Long before Bassanelli Motorsport, before the #36 and before I ever climbed behind the wheel of a race car, there was Claremont Speedway.

In 1998 and 1999, I was just a kid going to the speedway and becoming completely obsessed with everything about it.

The noise. The speed. The atmosphere. The cars sliding around on the dirt and the unmistakable smell of burning methanol hanging in the air.

There were also the drivers and cars that captured my imagination.

One of my favourites was the “Geraldton Jet”, Mark Wells, in his #21 Sprintcar. I also loved watching Tony Giancola, Marc Giancola and “Big Bad” Bert Vosbergen.

Those nights at Claremont were where it all started.

I wasn't just interested in speedway anymore.

I was hooked.

By the time I was around 10 years old, watching from the grandstands wasn't enough. I was constantly hassling Mum and my stepdad about getting me a speedway car of my own.

I wanted to be on the other side of the fence.

SPEEDWAY BECOMES A WAY OF LIFE

Around 2002–2003, my dad Warren started racing himself after buying a Torana Production Sedan.

That opened up a completely different side of speedway for me.

Instead of only watching from the grandstands, I was now spending time in the pits, helping Dad with the car and beginning to understand everything that went into racing away from the track.

The preparation. The repairs. The late nights. Loading everything up. Travelling for hours to race. Fixing what broke and then getting everything ready to do it all again.

Warren later moved into Super Sedans, and I continued pit crewing for him.

Over those years we were lucky enough to be involved with some pretty special cars, including an ex-John Singleton Super Sedan.

But one of my favourites was Wayne Randall's Mazda RX-7, better known as the “Rocket Flame Thrower” — the former Ian Boettcher house car from the late '80s/early '90s.

For a kid who had grown up obsessed with speedway, getting to work on and travel around Western Australia with cars carrying that sort of history made those years pretty special.

Speedway took us all over the state.

We travelled as far north as Shark Bay, made countless trips to Perth Motorplex, and raced at places including Kalgoorlie Speedway, Collie, Manjimup and Margaret River Speedway.

Hours on the road, weekends spent at racetracks and nights in the pits became normal.

Speedway wasn't just something we watched anymore.

It had become part of our lives.

FINALLY, MY OWN RACE CAR

While I loved being involved with Warren's racing, I still hadn't forgotten what I'd wanted since those early days at Claremont.

I wanted my own speedway car.

After years of hassling everyone about it, at 12 years old it finally happened.

Warren bought me a Datsun 120Y Junior Sedan.

After years of watching my heroes at Claremont, travelling around WA with Dad's race cars and hanging around speedway pits, I finally had a race car of my own.

There was just one fairly important problem.

I didn't know how to drive a manual.

TWO WEEKS TO LEARN

My first race meeting was only about two weeks away.

I still remember Warren taking me out the back of Mount Barker Speedway in the old Warrie Shearing Products commuter bus and teaching me how to drive a manual.

Before I could learn about racing lines, setups or how to pass another car, I had to learn how to use a clutch, find a gear and get moving without stalling.

Two weeks later, it was time for my first race meeting.

After years of wanting to race, I was finally sitting behind the wheel of my own Junior Sedan.

I can still remember lining up with the other cars on the start/finish line before we started.

This was it.

All those years watching speedway, asking for a car and dreaming about becoming a driver had led to this moment.

And then...

I stalled it.

Right there on the start/finish line before I'd even properly started my racing career.

Not exactly the debut I'd pictured as a kid watching Sprintcars at Claremont.

But everyone has to start somewhere.

And that Datsun 120Y was the beginning of mine.

LEARNING THE HARD WAY

It didn't take long for that nervous first meeting to turn into something completely different.

The Datsun 120Y wasn't the most powerful car in the field, but that became part of the challenge.

I learned to make the most of what I had.

There were plenty of nights where we were racing against cars with more power than the little Datsun, but that didn't mean they were automatically going to beat us.

Learning to carry momentum, drive the car hard and get everything I could out of it became a huge part of how I learned to race.

And sometimes, I probably got a little too much out of it.

The 120Y became pretty good at putting on a show.

I regularly had the car up on two wheels, somehow managing to bring it back down and keep going. There were plenty of moments where it looked like the thing was about to go over, only to save it and carry on racing.

Of course, I didn't save all of them.

On one particularly memorable night, I managed to roll the car twice in the same meeting.

Then there was my 14th birthday.

Most kids probably celebrate their birthday with a cake.

I celebrated mine by rolling a Junior Sedan.

Those moments became part of the experience — learning where the limit was, occasionally finding out what happened when I went past it, repairing the car and coming back to try again.

But underneath all the wild moments, we were becoming competitive.

MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT WE HAD

The little 120Y might not have had the horsepower of some of the cars we were racing against, but it taught me something that has stayed with me ever since.

You don't always need the most powerful car to race someone hard.

There was something especially satisfying about beating cars that had more power than mine.

We had to find speed elsewhere.

Carry momentum. Be smooth. Pick the right line. Keep the car moving.

And sometimes just drive the wheels off the thing.

Those five years weren't only about results.

They were where I learned how to race.

From stalling on the start/finish line at my very first meeting, to regularly getting the Datsun onto two wheels, saving some spectacular moments, rolling it twice in one night, rolling it on my 14th birthday and battling cars with more horsepower — there weren't too many dull nights with the 120Y.

Eventually, that little Datsun and everything I'd learned behind the wheel would take me to the biggest stage I'd experienced so far.

FROM THE 120Y TO AN AUSTRALIAN TITLE

In 2008, I got the opportunity to compete in my first Australian Junior Sedan Title.

Ten years after those early nights watching racing at Claremont Speedway, and five years after stalling the Datsun on the start/finish line at my first meeting, I was competing in an Australian Championship.

For the kid who had spent years hassling his family for a speedway car, it was a pretty big moment.

But 2008 would also bring the first chapter of my racing career to an unexpected end.

THE CRASH THAT ENDED THE FIRST CHAPTER

At Easter in 2008, I had a massive rollover.

This one was different.

The car was written off.

At the time, I only had one season of Junior Sedans remaining before I would age out of the class.

Rebuilding the Datsun or starting again with another car for a single remaining season didn't make much sense, so I made the decision not to rebuild.

At the time, I didn't necessarily see it as walking away from speedway for good.

It was simply the end of that car and that chapter of my Junior Sedan career.

But one season away became another.

And another.

Life moved on.

Before I knew it, years had passed.

The kid who had spent his childhood obsessed with speedway, travelled Western Australia with Warren's race cars, learned to drive a manual two weeks before his first meeting and eventually raced an Australian Title was no longer behind the wheel.

It would be 16 years before I raced again.

16 YEARS LATER

Speedway never completely left me.

You don't easily forget something that was such a massive part of growing up.

The sound of the engines. The smell of methanol. The nights in the pits. The hours travelling between tracks. The feeling of sitting behind the wheel waiting for a race to start.

That stuff stays with you.

Then, in 2024, sixteen years after that Easter rollover brought my Junior Sedan career to an unexpected end, I decided it was finally time.

I was going racing again.

And after 16 years away, I wasn't exactly choosing the easy option.

This time, I was stepping into a Late Model.

More horsepower. More speed. More adjustments. More to learn.

After 16 years out of the driver's seat, in many ways I was starting all over again.

THE FIRST TASTE OF A LATE MODEL

My first run in the Late Model came at Albany Speedway during a Pro Dirt Series meeting.

After spending my early racing years in a Datsun 120Y and then 16 years away from competition, climbing into a Late Model was a completely different world.

Everything happened faster.

The acceleration. The braking. The corner speed. The grip.

But it was at a practice night at Perth Motorplex that I really understood what I'd got myself into.

I remember finally opening the Late Model up properly down the straight and feeling the G-force push me back into the seat.

My first thought was basically:

“Far out... this is next-level fast.”

And almost immediately after that:

“Oh no... I'm turning again.”

The straightaways suddenly felt very short.

I'd spent years wanting to get back behind the wheel, but nothing really prepares you for the first time you experience the speed and cornering forces of a Late Model.

It was intimidating, exciting and completely different from anything I'd raced before.

And I loved it.

After 16 years away, I had a lot to relearn — but I also had an entirely new race car to understand.

Every lap became about getting more comfortable, trusting the car a little more, learning what it wanted and gradually pushing the limit further.

The kid who once had to learn how to drive a manual in a commuter bus two weeks before his first Junior Sedan meeting was effectively learning how to race all over again.

Only this time, everything was happening a hell of a lot faster.

That was the beginning of the next chapter.

Bassanelli Motorsport #36.

BACK ON THE NATIONAL STAGE

It didn't take long for the comeback to create another full-circle moment.

My first Australian Title had been in a Junior Sedan in 2008.

During the 2024/25 season, I entered my second Australian Title — this time behind the wheel of a Late Model.

Sixteen years after my Junior Sedan career came to an end, I was back competing on the national stage.

In the qualifying time trials, I recorded the 27th-fastest time at my first Australian Late Model Title.

After 16 years away from racing and still early in my first season behind the wheel of a Late Model, just being back at an Australian Championship was a pretty special full-circle moment.

It made me think back to where everything had started.

Being a kid at Claremont Speedway in 1998 and 1999.

Watching the Geraldton Jet, Mark Wells, throw the #21 Sprintcar around the place.

Watching Tony Giancola, Marc Giancola and Big Bad Bert Vosbergen.

Hassling Mum and my stepdad for a race car.

Travelling around WA and pit crewing for Warren.

Working around cars like the ex-John Singleton Super Sedan and Wayne Randall's “Rocket Flame Thrower” Mazda RX-7, the former Ian Boettcher house car.

Learning to drive a manual in an old commuter bus behind Mount Barker Speedway.

Stalling my Datsun on the start/finish line at my first meeting.

Putting the 120Y up on two wheels and somehow saving it.

Rolling twice in one night.

Rolling again on my 14th birthday.

Racing and beating cars with more horsepower than mine.

Competing in my first Australian Title.

Then having the massive Easter rollover in 2008 that wrote the car off and ultimately brought my Junior Sedan career to an end.

Then came 16 years away from the driver's seat.

And somehow, all those years later, I was back at an Australian Championship — this time strapped into a Late Model.

BUILDING BASSANELLI MOTORSPORT

Coming back was never just about one race or one result.

It's been about building something.

Learning the Late Model, developing the car, improving as a driver and building Bassanelli Motorsport into something bigger with every season.

The progress didn't happen overnight.

After 16 years away from racing and stepping straight into a Late Model, every meeting became another opportunity to learn.

There were new tracks, new setups, plenty of mistakes and plenty of lessons along the way.

But slowly, the results started to come.

We began collecting multiple podium finishes throughout the Development Series, showing that the hours in the workshop and everything we were learning at the racetrack were beginning to pay off.

Those podiums eventually turned into something even bigger.

Bassanelli Motorsport became Development Series Champions.

We've also stood on the podium at Albany Easter Grand Prix, recorded a top-10 result at Kalgoorlie, competed at the WA Late Model State Title coming through the B main to make the A main starting from 24th and finishing 15th, raced against some of the country's best Late Model drivers and continued pushing ourselves against some of the strongest competition in Western Australia.

There have been good nights and some bloody difficult ones.

We've crashed cars, broken parts, spent countless hours rebuilding and had plenty of late nights in the workshop just to make the next meeting.

But that's speedway.

Every crash, every repair, every podium and every lap has been part of getting better.

And in a strange way, not that much has changed.

As a kid in the Datsun, I learned to make the most of what we had, carry momentum and race against cars with more horsepower.

More than 20 years later, I'm still chasing the same thing:

Finding a way to go faster.

The cars might be faster now. The transporter might be different. The race tracks have changed and Claremont Speedway is no longer there.

But that obsession with racing never really left.

From the grandstands at Claremont Speedway in 1998, to the Datsun 120Y, an Australian Junior Sedan Title, the rollover that ended my junior career, 16 years away from the driver's seat, returning in a Late Model, recording the 27th-fastest time in qualifying at my first Australian Late Model Title, collecting multiple podiums and eventually becoming a Development Series Champion...

It's been a hell of a journey.

And the journey isn't finished.

We're nowhere near finished.

THIS IS BASSANELLI MOTORSPORT.