GARY BOWYER WINS THE 2026 VICTORIAN GP MIDGET TITLE

May 17
5 min read

In what was a cool night at Rushworth Speedway, the 2026 Victorian Grand Prix Midget Victorian Title was contested and saw Gary Bowyer win his 2nd title and become the first driver from NSW to win the event more than once. Bowyer wasn't to have it all his own way as he had to fight his way to the front and hold off faster finishers in a race that was determined by inches.

12 drivers signed in and 4 heats of which drivers would contest 3 to determine starting positions for the 20-lap feature events and the preparation team at the Goulburn Valley Auto Club had been working tirelessly all week to provide a fast racetrack that saw lap times into the high 15 & low 16 second brackets, resulting in average speeds of 100 km/h.

Heat 1 set the tone for a dramatic evening as defending champion Chris Fowler would suffer an issue that would ultimately plague his title defence causing his car to slow to a stop on the exit of turn 2 - resulting in hot favourites Mark Cecil & Gary Bowyer simultaneously climbing over the rear wheels of his car to briefly take in the view of the Rushworth sky. Fowler & Bowyer would retire to the infield, whilst Cecil was able to continue and take the lead on the ensuing restart.

Green flag racing would not last for long as Travis Florrimell would bring the yellows on with a spin in turn 1 promoting Paul Perry & Matt Kamolins into the minor placings having started at the rear of the field. Their good fortune would continue 2 laps into the following restart as Cecil would retire to the infield with gear selection issues, and Perry would lead the remaining laps to secure the win. Kamolins would finish second, followed by a strong recovery drive from Florrimell to 3rd, Terry Brown & Lilly Bullock.

Heat 2 was a more subdued affair with Alex Myers leading Locky Robotham in a nonstop heat race. Paul Perry was able to continue his good form to finish 3rd, whilst a quick fix got Bowyer back on track between heats to finish 4th from the rear, and Florrimell & Warrick Spooner rounded out the finishers. Chris Fowler again unable to finish with an electrical issue, whilst Lilly Bullock (fuel) & Mark Blackeby (chain) would also be non-finishers.

The first taste of what was to come later in the evening had Gary Bowyer & Matt Kamolins on the front row for heat 3. Kamolins' machine would jump out of gear on the exit of turn 2 on the opening lap which saw him fall to the back of the field before he could safely select a gear and get back to full speed. Myers, Cecil, Perry & Robotham would give chase to Bowyer before an error from Myers would see all 3 sweep past him in consecutive corners. None would challenge the NSW00 as his best lap time of 15.893 would be the fastest of the event. Kamolins would recover to 6th ahead of Brown & Spooner.

Mark Cecil would capitalise on pole position to lead flag to flag in the final qualifying heat of the night in another non-stop affair. Myers & Kamolins were able to edge past front row starting Brown who was then followed by Spooner, Robotham & Bullock.

Tallying the total points saw Alex Myers & Paul Perry tied on points to share the front row with Mark Cecil & Gary Bowyer on row 2. Matt Kamolins & Locky Robotham were on row 3 followed by Terry Brown, Warrick Spooner & Lilly Bullock completing the starters. Chris Fowler was unable to diagnose his electrical issues and decided to sit out, Travis Florrimell discovered an engine mount issue after his 3rd heat and Mark Blackeby's issue with the chain was discovered to be terminal leaving them as non-starters.

Myers would get the jump into turn 1 and Cecil was able to quickly follow him into second place. Bowyer would move past Paul Perry down the back straight with Kamolins in tow in 5th, before he and Robotham both moved past the V33 on the completion of lap 1. Gary Bowyer elevated himself into 2nd on lap 2 as Robotham would exit the race with a ladder bar issue. The leading quartet of Myers, Bowyer, Cecil & Kamolins would race nose to tail in the early stages of the race as Brown also retired to the infield on lap 7. Cecil's attempt to capture another Victorian title would end two laps later, also suffering from a ladder bar break.

Using lap traffic to his advantage was allowing Myers to maintain a slender lead but the charging Bowyer was not to be denied as he made his move around the outside of turns 3 & 4 on lap 11. A lunge back from Myers would result in light contact between the pair, sending Myers backwards into the front straight fence & out of the event.

An 8-lap dash was set to determine who would be crowned champion and the stage was set for an all-out brawl between Bowyer & Kamolins. In what would keep fans on the edge of their seats until the checkered flag would fall, the sleek all-black Bowyer machine would lead the field back to green but could not shake the blue & yellow Kamolins' V22. The racing was electric and being determined by a game of inches, and in some cases less than inches as Matt was doing everything he could to try disrupt focus and create an opportunity to take the lead. But as one last haymaker was thrown coming through the final two corners, Gary Bowyer was not to be denied his second Victorian Title, with the margin of victory of Matt Kamolins a meme 0.130 seconds.

Paul Perry kept a cool head to notch another title podium to his CV in 3rd, whilst Warrick Spooner and Lilly Bullock rounded out the top 5 and taking home sashes and smiles you couldn't wipe off their faces.

A big congratulations again to Gary on the win & for making the trip down to contest the title. Thank you to Rushworth Speedway & the GVAC for hosting and providing a fantastic and competitive racing surface for the event. The next event for the GP Midgets will be on the 30th of May at Darlington Speedway for the latest Masters Series round.

Victorian Grand Prix Midget Racing Association would like to thank the following for their ongoing support for the 2025/26 season: