Drivers from across the North West have slid into Hedland for a weekend of burnouts at the Speedway Smokefest

The smell of burnt rubber and diesel lingered on the edge of Port Hedland over the weekend as the Speedway Club hosted its annual Smokefest burnout competition. More than 25 competitors from across the Pilbara and the Kimberley entered this year’s event, in which drivers vie for the title of having the best burnouts in the North West. Port Hedland Speedway president Candice Jones said the novelty of the competition attracted drivers from across the region. “It’s a very big event and we have more than 25 drivers, which is very good,” she said. “We have a lot of nominations from Karratha, then a lot of local Hedland guys come out from the bush and we even have people from Broome. “We only have one burnout show, so it’s a really big event.” Drivers had three rounds of three minutes to demonstrate their skill to a panel of judges who rated their burnouts out of 100. More points were awarded for the amount of smoke their car produced, how well they controlled the vehicle, and whether the car’s tyre popped off. Kevin Cook took out the Sportsman competition for the six-cylinder vehicles division and Bailey Kinge won the open division for V8s. While the winners came away with $2000 and $4000 prizes respectively, Ms Jones said the Smokefest was more for entertainment. “At the end of the day we run the meeting just to have fun,” she said. “Some people who compete call themselves ‘skid pigs’ so we just let them go out, do some burnouts, and entertain the crowd.”