Day one of the Ken Scroop Memorial at Mildura’s Sunset Strip saw impressive on-track performances match the soaring temperatures as the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship competitors sought to put their best foot forward ahead of Sunday’s eliminations racing.

At the close of Saturday night’s running, the following racers were leading the qualifying ladders for their respective brackets with one more qualifier to be held Saturday afternoon at 3.00pm local time, ahead of the start of racing in the late afternoon: Malcolm Todd (Super Street), Cooper Plummer (Junior Dragster), Rob Bergamin (Super Gas), Dean Jamieson (Modified Bike), Tony Miskelly (Super Sedan), Simon Barlow (Modified), Vlado Turic (Top Sportsman), Mike Evans (Supercharged Outlaws), Joe Khoury (Competition Bike) and Craig Geddes (SuperComp).

In Super Gas, Bergamin is a defending national champion and as the Western Conference points leader is keen to make the most of his opportunities this weekend, regardless of the hot temperatures.

Rob Bergamin (Steven Bloomfield Photography)

“I have been so looking forward to this weekend. I knew it was going to be hot, but I did not care, I always knew it would be a brilliant meeting,” Bergamin enthused.

“It is stinking hot, but the car has run well, and the officials are doing great; the Sunset Strip guys really try and do all they can, it is really good, and everything is running like clockwork.

“Today (Saturday) for me went 100 percent, I can really truly say that, it has been very well organised and I am so glad I am the top qualifier so far ahead of the final qualifier Sunday where anything could happen of course.

“I am chasing the title, and I am currently on top of the (Western conference) points, so I am going to try and grab that championship again this year, I am trying my hardest.

“I am absolutely looking forward to Sunday!”

Nine-time national championship winner Craig Geddes is also eyeing off the championship this season and has his Ken Scroop Memorial off to a good start.

Craig Geddes (Steven Bloomfield Photography)

“We are running our B Dragster with the manual in it which we haven’t run since the 2023 Westernationals, so we are basically dialling that in and getting it ready for the Western Conference final at Tailem Bend,” Geddes said.

“It is so far so good with that, it is running really well, and we are so pleased with that, there are no gremlins in there so far and it has probably exceeded our expectations in the heat too.

“We have made some changes and also swapped over to the VP Racing Fuel which it definitely seems to have liked.

“We were happy with the first two qualifiers, so we did not run the third one. It was good to get those two out of the way and we are ready to go for Sunday where hopefully we can go some rounds in eliminations.”

Dean Jamieson is leading the way in Modified Bike so far in his fourth event on his new Suzuki.

Dean Jamieson (Steven Bloomfield Photography)

“It has certainly been warm, but it cooled down for the last qualifier and we were able to lay down a good number,” he explained Saturday evening.

“The track staff here have been good, really moving us through in the heat so we are not sitting in the lanes too long in all our gear, it is much appreciated.

“This is the fourth meeting I have had on this bike so we are getting it all sorted now and just trying to find a bit more consistency.

“It is going to be hot again Sunday, but hopefully it should cool down into the evening and we will see how we land.”

Sunday’s Ken Scroop Memorial racing program will commence at 3.00pm local time, with the finals scheduled to hit the track from approximately 9.50pm local time. For more information, visit www.sunsetstrip.org.au

(NDRC release)