As entries for the 79th Dutton Garage Australian Speedcar Championship as presented by Dream Multi-Media continue to roll in ahead of this weekend’s deadline, it has been officially announced that four-time Australian Champion – Warrenne Ekins – will be the Grand Marshall for the event to be staged at Sungold Stadium, Premier Speedway, Warrnambool on February 28 and 29, 2020. Ekins claimed his four Australian Speedcar Championships during a dominant five-year period that saw him salute at his home track in Darwin in 1990 before repeating the success at Claremont in 1991, Bendigo in 1993 and finally in Sydney in 1994. Warrenne Ekins was recognised for his contribution to the sport of Speedway in 2018 when he was inducted into the Speedway Australia Hall of Fame. In his role as Grand Marshall, Warrenne Ekins will get to cast an astute eye over what is beginning to look like a very good field of entrants, with a further two Americans amongst the most recent group of entrants. Joining the Carson Macedo and Michael Pickens as the previously nominated Internationals set to take on Premier Speedway, are Shannon McQueen from Bakersfield, California and Oklahoma’s Michelle Decker. Both McQueen, who was the 2012 USAC Western State Champion and Decker who has claimed a USAC Western State Feature Race win along with finishing third and fifth in the POWRi West Midget Series will both race under the Griffith Motorsport banner for the upcoming Australian Speedcar Championship. With McQueen set to pilot the V75c Gaerte powered Eagle and Decker the V75ok Eagle with a Mopar engine with support coming from Simpson Race Products, Kaymainline, West Evans Motorsport, TommsTyres, Thomo’s Race Graphix, Super Shox, Ford Motor Company, Brisk Spark Plugs, Eagle Chassis, Emi, Shannon McQueen Racing and Michelle Decker Racing. Making the trek across the Nullabor for the Title weekend is WA’s Glen Mears who will roll out the immaculately presented W23 Esslinger powered Spike. With a list of achievements in Western Australian Speedcar Racing that include Multiple Perth Motorplex Track Championships, a WASDA Michael Figliomeni Drivers Driver Award and multiple WA Speedcar Championship podiums, Mears is sure to be one of the contenders come the weekend of the Australian Championship. Keenan Fleming is another of the race hardened West Aussie’s, with the talented young gun having been the youngest ever winner of the Perth Motorplex Track Championship at just 16 years of age in the 2017 as a part of his debut season. Now with Five Feature Race wins and a second place in the 2018-19 WA Speedcar Championship Fleming will be looking forward to racing the best at the Australian Title aboard the W26 Spike – Esslinger. Queensland’s Troy Ware is another interstate hard charger who will be in action on February 28 and 29, as he is set to drive the GW Racing S71 Mopar powered Bullet Chassis for James Hardy Australia, Sprint Shack, Williams Graphics and Troy Ware Constructions as the Borderline Speedway one lap record holder looks to add an Australian Championship to his resume. Victorian’s Glen Shaw, aboard the V72 Mopar powered Spike, Toby Smith in the V55 Beast-Volvo combination and Matthew Balcombe aboard the Chev powered Spike are also amongst the first 22 entries. The current list of nominations are as follows: 1nz Michael Pickens (NZ) King/Toyota W7 Tom Payet Spike/Toyota V9 Matthew Balcombe Spike/Chev V10 Travis Mills Spike/GRD V10m Caleb Mills Spike/Sesco Mopar V12 Justin McMinn Spike/Esslinger W23 Glen Mears Spike/Esslinger V26 Taylor Gore Spike/Hawk W26 Keenan Fleming Spike/Esslinger N34 Jeffrey Burns Spike/Gaerte N40 Dave Lambert Stealth/Mopar N51 Michael Stewart CP3K/GRD Toyota V55 Toby Smith Beast/Volvo N57 Harley Smee Spike/Inglis Eagle S71 Troy Ware Bullet/Mopar V71r Domain Ramsay King/Hawk V72 Glen Shaw Spike/Mopar V75c Shannon McQueen (USA) Eagle/Gaerte V75ok Michelle Decker (USA) Eagle/Mopar Q89 Rusty Whittaker BOSS/Esslinger T91 Brock Webster Spike/Fontana N99 Carson Macedo (USA) King/Toyota The 2020 Australian Speedcar Championship is proudly presented by Dutton Garage and Dream Multi and will be held from Friday February 28, 2020 to Saturday February 29, 2020. Tickets for the Australian Speedcar Championship are currently available via www.premierspeedway.com.au. On-line sales will cease at midnight on Thursday February 27, 2020 with nightly ticket sales available from gate opening at 4pm on Race Days. End Release.