FORMER Corowa speedway driver Chelsea Cornelius returned home for the Christmas-New Year break and competed at Wahgunyah Speedway’s Boxing Day meeting in the O & M Zone Titles for Goulburn-Ovens Sedans in her new car — and won.
Driving the ex-Bob Bailey VH 202ci Holden Commodore for the first time, Cornelius blitzed the field in the third heat to be crowned the 2012-13 Zone Champion.
The first time Cornelius had driven the car was in the pits that afternoon because before that she had competed successfully in a 250ci TE Ford Cortina.
With a big field of 20 starters, the cars were split into two groups and officials decided to run a pole-shuffle for the top six pointscorers to decide the grid positions for the final.
With a first heat DNF and a third placing in heat 2, Cornelius survived an early challenge from Ross Maclean (Commodore) but as the race progressed she got faster and smoother and cruised home.