KRIS COYLE STEALS BUNBURY WIN

Media Release by Darren O’Dea – Sprintcar Entrants Group

The twenty-fifth running of the Krikke Boys Shootout at Bunbury Speedway on Saturday night, February 26, was full of emotion, drama and intensity.

In what was a great race, the result was not known until the last second of the 30-lap feature race.

In a gruelling event that saw some drivers crash and many others blow tyres on a track that took rubber and was brutal on rubber, Kris Coyle stole the lead in the last second as Harding blew a tyre.

Coyle pounced to claim the biggest moment of his career.

For Harding, it was a bitter blow after being the pacesetter for the entire feature race, but he managed to keep the #41 going and crossed the line second, with Taylor Milling crossing in third and Andrew Priolo in fourth.

However, as if the drama of a lot of different drivers blowing their tyres was not enough, there was another twist.

Coyle’s car made weight but Harding’s did not, seeing him disqualified, and Milling was promoted to second, while Andrew Priolo was now on the podium after initially finishing fourth.

It was a hard finish for Harding who set the Victory 1 Performances Quickest Time at the start of the night, took a second in his heat and won the A Dash to start from pole.

The race commenced after a big build up that saw Ron and John Krikke take a step back in time – Ron parading the #95 Sprintcar and John driving Shane Krikke’s W2 – much to the delight of the big crowd.

When the race got underway it was Harding and David Priolo at the front, courtesy of their wins in the respective A and B Dashes.

With five laps done Harding was into lapped traffic and moments later Callum Williamson brought out the cautions after he spun in pits bend.

On the restart it was Harding from David Priolo, James Inglis, Taylor Milling and AJ Nash to round out the top five.

The red lights were on shortly afterwards when Todd Davis and Ryan Lancaster were involved in an incident, also in pits bend.

With eight laps in the books, Inglis was gaining momentum and after a duel with David Priolo that lasted a couple of laps, he managed to get into second and set sail for the leader Harding.

Again the field compressed with 19 to go after Jack Williamson pulled up on the main straight.

As the field regrouped officials relegated both Inglis and Brad Maiolo (who was further down the order) two spots each for infield passes, so this meant that Harding now led away from David Priolo, Milling, Inglis and Nash.

Dayne Kingshott, the local favourite in the Krikke Motorsport entry who started from position seven, got by Jason Kendrick on the back straight for sixth and shortly afterwards Inglis was back up to third.

Nash and Milling were locked in a great battle for fourth with 15 laps remaining.

It was about now that Andrew Priolo was noticeable in his move forward after he started from position 14.

With the unlucky 13 laps remaining David Priolo hit the fence and was out of the contest, so the next time around it was Harding who led away Inglis, Nash, Kingshott and Milling,

With ten laps remaining, Milling had dropped back to seventh, behind Kendrick who started eighth and was unable to move forward.

A lot of attention was now on Callum Williamson who had also moved through the pack from the rear and was up to eighth.

With five laps remaining, Nash slowed on the back straight and at about the same time Kendrick spun around and was collected by Jason Pryde, with the night over for both.

Nash rolled the W9 around to the work area that was now closed for the final 10 laps.

The order board at this moment showed Harding was leading from Inglis, Kingshott, Manders, Williamson, Coyle and Milling, but much more was to unfold.

Manders and Trevor Jolly, who started position 12, both rolled to the infield and when the lights went green, Callum Williamson hustled hard and raced up to third, clearly signalling his intentions.

Kingshott then popped his right rear tyre and this started off a chain reaction that saw tyres blow for Callum Williamson, Maiolo, then Inglis (who was second at this point) and Cameron McKenzie, who started p16.

With two laps remaining the order was now Harding, Coyle, Milling, Mitchell Wormall, Darren Mewett, Andrew Priolo, Matthew Cross and Jack Williamson.

By now it was a game of strategy – push as hard as you could, but try and be as gentle as possible on the tyres which were clearly struggling on a now shiny, black surface that had taken a lot of rubber.

Harding looked like he had done enough to claim his second victory of the season until it was his turn to experience a tyre failure and Coyle took the opportunity to write his name into the record books.

Cross finished fourth after starting from the back of the pack (moving up 18 spots to win the Kincrome Hard Charger award), while Jack Williamson, who originally started position nine, took fifth and Mewett, in one of his last appearances at Bunbury before he retires from racing at the end of the season, spun around to cross the line sixth after contact with Wormall on the main straight, with the latter failing to finish.

The series takes a break before round 15 is held at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday, March 12 which will be the Ampol Legends / retro night.

There are now only five rounds of the 2021-22 series remaining, with the series grand final to be held at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday, April 16.

Kendrick had a 48 points buffer over second-placed Harding in the series championship points heading into this round.

He now has a 40-point lead, however now the gap is back to Williamson who has moved back into second place over Harding.

Kingshott remains in fourth and Maiolo in fifth, while Andrew Priolo has moved up one spot to sixth, while Pryde has dropped back to seventh, Milling has moved up one spot to eighth, Lancaster has dropped back one spot to ninth and Coyle remains in tenth.

Feature: 1st Kris Coyle, 2nd Taylor Milling, 3rd Andrew Priolo, 4th Matthew Cross, 5th Jack Williamson, 6th Darren Mewett. DNF: Mitchell Wormall (29 laps), James Inglis (28), 

Brad Maiolo (28), Callum Williamson (28), Cameron McKenzie (28), Dayne Kingshott (26), AJ Nash (25), Kaiden Manders (25), Jason Kendrick (25), Jason Pryde (26), Trevor Jolly (25), Jaydee Dack (20), David Priolo (17), Ryan Lancaster (5), Todd Davis (5). DQ: Daniel Harding (under weight). DNS: Jarrin Bielby.

Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series championship after 14 rounds: Jason Kendrick 2140 Callum Williamson 2100, Daniel Harding 2022, Dayne Kingshott 1984, Brad Maiolo 1978, Andrew Priolo 1912, Jason Pryde 1904, Taylor Milling 1898, Ryan Lancaster 1866, Kris Coyle 1862, AJ Nash 1682, Mitchell Wormall 1638, Trevor Jolly 1460, Matthew Cross 1452, Jack Williamson 1446, Jaydee Dack 1432, Shaun Bradford 1218, David Priolo 1210, Trent Pigdon 1152, Darren Mewett 1112, Cameron McKenzie 874, James Inglis 730, Todd Davis 654, Kaiden Manders 610, Chace Karpenko 400, Robbie Farr 278, George Eaton 278, Rod Howe 250, Jarrin Bielby 164, Kye Scroop 138.

What’s Next ?

Rd 15 – Ampol Legends / retro night – Perth Motorplex Speedway, Kwinana Beach – March 12

Rd 16 – Silver Cup –  Perth Motorplex Speedway, Kwinana Beach – March 19

Rd 17 – Gold Cup –  Perth Motorplex Speedway, Kwinana Beach  – April 2 – TRIPLE CROWN RD1

Rd 18 – Bunbury Speedway – April 15 – TRIPLE CROWN RD2

Rd 19 – Series Grand Final –  Perth Motorplex Speedway, Kwinana Beach  – April 16 – TRIPLE CROWN RD3

Hoosier Tyre draw winner: Matthew Cross.

Kincrome Hard Charger: Matthew Cross.

Victory 1 Performance Quick Timer: Daniel Harding. – –

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