SCROOP WINS MOTORPLEX SEASON OPENER
Feature photo by: Richard Hathaway Photography…Kye Scroop celebrates his maiden win – at the Perth Motorplex Speedway on Saturday night.
Kye Scroop struck first blood in the 2022-23 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series in front of a good crowd at the Perth Motorplex Speedway, Saturday night, October 22.
Photo by: Cochrane Photography
And there was more reason to celebrate as it was Scroop’s maiden open sprintcar feature race win – parking the Trevor Jolly W18 in victory lane ahead of Jason Kendrick and Taylor Milling.
The first round of the series was part of Power Palooza 6 – a multi-faceted show that started with Drag Racing, including Top Doorslammers, a jet car demonstration, burnouts, fireworks, a couple of monster trucks and a Super Speedway show.
Scroop started from p1 for the final after the highest point scorer Ryan Lancaster opted to start on the outside of the front row.
He got the jump at the start from AJ Nash, who started from P4, Mitchell Wormall, who started from P3 and David Priolo who got a good start after charging through from P10 early.
Andrew Priolo, who posted a DNF in his heat race after contact with Kris Coyle put both of them on the infield at the start of the night, pulled infield on the second lap with steering box issues.
David Priolo and Jason Kendrick, who started from p7, were putting pressure on Wormall and not long afterwards, as Scroop was just starting to make his way into traffic, the red lights came on after contact between Todd Davis and Jack Williamson at the end of the main straight.
On the restart Scroop led away from Nash, Wormall, Kendrick and David Priolo and it was Priolo who got motoring again and started to move forward after disposing of Wormall, while Kendrick was in front of Milling, who was pushing forward after starting from p11.
Shortly afterwards Nash drove the W9 to the infield, surrendering second spot.
This was a disappointing blow for the third-generation racer who earlier in the night set the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time and had a fourth in his heat race.
With 10 laps in the books Scroop was unbothered by all of the commotion going on behind him and was leading from Priolo, Wormall, Kendrick and Milling.
A lap later Wormall claimed second as Priolo appeared to be struggling and he eventually slipped back a few more spots before he spun out and onto the bike track in turn two.
He was towed to the work area but was unable to get the car back on track in the allocated time.
On the next restart Scroop led from Wormall, Kendrick, Milling and Daniel Harding who started from p13 and was looking to finish the night strong after he earlier took a third in the speedcar feature race.
With 16 laps to go Kendrick and Milling both got by Wormall and with 12 laps to go Scroop had given himself a small buffer from the challengers in heavy traffic.
Two laps later Kendrick got by some of the back markers and closed the gap on Scroop.
In the latter stages Kendrick was right on the tail of Scroop but was unable to mount a serious challenge and this allowed Milling to also close the margin when back in third.
Ultimately Scroop showed everyone the quickest way to complete the 30 laps, taking the popular win.
It was a great result for the substitute driver who drove for Jolly, with success, for a handful of shows last season, while Jolly was busy with work commitments in Karratha.
Post-race Scroop said he wasn’t sure a couple of weeks ago if he was contesting this show, until he got the call up.
Harding finished fourth, moving up nine spots, while Trent Pigdon moved up one spot after starting from p6.
Defending series champion Callum Williamson started 12th in the final and he moved up six spots by the end of the race, while Jaydee Dack improved one spot from his p8 start.
James Inglis took eighth after dropping three spots, while Brad Maiolo started and finished 9th and Dayne Kingshott, who was third overall in the series last year, took 10th after starting from p21.
He dropped valuable points after banging the concrete fence in his heat race and being a non-finisher.
Lancaster’s hopes of a podium finish vanished after he started on the front row, but slipped back to 11th, while Kris Coyle, was a non-finisher in his race race, moved up from P23 to take 12th
Victorian Brenton Farrer, upon debut in WA, finished 13th, moving up three spots, while Jason Pryde started and finished in 14th and Troy Lawson moved up three spots to take 15th.
George Eaton was 16th after moving up two spots, while Wormall was 17th. Nathan Swan, was a non-finisher.
The second round of the series will be held at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday, November 5 for the City of Kwinana Westernapolis.
RESULTS:
Qualifying:
Group 1: James Inglis 13.387, Jaydee Dack 13.627, Mitch Wormall 13.721, Taylor Milling 13.760, Todd Davis 13.878, Brenton Farrer 14.275,
George Eaton 14.611.
Group 2: AJ Nash 13.145, Trent Pigdon 13.307, Ryan Lancaster 13.355, Brad Maiolo 13.353, Andrew Priolo 13.415, Daniel Harding 13.621,
Jack Williamson 13.657, Kris Coyle 13.734.
Group 3: Dayne Kingshott 13.297, Jason Kendrick 13.333, Kye Scroop 13.462, David Priolo 13.472, Callum Williamson 13.521, Jason Pryde 13.734,
Troy Lawson 14.122, Nathan Swan 15.175.
Heat 1: 1st Mitchell Wormall, 2nd Taylor Milling, 3rd Jaydee Dack, 4th James Inglis, 5th Brenton Farrer, 6th Todd Davis, 7th George Eaton.
Heat 2: 1st Ryan Lancaster, 2nd Brad Maiolo, 3rd Trent Pigdon, 4th AJ Nash, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Jack Williamson.
DNF: Kris Coyle and Andrew Priolo.
Heat 3: 1st Kye Scroop, 2nd David Priolo, 3rd Jason Kendrick, 4th Callum Williamson, 5th Jason Pryde, 6th Troy Lawson, 7th Nathan Swan.
DNF: Dayne Kingshott.
Feature race: 1st Kye Scoop, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Taylor Milling, 4th Daniel Harding,
5th Trent Pigdon, 6th Callum Williamson, 7th Jaydee Dack, 8th James Inglis, 9th Brad Maiolo, 10th Dayne Kingshott, 11th Ryan Lancaster, 12th Kris Coyle,
13th Brenton Farrer, 14th Jason Pryde, 15th Troy Lawson, 16th George Eaton, 17th Mitchell Wormall: DNF: Nathan Swan, David Priolo, AJ Nash,
Todd Davis, Jack Williamson and Andrew Priolo.
What’s next?
Rd2: November 5:
City of Kwinana Westernapolis – Perth Motorplex Speedway, Kwinana Beach:
Rd3: November 19
Scardifields Smash Repairs King of Wings – Perth Motorplex Speedway, Kwinana Beach:
Rd4: December 3:
WA Sprintcar Championship – John Day Classic – Speedway, Kwinana Beach:
MACEDO’S TULARE USAC MIDGET WIN