[Duane Hancock]

30 year old Sean Zemunik from Perth, Western Australia landed in Ohio Tuesday and is looking forward to hitting the dirt this weekend. Zemunik has teamed up with Ohio's Rodney Hurst for a 20-25 race deal starting this Friday night at the Attica Raceway Park. After arriving in the US last summer to an empty promise, Zemunik and his wife Deborah spent their time traveling around, hitting many different areas of the US along with several race tracks. Never meeting each other in person until Tuesday at the Cleveland airport, some mutual friends got the ball a rolling to unite Zemunik and Hurst. Last August, the Zemunik's were visiting KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) is Charlotte NC when they were telling their story to KBM employee, Kelli Kent. Kent quickly contacted me and set a meeting up with Sean and I at the Knoxville Nationals. After spending a few days together, I knew what Sean was looking for and contacted Rodney. After many individual talks with each, Sean and Rodney started communicating in March and the rest as they say is history. The team will start at Attica Raceway Park Friday and then head to the Fremont Speedway on Saturday. After that the team plans to hit Ohio Speedweek, PA Speedweek, the 4th of July PA All Star weekend, Attica and Fremont the next weekend, with the Brad Doty Classic and the King's Royal weekend finishing their tour. Dates could be added if funding or opportunity presents itself to do so. Both Zemunik and Hurst are looking towards making this a solid annual deal.

In the following interview with Sean, I got some background on his career and his goals. How did you get into racing Sean? "I started racing at a young age racing motocross and then into junior solos. At 10 I moved into junior sedans until the age of 13 when I started running limited sprint cars. At 16 I progressed into the 360 division and ran these for 3 years before moving up into the 372 class (at that stage we didn’t run 410s). I took a hiatus from racing for about 6 years due to funding issues before starting back up in 360s in2013/2014. I purchased a 410 late last year and we ran a number of shows this season as well as running the 360." Where do you race at on a regular basis? "We race in Perth, Western Australia in the AHG Sprintcar Series in the 410 and the 360 Power Series." What are some of your accomplishments to date? "I have won several 360 sprint car races as well as a 2nd place in the WA 372 state title in 2004." What are your goals and where would u like to be in 5 years? "My goal is to be able to race as much as possible, gaining experience on different race tracks. In 5 years time I would like to be racing full time in America, most likely in the mid-west. I would like to broaden my experience running different types of cars – non-wing, midget and possibly even some pavement racing, but maintaining a focus on winged 410 sprint cars." What does it mean to have a solid opportunity to race in the United States ? "Racing in the USA has been a goal of mine ever since I started racing sprint cars. It definitely took a lot longer to happen than I had envisaged, but this just helps to appreciate the opportunities that I have been given. America is the home of sprint car racing with the mid-west offering arguably the greatest competition across the country and I look forward to having the opportunity to race against this tough competition night after night." What would be a successful trip for you, in your mind this year ? " This years trip is all about getting as many laps in as possible. With such tough competition expectations are quite reasonable. Making A-mains is the main goal and then from there see how things work out. As long as we show enough to be invited back next year that will be a success for me." What do you think will be in the biggest challenge racing in the US? "The level of competition will definitely be the biggest challenge. Running on so many different tracks for the first time will also be a big challenge, but I also think this will help improve my skills. The schedule will also be a big challenge, running 16 shows in 17 days throughout Ohio & PA Speedweek given our entire season in Perth is only 20 shows long over 6 months." What has been your favorite racing career moment so far? "Winning my first A-main was always a highlight. Also running 3rd in my first race back after 6 years off having coming through the B-main was a highlight." What are you looking forward to the most while racing in the US? "I am really looking forward to the opportunity to race a lot of shows and on different race tracks. Running my first Kings Royal is also going to be a big highlight." In my talks with Hurst, Rodney is looking forward to the opportunity to grow his team with this partnership. It gives both of them a chance to grow, not only themselves, but their worth in sprint car racing. Hurst and his son will join Sean's father, who also made the journey from Perth, as the crew for the tour.