded to all drivers who compete in every Sprintcars Queensland race meeting for the season, and this years recipients were Allan Woods, Dan Murray and Kevin Titman.

The 2009-2010 Sprintcars Queensland Club Championship went to Richard Morgan (who also received the award for most heat race points over the season), with Allan Woods in second and Todd Wanless third.

The Crispy award is given in memory of the late Greg ‘Crispy’ McLennan who sadly passed away in early 2008. Crispy was an incredible supporter of Speedway racing, particularly Sprintcars, in Brisbane and spent more than 40 years in and around speedway. He was, over the years, part of many pit crews and this year the award in his memory was given to Peter Thorley.

Many Thanks must go to the Sprintcars Queensland committee and volunteers for their tireless hard work over the season, as well has all the drivers, crews, families, fans, sponsors and supporters who helped make the 2009-2010 season all that it was. What a great year. Congratulations to all the award recipients.

From all of us at Sprintcars Queensland we hope the off season is a good one and we hope to see you all at Brisbane International Speedway on Saturday 18 September 2010 for our first official racing night of the 2010-2011 season.