June 19, 2017
There’s been some good news – and bad news – for the South Burnett Speedway Club this week.
The Kingaroy Speedway track was awarded the 2017 Most Improved Track of the Year Award at the Australian Speedway Awards held in Melbourne on Saturday night.
A committee spokesman said the award would not have been possible without the club’s hard-working volunteers, sponsors and competitors over the many years.
The bad news is that the Kingaroy track has lost its naming rights sponsor Lucas Oil.
Lucas Oils came on board as a major sponsor for the club in 2012 but general manager Jeff Pahlke advised recently the relationship would not be extended to the 2017-18 season as Lucas Oil Australia was undergoing significant changes at present.
“Having met with Jeff recently, who everyone here at Kingaroy Speedway regards as a friend more so than a sponsor, I totally understand the position that Lucas Oil has taken and the situation that Jeff is now in,” South Burnett Speedway President Travis Barron said.
“While disappointed we have lost a great supporter and sponsor of our venue, we take some comfort from Jeff’s explanation that he and his staff could not have been more satisfied with the level of service we as a club provided Lucas Oil since our initial agreement back in late 2012.”
Travis said the challenge now for the club was find another sponsor for this season’s Modified Sedans Kings Royal and the speedway venue.
“They always say that as one door closes another opens, so I will put every effort in to securing a new naming rights sponsor for not only the venue, but for the Kings Royal, so that we can provide them with the same levels of promotion and coverage that we did Lucas Oil,” he said.
“Kingaroy has become one of the leading regional venues, providing great entertainment with arguably the biggest sedan car counts week in and week out.
“But make no mistake all the announced events on our 2017-18 season will go ahead as planned including the Kings Royal that we feel has become the one number sedan event in the country.”
