A SWEET SPEEDWEEK GRAND FINAL VICTORY

Feature photo by: Peter Roebuck

American Brad Sweet claimed the WA Speedweek Grand Final at Perth Motorplex Saturday night, January 13, from local Callum Williamson and fellow American visitor Brock Zearfoss.

It was the third win from five outings for the five-time World of Outlaws Champion – taking this win after starting from position three – and biding his time in a demanding track that took rubber and was hard on tyres due to the extreme weather conditions in Perth.

He now heads back to America to prepare for the start of the High Limit Racing Sprintcar series on the back of a second and a DNF in his only other WA outings.

Sweet started the night with a fourth in his qualifying group and then took a third in his heat race and a second in the A Dash.

He slipped into second early behind early race leader Jason Kendrick before dropping back to third and then by lap four was up into second where he stayed before putting a move on Zearfoss who led from much of the middle sector.

Sweet made the telling move with about seven laps to go, setting up the popular win.

Williamson, thanks to a win, a pair of seconds, a third, a fourth and an eighth from the last six shows, claimed the Speedweek crown after his main rival heading into the last round, American Rico Abreu, was involved in an incident on the back straight and was unable to have the front-end of the USA24 replaced in time in the work area after only a couple of laps completed.

Williamson was second quickest in his qualifying group before racing to wins in both his heat race and A Dash to start on the front row with Kendrick.

Zearfoss, who was quickest in his qualifying group, went from fourth to second in his heat race, and took a second in the B Dash, started the final from p4.

He looked strong on a couple of restarts before taking the lead, only to lose it to Sweet in the dying stages.

James Inglis, who started from p10, crossed the line in fourth, while Jason Pryde, who started from p14, was impressive to take fifth, a gain of nine places against tough opposition, to be this round’s Kincrome Hard Charger award winner.

Kendrick finally found some form and started the feature race from p2 after taking wins in his heat race and B Dash.

After leading early, he was unable to maintain that momentum but crossed the line in sixth place.

Series points leader Dayne Kingshott started from p8 and finished seventh, while Kaiden Manders started from p12 and finished 8th.

Kris Coyle had a tough night but managed to salvage the show in the feature race, starting from p16 and finishing ninth, while Victorian Brenten Farrer was 10th after starting from 15.

Jamie Maiolo gained two spots to be 11th, ahead of Andrew Priolo who made up five spots to be 12th and AJ Nash who started 23rd and finished 13th.

Ken Sartori was 14th, in front of Jack Williamson and Tim King as the other finishers.

Trent Pigdon had a mixed night, setting the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time before being involved in an incident with Jaydee Dack in the first heat that saw both of them fail to finish.

Pigdon was able to repair the front-end of the W19 and qualified at the back end of the final after winning the B Main – he was a non-finisher in the A Main.

There was too much damage for Dack who was out for the night and also feeling sore from the big crash.

It was a similar outcome for Mitchell Wormall who crashed in his heat race and was also out for the night.

Taylor Milling was one of the hard luck stories of the night, winning the second heat and then starting on the front row with Williamson in the A Dash.

As he was attempting a move around the outside of Williamson, there was contact between the cars and he was out of the race with both rear tyres deflated.

He gained enough points to start p11 in the final but crashed out hard on the first lap with Ryan Lancaster, who has also endured a run of bad luck, being caught up in the incident and also being out.

Brad Maiolo activated the caught lights a few moments later against the turn three concrete fence.

The fourth American in the field, Cory Eliason, had a night he would rather forget after a p5 start.

He spun on the first lap and resumed from the rear before slowing and heading infield with 12 laps remaining.

Sprintcar racing now takes a break in Western Australia to allow competitors to travel east for the Australian Sprintcar Championship and the Warrnambool Classic, both in Victoria.

The WA series resumes with the LJM Sprintcar Grand Prix at Bunbury Speedway on Saturday, February 3.

RESULTS

Qualifying group 1: Trent Pigdon 13.380, Callum Williamson 13.448, Jaydee Dack 13.574, Brad Sweet 13.649, Brad Maiolo 13.701, Ryan Lancaster 13.774, Brenten Farrer 13.775, Cameron McKenzie 14.126, Tim King 14.242.

Group 2:  Cory Eliason 13.489, Mitchell Wormall 13.693, Taylor Milling 13.766, Jason Pryde 13.868, Rico Abreu 13.942, Jack Williamson 14.001, Jamie Maiolo 14.030, Kye Scroop 14.039, Kris Coyle 14.170, AJ Nash 14.240.

Group 3: Brock Zearfoss 13.616, Dayne Kingshott 13.889, Jason Kendrick 13.897, James Inglis 14.002, Kaiden Manders 14.175, Andrew Priolo 14.298, Ken Sartori 14.517, Brock Kenny 14.577, Myles Bolgers 15.017.

Heat 1: 1st Callum Williamson, 2nd Ryan Lancaster, 3rd Brad Sweet, 4th Brad Maiolo, 5th Cameron McKenzie, 6th Brenten Farrer, 7th Tim King. DNF: Trent Pigdon and Jaydee Dack.

Heat 2: 1st Taylor Milling, 2nd Rico Abreu, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Cory Eliason, 5th Kris Coyle, 6th AJ Nash, 7th Jason Pryde, 8th Jack Williamson, 9th Kye Scroop. DNF: Mitchell Wormall.

Heat 3: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Brock Zearfoss, 3rd Kaiden Manders, 4th James Inglis, 5th Dayne Kingshott, 6th Andrew Priolo, 7th Brock Kenny, 8th Ken Sartori, 9th Myles Bolger.

A Dash: 1st Callum Williamson, 2nd Brad Sweet, 3rd Cory Eliason, 4th Ryan Lancaster, 5th Brad Maiolo. DNF: Taylor Milling.

B Dash: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Brock Zeafross, 3rd Rico Abreu, 4th Dayne Kingshott, 5th James Inglis, 6th Kaiden Manders.

Midpack Madness: 1st Jamie Maiolo, 2nd Jason Pryde, 3rd Brenten Farrer, 4th Kris Coyle, 5th Andrew Priolo, 6th Cameron McKenzie, 7th Jack Williamson, 8th Ken Sartori.

B Main: 1st Trent Pigdon, 2nd Brock Kenny, 3rd Al Nash, 4th Tim King, 5th Kye Scroop. DNF: Myles Bolger, DNS: Jaydee Dack and Mitchell Wormall.

Feature race: 1st Brad Sweet, 2nd Callum Williamson, 3rd Brock Zearfoss, 4th James Inglis, 5th Jason Pryde, 6th Jason Kendrick, 7th Dayne Kingshott, 8th Kaiden Manders, 9th Kris Coyle, 10th Brenten Farrer, 11th Jamie Maiolo, 12th Andrew Priolo, 13th AJ Nash, 14th Ken Sartori, 15th Jack Williamson, 16th Tim King. DNF Brock Kenny, Cameron McKenzie, Cory Eliason, Trent Pigdon, 

Rico Abreu, Bradley Maiolo, Ryan Lancaster and Taylor Milling.

WA Speedweek final points after 6 rounds, top 30: Callum Williamson 862, Rico Abreu 830, Dayne Kingshott 830, Brock Zearfoss 818, Kaiden Manders 796, James Inglis 796, 

Jamie Maiolo 794, Cory Eliason 778, Bradley Maiolo 762, Kris Coyle 744, Ryan Lancaster 736, Taylor Milling 730, Jason Kendrick 730, Jason Pryde 706, Brad Sweet 702, Andrew Priolo 702, 

Trent Pigdon 628, Jaydee Dack 600, Brenten Farrer 594, Cameron McKenzie 564, Jack Williamson 542, Mitchell Wormall 538, Luke Oldfield 508, Brock Kenny 502, Kye Scroop 486, Ken Sartori 398, 

Lynton Jeffrey 280, AJ Nash 280, Aaron Chircop 256, Nathan Swan 250.

Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series points after 10 of 18 rounds, top 30: Dayne Kingshott 1686, James Inglis 1664, Bradley Maiolo 1596, Kaiden Manders 1578, Jamie Maiolo 1574, Jason Kendrick 1564, Kris Coyle 1508, Andrew Priolo 1504, Ryan Lancaster 1478, Taylor Milling 1476, Jason Pryde 1464, Trent Pigdon 1396, Jaydee Dack 1334, Callum Williamson 1298, Kye Scroop 1180, Mitchell Wormall 1150, Cameron McKenzie 1060, Jack Williamson 1036, AJ Nash 1026, Ken Sartori 1014, Brock Kenny 940, Rico Abreu 936, Brenten Farrer 882, Brad Sweet 852, Brock Zearfoss 818, Cory Eliason 778, Luke Oldfield 696, Matthew Cross 694, Nathan Swan 662 and Tim Boujous 574.

Victory 1 Performance Quick Time: Trent Pigdon.

Hoosier tyre draws: Myles Bolger and Jaydee Dack.

Kincome Hard Charger: Jason Pryde.

Wilson’s Brewing Company Best Presented: Jason Pryde

Jokers played this round (last round of 5 opportunities):  Trent Pigdon, Kye Scroop, AJ Nash, Cameron McKenzie, Brock Kenny, Brenten Farrer, Tim King, Myles Bolger, Ken Sartori, Rico Abreu and Brad Sweet.

Upcoming rounds:

February 3: LJM Sprintcar Grand Prix

Bunbury Speedway

Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series Round 11.

February 9: Barbagallo Australian Sprintcar Nationals Night 1

Perth Motorplex Speedway:

February 10: Barbagallo Australian Sprintcar Nationals Night 2