Westernats winners claim ANDRA gold
One of Western Australia’s most famous speedway events heads to Perth Motorplex for the first time this weekend with the running of the 24th annual AAA Metal Recycling Krikke Boys Shootout this Saturday.
The event honours the memory of cousins Darryl and Jason Krikke, who lost their lives in a road accident in 1997 while driving home from Claremont Speedway. Darryl’s father Ron committed to running an event in their memory, and the Krikke Boys Shootout was born.
“We don’t want to call it a memorial,” he said. “We like that it has more of a party atmosphere, and the race goes really well. It has attracted a lot of people over the years.”
Bunbury Speedway has hosted the previous 23 editions of the event, but some upgrades to catch fencing and concrete walls at the historic venue meant Krikke chose to run the event at the Motorplex for a season.
“We had to make a decision on either not holding it, or talking with the Motorplex and finding a date to keep the race going. We worked it out for our first time away and it should be awesome,” he said.
“We are going to run the same sort of deal, the people who go to this race know what the event is about. We will have exactly the same show. The Motorplex runs good events and it will have the ‘enigma’ of the Krikke Boys race.”
While the event typically attracts interstate competition, this year’s field will be mainly domestic drivers. Even still, Krikke hopes to have about 30 Sprintcars showing up to compete.
“If we can get 30 cars here it will give us a full A Main race and damn near a full B Main too, plus with Late Models and Street Stocks there it will definitely have the feel of a Krikke Boys race.”
Krikke Motorsport and new driver Dayne Kingshott will be among the field, no doubt carrying some sentimental hopes from fans. Krikke tipped his own driver to be challenged by some big names.
“I would pick about four guys that can win a 35 lap race, being the Krikke car, Jason Kendrick, Callum Williamson and David Priolo,” he said.
The AAA Metal Recycling Krikke Boys Shootout takes place on February 6. Gates open at 4.30pm with heats from 5pm and the main show from 6pm.
NOTE: In light of the lockdown announced by the WA Premier on Sunday 31 January, at this stage Perth Motorplex hopes to proceed with this event pending further guidance from the WA Government. We will provide ongoing updates when possible. Current lockdown information: http://bit.ly/3agZB6x
Words: Luke Nieuwhof
Pic: The Krikke Boys event at Bunbury. Photo by Peter Roebuck.
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