Three of the top four Formula Vee drivers from last year have not entered for the meeting which leaves second-placed 2018 driver Justin Murphy with an opportunity to score maximum points.

Michael Vaughan and Darren Easterbrook finished fifth and sixth last year and no doubt will be aiming to improve on that result for 2019.

In Sports GTA, 2018 series winner Scott Smith will miss the meeting due to his Porsche GT3 not being ready, so that leaves the door open for Roger White in his Nissan Skyline (third last year) to score some valuable points.

Andrew Reader (fourth last year) will not be driving his flame-throwing Mazda RX7 but Les Walkden’s modified Subaru, while both Ben Creed in his 6.0 litre Ford Falcon and Steve Noble in the rebuilt Nissan 350Z will make a welcome return.

In Sports GTB veteran David Wrigley in his Mustang should take advantage of the absence of last year’s dominating winner Tim Mann, but there will be some tough opposition from Steve Lord in his GT Falcon and Efrei Stanton in his Mitsubishi Evo.

Of particular interest will be the performance of former Porsche driver Honni Pitt in her Lotus Exige.

Andrew Toth will be the man to beat in the HQ Holden races after finishing second to Phil Ashlin last year with Ashlin not entered for the meeting.

Others in the mix include Otis Cordwell and Neville Rattray.

In the Historic Touring cars class Longford’s John Talbot in the pristine Mustang should be a shoe-in and while he won’t be a front runner, veteran Scotty Taylor will line up in the ex-Spike Jones BMW 2002.

Running in conjunction with those cars will be the Improved Production cars which should see a great battle between Matthew Grace in his Nissan 200 SX, Leigh Forrest in the Toyota Celica turbo, Jared House in the V8 Torana and Brad Chick in the 6.0 litre Commodore.

In the one make Hyundai Excel class last year’s top two drivers Peter Kemp and Josh Webster battled throughout, but the big improver last year was Grant Seamer who finished third and took out the prestigious Ling Rookie of the Year award.

Add in young Jeremy Bennett who missed the final round last year to still finish fourth and we have the promise of some great racing.

In the Historic Regularity events it will be good to see the early model Holdens of Ellis French and John Routley and the Cortina GT of Steve Martin.

The first event will start at 10.20am and entry is only $15.

The first round of the World Superbike Championship will be held this weekend at Phillip Island and it will be the first indication as to whether four-time champion Jonathan Rea can continue his dominance.

During his four consecutive championship years at Kawasaki the 32-year-old British rider has stood on the podium an incredible 92 times, including 56 wins, in a total of 102 races.

With former team mate Tom Sykes moving to the BMW team, Rea’s new team mate will be fellow Brit Leon Haslam and while Haslam hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success, he should prove a perfect foil for Rea.

Chas Davies will lead the Ducati effort with new team mate Alvaro Bautista while the works Yamahas will be ridden by Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark

On the grid this weekend there will be five Kawasakis, four Ducatis, four Yamahas, three Hondas and two BMWs while missing from the grid will be Aprilia and MV Agusta.  

This year will see the introduction of a new race format with the traditional Saturday and Sunday main races split by a sprint race on the Sunday morning which will determine the grid order for the Sunday main race.

Based on previous years the racing should be spectacular, creating as much interest as the premier Moto GP class.