AS if the AFL grand final long weekend couldn’t get more thrilling, the Myrtleford Speedway Club will turn the excitement up to 11 with two action-packed days of racing.

Open wheel racing will return to Myrtleford for the first time in 20 years on Sunday, October 1, with a practice race day on the Saturday.

The Myrtleford in May Race Day: October Edition will bring cars, bikes and sidecars together – the event had to be rescheduled from May due to excessive rainfall.

Club president Glen Walch said the amount of work put in around the track to cater to the different classes of vehicle was worth it.

“We want to get back to running a combination cars, bikes and sidecars on the same circuit at the same event, like we used to do years ago,” he said.

“If we do that, we’ll be the only track in the country as far as I know doing it.

“The club’s done a massive amount of work earthworks-wise, we had to shift the gates where you go out onto the track, from the middle of one of the corners to out onto the straight because of regulations.

“We’ve extended the catch fence through to make it legal for the cars, to make it safe – we’ve lifted it up, extended it, made it real pretty.

“It’s been a massive amount of work.”

Walch said spectators would be treated to the full gamut of speedsters, and said the event would make for a great day out on grand final weekend.

“We’ve got the Open Wheel Micro Sprint cars coming back for the first time in over 20 years," he said.

“We’ve got micro sprint 600s, we’ve got compact speedcars.

“The micro sprints have a 600cc motorbike engine and the compacts have an up to 1200cc car or motorbike engine in them.

“The Saturday is a practice day and the Sunday is the race day.

“All the classes that will be there on the day, juniors and seniors, will be seriously quick – it’ll be spectacular, we can’t wait."

Walch said the speedway hoped to position itself as a year-round place where people can head to for a great day out.

“We really want to focus on getting the local crowd back - a lot of people we talk to are surprised we’re still running, a lot of them don’t know,” he said.

“We want to make it like a family day, ‘the speedway’s on, let’s go for a look’.

“People can take their kids and they can run around and have fun, and everyone gets to watch bikes, side cars and cars.

“It’s going to be fantastic, the weather’s looking good, we’ve got our new clubhouse built up, we’ve got our canteen happening.

“We’re really looking forward to it.”

Open wheel racing returns to the Myrtleford Speedway Club on Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1.