BROWN AND ELLEMENT LEAD POINTS

Release by DTN Media

All photography courtesy of: Cochrane Photography

With the opening night, Friday February 17, for the Freo Group Pty Ltd WA Formula 500 Championship at the Perth Motorplex it’s former WA Champions Matt Brown and Steven Ellement leading the charge as top pointscorers!

With heat wins going the way of Ryan Higgs, Brown, Chris Dymock and Glenn Carstairs, both Brown and Ellement did enough to qualify off the front row of their respective features: Brown from pole in feature one alongside American visitor Jake Hagopian, while Ellement had the outside front row alongside another former WA Champion in Glenn Carstairs for the second feature.

The first feature race saw an absolute drag race to the line with Brown getting the advantage before Brendon Condren spun, leaving Jayden Maughan nowhere to go but making side to side contact, with Condren just tipping slowly onto his side to bring out the red lights, both able to restart.

The second attempt saw an identical start, Brown and Hagopian drag racing into turn one and Brown grabbing the advantage, this time a lap being completed.

Brown settled into the lead ahead of Hagopian, Chris Dymock, Ryan Higgs and David Sinagra, as the field sprea out quickly.

Brown approached lapped traffic on lap ten, but it did nothing to slow him down, ducking and diving through the cars.

Brendon Condren got back up to sixth but then spun in turn four with a couple of laps remaining, with Robert Rankin doing much the same, but in the end it didn’t affect the front runners, Brown taking the win by over two and a half seconds from Jake Hagopian and Chris Dymock.

The second feature race saw Ellement and Carstairs side by side through the opening turns, Ellement grabbed the lead while Carstairs quickly came under pressure from Mark House, House grabbing second on lap two while Brendon Marshman was loitering behind in fourth looking for a way through.

The top four spread out and began to pull away from the rest of the field, with fifth place South Aussie visitor Jordan Mansell leading the charge of the rest of the field.

Ellement moved into lapped traffic on the tenth circulation, by this point over four seconds ahead of House, with Carstairs and Marshman closing the gap behind him as the race drew closer to its conclusion.

Ellement had found the speed he wanted, going on to grab the win, another to his already huge Perth Motorplex tally, with Mark House coming home second just under six seconds behind while Glenn Carstairs was third.

With the points now tallied, it is Matt Brown the overnight points leader, just one marker ahead of Ellement, while Jake Hagopian, Glenn Carstairs and Chris Dymock rounding out the top five in the standings.

Release by DTN Media.

Feature 1, 15 laps: 1. Matt Brown, 2. Jake Hagopian, 3. Chris Dymock, 4. Ryan Higgs, 5. David Sinagra, 6. Alfonso Guadagnino, 7. Brendan Newmarch, 8. Jayden Maughan (14), 9. Troy Samwell (14), 10. Brendan Condren (13), 11. Robert Rankin (13). DNF: Hayden Pascoe (9), Gavin Casey (2). DNS: Jett Speed. Total Time: 4.12.307. Winning Margin: 2.599. Fastest Lap: 16.493 Matt Brown.

Feature 2, 15 laps: 1. Steven Ellement, 2. Mark House, 3. Glenn Carstairs, 4. Brendon Marshman, 5. Jordan Mansell, 6. Angus Hollis, 7. David Carstairs, 8. Glen Mears, 9. Jake Pobjoy, 10. Jamie Pages (14), 11. Jason Carbone (14), 12. Darren Wood (14), 13. Steve Carter (14). Total Time: 4.13.592. Winning Margin: 5.995. Fastest Lap: 16.667 Steven Ellement.

Top ten points after night one:
1. 4 Matt Brown 203
2. 2 Steven Ellement 202
3. USA9 Jake Hagopian 198
4. 49 Glenn Carstairs 197
5. 3 Chris Dymock 195
6. 24 Mark House 190
7. 36 Brendon Marshman 188
8. 80 David Sinagra 184
9. 7 Ryan Higgs 181
10. V2 Angus Hollis 178