The future of Speedway: Manjimup’s 15-year-old Lara Edwards takes top podium placing

A young Manjimup speedway star has secured her first victory this month to a cheering home crowd. Lara Edwards competed in the New Star junior division in the presence of WA’s best senior racers on January 28 at the 2022-23 SSA Production Sedan WA State Title in Manjimup, securing a top podium placement. The 15-year-old told the Manjimup-Bridgetown Times she was “still on a high” after securing the win two weeks ago and was excited to share the news with her school peers when school returned earlier this week. “I’m still on a high,” she said. “It was pretty cool. I’ve got myself on the podium a few times but only third - this was the first time on top of the podium and I’m pretty happy with it. Lara — who was third in Mount Barker recently, one of her biggest achievements to date — said she was thrilled to win in her home town and alongside a podium of girls, including Bunbury’s Sophie Amato (second) and Ellenbrook’s Zahara van der Mey (third). “It felt really good to be on the podium but even better to do it in my home town,” she said. “The juniors are the future of racing and to see the youngest division with the least experience have a full girls podium when a fair few guys started is awesome.” The New Star junior has only been racing for a season and a half but is already proving a force to be reckoned with. “I love it and I just wanna go where it takes me,” she said. “Keep going and if I don’t because I get preoccupied that it’s OK because I’ve still got the experience there.” The junior sedan driver said she loves everything about speedway, including the community, adrenaline rush, learning about cars, and getting to connect with her dad who makes up the other half of her race team. “I get to learn a lot and just being on the track is a feeling I can’t explain,” she said. “Once you get it, once you hit that track the other thing on my mind is getting around it eight or 10 times and not thinking about anything else.” Leading up to the race, the high school student watched fellow Manjimup local Drew Ogle take on the track and learned from his decisions. “On the Thursday night we were watching practice for the productions and I was watching Drew and his first race he went out there and did OK,” she said. “In the second race he went out there and ended up pulling in because he just didn’t want to race the track - it was too wet! “It was rutted out and that Friday night Dad said ‘race like Drew, run it smart, there is 12 cars out there, you’ve got 12 cars to get yourself around, run it smart’. “Running it smart got me top of the podium.” The State Title continued to treat spectators in Manjimup post the New Stars final race, with Katanning star Kye Blight securing his second WA Production Sedan championship after storming through the field to win the 40-lap final on the Saturday night. He won the event 14 years after his maiden WA Production Sedan Title in Kalgoorlie. In an exciting championship decider, Kye Blight raced from position No. 8 on the grid to take the lead on lap 11 and skip clear to record a convincing win, 2.52 seconds ahead of Albany’s Jason Batchelor, while brother Jake Blight rounded out a terrific weekend with third place. Drew Ogle and Beau Riley completed the top five, while defending champion Kyle Sayer retired from the event after 21 laps and was among a host of cars that finished on the infield. Manjimup Speedway secretary Rose Moyle said the event weekend — which attracted more than 48 drivers from as far away as Broome and Esperance — was one of the biggest the club has held for some years and saw some brilliant racing. “The finals night saw a 1000 people watch a nail-biting 40 lap feature which saw Kye Blight come out the winner,” she said. “The club had two local drivers vying for the title — two time former production title winner Drew Ogle and Shane Whild who had moved from street stocks to Productions this season.” Moyle — who is grateful to the big number of sponsors and volunteers who donate their time and expertise to ensure the event’s success — said an event such as this brings many benefits to the local economy and is confident it will encourage return visits to the region.