Sports reports: Records broken at 2025 Spring Nationals
Plus the results of the Battle of the Bridge and Australian Sprintcar Stampede at Murray Bridge Speedway.
This story includes a contribution from MMS Media.
The 2025 Spring Nationals have been held over the weekend at the Shell V-Power Motorsport Park at the Bend.
More than 22,000 people attended the three-day event and got to witness multiple new records being set.
In the lead up to Spring Nationals John Ricca said he was aiming to break a record on Australian soil, and that he did.
Ricca set a new record for the quickest elapsed time ever recorded by an outlaw pro mod in Australia, with a 5.406-second pass at 436 kilometres per hour.
Damien Harris also set a new Australian record with a 536.82km/h run, the fastest ever recorded in Australia and an improvement on his previous record of 536.17km/h.
Motorsport park CEO Alistair MacDonald said the event was drag racing at its absolute best.
“This weekend reaffirmed why the Bend is now recognised as Australia’s fastest and most complete motorsport destination,” he said.
“From top fuel thunder to John Ricca’s incredible pro mod record and Damian Harris’ new national speed record, fans witnessed something truly special.”
- See more photos: Spring Nationals 2025
Hallett and McCarthy take double wins at speedway
Meanwhile, the Battle of the Bridge and the Australian Sprintcar Stampede have been run over the October long weekend at Murray Bridge Speedway, with Brock Hallett clinching the double across the two nights of racing.
Hallett also made it back-to-back Battle of the Bridge titles, taking out the 25-lap feature event ahead of Daniel Pestka and Matt Egel on night one.
He would then be the eventual victor in the Australian Sprintcar Stampede after an eventful 40-lap feature on night two, with sprintcar debutant Bradley Vaughan and Craig Vanderstelt completing the podium.
The speedcar division also opened their 2025-26 campaign with rounds one and two of the SA Blackjack Series.
Jack McCarthy would dominate the weekend, taking out both feature events and also setting a new 15-lap track record.
Victorian duo Aston Rodriguez and Caleb Mills were the other podium placegetters in round one.
In a breakthrough for women’s racing, Zoe Pearce, second, and Melissa Crouch, third, made their own piece of history in round two, making up the first ever speedcar podium featuring two female competitors.
Junior sedans also raced off in round one of the Southern Showdown Series, with great competition amongst the young competitors.
Henry Brumfield led home the top stars, finishing ahead of Violet Thorne and Aidan Gartner; Ballarat’s Oscar Conder topped the new stars, with Chloe McCarthy in second and Hannah Harris in third.
A demolition derby ended the race meeting with a small group of daredevils crashing their way until Corey Pawlak’s was the last car running.
Rick Hollitt was presented with an award for the best presented car while also sustaining the most damage.
Email your sports reports to peri@murraybridge.news.
