With the 2017 Rod Bowen Prestige Smash Repairs Australian Sprintcar Championship at the Valvoline Raceway in Sydney only days away with the three-night event kicking off on Australia Day Sprintcarworld has been looking at some of the leading contenders from each state. With four of the states already covered it is time to analyse the Northern Territorians.

NORTHERN TERRITORY:

The Northern Territory entry list comprises of six entries with the three leading contenders either no longer living in the State or at the very least driving for an interstate car owner. When you talk about the NT one mane comes straight to mind – James McFadden. James is a two-time Australian Champion, two-time World Series Sprintcars Champion and as of last Sunday night, a Classic Champion. He currently leads this seasons WSS Championship and he is the form driver having also won the Speedweek series over Christmas with three out of four wins. The Monte Motorsports driver will be extremely hard to beat but James only has two career Valvoline Raceway victories so it hasn’t been all that kind to him over the years.

Joining McFadden in the NT squad is former VR Track Champion Ben Atkinson who will be a real threat for the podium as he knows the track well having raced there week in week out for a number of years now and he has a great team behind him. The other driver to watch will be Queensland based Danny Reidy, who like Atkinson has a lot of laps at VR under his belt in recent years. Reidy has also been racing at Toowoomba regularly for the last few years.

Chace Karpenko has spent much of the season based in Sydney in preparation for the Australian Championship and he coming off a strong domestic Darwin season. The remaining entries are Jamie O’Neil and Jason Gebert, both of whom may struggle with the increased competition.