ANGRY motor racing fans protesting against the cancellation of a Calder Park meet trashed an Oakleigh motoring store and brought Princes Highway to a standstill for hours after a protest turned violent on Friday night.

More than 100 police were needed to disperse the crowd and brought in its air wing to monitor crowd behaviour police said they ‘‘hadn’t seen riotous behaviour like this in Victoria for a very long time’’.

The Bob Jane T-Marts store, on the corner of Warrigal Road and Princes Highway, was trashed by a minority of the 2000-strong crowd after flares were thrown at police about 11.30pm.

The rioters smashed windows, stole tyre parts, upset displays and overturned a car. Acting Assistant Commissioner Neville Taylor said police had plenty of footage of the riot and expected to lay charges shortly.

The franchise owner of the business, Neville Smith, said the protesters caused $15,000 in damage. ‘‘They’ve just smashed everything to pieces,’’ he said. ‘‘They were using baseball bats and steel poles, just anything they could get their hands on.’’

Racing fans had planned during the week to protest outside the store following the cancellation last Monday of the Easternats event, which was to be held at Calder Park early next month. Bob Jane, through his company Calder Park Promotions, was involved in trying to set up the Easternats event.

Bob Jane T-Marts, a separate company of which Bob Jane remains a director, was not involved in the event.

Calder Park and the Easternats management have blamed each other for the event’s cancellation.

Journal photographer Wayne Hawkins, who was injured in the riot, said the gathering had started in a placid fashion but turned nasty after the flares were thrown at police.

‘‘There were half a dozen people who wanted to get trouble going. There was a guy who pulled a baseball bat from a car and he started smashing the windows,’’ he said.

‘‘Then one of the guys said ‘don’t take any pictures’ … I copped a whack in the head and then I went down and they started kicking me.’’

with Stephen Cauchi/The Age