Chadwick successfully defends the Bill Rufus Memorial

Salisbury based Cody Chadwick retained the prestigious title in an action packed Grand Final from clubmate Ryan Edson with home favourite Ty Geertsen and Findon’s Ross Priest taking the minor awards.

Double World Champion Dan Pudney led the field with an unbeaten scoreline prior to the final series of heats but a gate exclusion cost him dearly. Bobby Mc Millan again produced a spirited display of racing and would no doubt be seen as a valuable asset should he decide to spend a season racing for a UK club.

Qualifying heat scores:

Cody Chadwick 15 Ty Geertsen 14 Ryan Edson 13 Ross Priest 12 Bobby Mc Millan 9 Jay Walters 8 Jarrod Weinert 8 Shane Weinert 7 Shane Bentley 7 Daniel Thompson 7 Nash Manoel 5 Tyrone Walters 2 Jay Walters 2

The Division 2 event became a bonus day for the host club with David Watkins unbeaten for the major award with promising junior Andrew Wilkie in the runners up position.

The overall enthusiasm from the Murraylands pairing of Damien Crawford and Anthony Fathers is another indication of the continual progress within the club.

However the Division 3 event featured further future Australian "Young Guns" with the impressive Ryan Greenhalgh a clear winner from Braydon Makepiece and Trent Forester and without doubt they will all figure highly when Australia formulate their Junior squad for the 2013 World Championships.

To sum up - climate 27c, the Aussie "Barbie" available, plus five hours of racing well presented by the Le Fevre Club and an excellent tribute to the club founder.

Images courtesy of Jayne Wilkie