With the help of Justin McGraw and crew member Trevor Mills, he has spent time during the off season making critical conversions and set up changes to his car to enable him to race at the next level.
“It opens us up to a big variety of tracks interstate,” Billy said.
“We’ve been racing at tracks like Wangaratta, which is my home track, Wahgunyah, Moama, Swan Hill and Rushworth.
“Now we’ll be travelling a lot further to tracks like Warrnambool, Portland, Avalon, Toowoomba and Kingaroy.
“The tracks are similar, but it’s a more open class with better quality cars and tougher competitors.”
He has already tested at Wangaratta Speedway, showing his team that the driver and car combination is fast, promising a competitive entry into the modified category.
The National Speedway Modified Sedan title will be held over the Easter long weekend in 2026 at Toowoomba in Queensland, but it’s the Kings Royal at Kingaroy in January that has Billy excited.
With a whopping prize of $15,000 and around 100 competitors over three days, it’s the most sought after trophy for a speedway racer.
“Kings Royal at Kingaroy is the biggest race other than the national title,” he said.
“It’s the holy grail of modified sedans.
“It’s a battle in itself just to get there, let alone the race itself.”
This season will be Billy’s fourth year racing and his first in the modified sedan class, and he is relishing the chance to step away from the smaller local classes and challenge himself on the national scene.
While Billy credits his crew and the help he’s received from the McGraw family in Numurkah for much of his success, it’s wife Kirsty and his kids, Sway and Ruger, that are his pillars.
“I’ve got the right crew, and the McGraw family has helped me out a lot,” he said.
“The thanks I’ve got for them is next level.
“But I couldn’t have done this without my family; they’re everything to me.”
Billy has been around the local speedway scene for most of his life and is a self-confessed “petrol head”, growing up watching the likes of Peter Brock at the Bathurst 1000 and his favourite movie, Days of Thunder.
“The challenge now is to keep all four wheels on the ground and keep moving forward,” he said.
“You never know; if we can bring something home, we will.
“I love horsepower, I love cars; it’s an adrenaline rush like no other.”
The next meeting at Wahgunyah Speedway will be held on Sunday, December 27.
The event is sponsored by Willett Transport Corowa and features:
- Noel McGrath Memorial Production Sedans
- VSC Sports Sedans Ladies Queen of the Murray
- SC Sports Sedans
- GOSA
- Unlimited Sedans
- SSA Juniors New Stars
- SSA Top Stars
- Standard Saloons
- Humpy Holdens
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