PERTH MOTORPLEX: SEAVEY IS MAGIC MAN CHAMPION!

Feature photo by: Cochrane Photography

American Logan Seavey (Logan Seavey Racing) continued the US stronghold on the Magic Man race when he drove his Travis White Racing #38 entry to a hard-fought win in the feature event at Perth Motorplex, Wednesday, March 6.

Photo by: Richard Hathaway Photography.

On a night that saw a world class field fighting it out and records lowered, Seavey stood tall when it mattered, though he certainly didn’t have it all his own way in an event that was doubling as the final hit out for the division ahead of this weekend’s Mobil 1 Australian Speedcar Championship.

The night began with Seavey’s fellow countryman Justin Grant, aboard the Dyson Motorsport #99 machine, setting the quickest time in qualifying and in the process resetting the record books, knocking off the previous Dayne Kingshott record set in 2019.

Heat wins were shared by Grant, Kiwi Michael Pickens (Michael Pickens/Graham Jones Racing) and Kaiden Manders (DGR – Dan Golding Racing), while Manders won the A Dash (also in record time, resetting a twenty three year old record) for the right to start on pole in the feature race and Seavey the B Dash to start alongside him.

Americans Daniel Whitley and Jade Avedisian (Aved Racing – Jade Avedisian), both in their first events at the Perth Motorplex and indeed in Australia, won the Mid Pack Dash and Last Chance Qualifiers.

Manders got the jump as the feature went green, but Seavey and Grant were right on his tail, one high, one low, as they looked for a way through.

Seavey got past Manders on the line by 0.002 seconds to lead lap one, and the next lap the battle really heated up with Grant right in there with the top two, but it would all come to a halt as a number of cars came together back in the pack, resulting in Patrick Watson (Watson Racing Team) rolling over coming out of turn two.

The restart saw Seavey away from Manders with Grant, Pickens and Tom Payet (Bennett Motorsport) right there and ready to pounce.

Lap four saw Manders dive low through turn three to pass Seavey for the lead but Seavey was up to the task, passing Manders back and moving away while Grant took his opportunity to also move past Manders.

Seavey and Grant then fought side by side for the lead, but the yellows came on again, this time for Jake Robinson (Robinson Motorsport) who spun in turn two, with Jade Avedisian also relegated to the rear after passing a car before on the cone at the previous restart.

Grant and Seavey immediately picked up their battle on the restart, Seavey just able to hold the lead while Manders was now under siege from Pickens, who got by on lap eight, but Manders came right back and regained third on lap nine by 0.013 seconds.

Lap after lap Seavey and Grant battled t out, pulling away from Manders who by now had put a gap between himself and Pickens.

Behind them was a three-car dice between Payet, Daniel Harding (DGR – Dan Golding Racing) and another American visitor, Alex Bright (Graham Jones Racing), for sixth.

Lapped traffic came into play on lap fourteen, but it made no difference at the front as they maintained their position and continued to battle hard.

In the end, though, it was all Seavey as he raced away to a solid win, giving him his second Memorial victory at the Motorplex this season, having previously claimed the John Day Classic in what was the best possible lead into this weekend’s Australian Championship.

Grant settled for second while Manders was pleased to finish on the podium amongst some amazingly skilled company.

The Wednesday night show was a great way to get final preparations done for this weekend’s Australian Championship, and with plenty

Release by DTN Media.

RESULTS:

Qualifying One, 2 laps: 1. Justin Grant 15.506 RECORD, 2. Nicholas Rowe 18.897, 3. Alfonso Guadagnino 16.013, 4. Cody Nash 16.295, 5. Beau Doyle 16.362, 6. Patrick Watson 16.459, 7. Daniel Whitley 16.523, 8. Rob Golding 16.590, 9. Robert Heard 16.699, 10. Tyson Bryden NTT.

Qualifying Two, 2 laps: 1. Tom Payet 15.774, 2. Michael Pickens 15.795, 3. Alex Bright 15.840, 4. Kaidon Brown 15.964, 5. Matt Jackson 16.096, 6. Glen Mears 16.290, 7. Lee Austen 16.371, 8. Joel Watson 16.486, 9. Jake Robinson 16.565, 10. Steven Henderson 16.800.

Qualifying Three, 2 laps: 1. Logan Seavey 15.708, 2. Daniel Harding 15.767, 3. Kaiden Manders 15.824, 4. Keenan Fleming 16.131, 5. Cory Smith 16.541, 6. Aron Sharp 16.563, 7. Zoe Pearce 16.721, 8. Declan Minchin 16.949, 9. Bart Curnow 17.498. DQ: Jade Avedisian.

Heat 1, 8 laps: 1. Justin Grant, 2. Alfonso Guadagnino, 3. Nick Rowe, 4. Cody Nash, 5. Daniel Whitley, 6. Patrick Watson, 7. Beau Doyle, 8. Robert Heard. DNF: Rob Golding (5). DNS: Tyson Bryden. Total Time: 2.08.628. Winning Margin: 4.405. Fastest Lap: 15.850 Justin Grant.

Heat 2, 8 laps: 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Tom Payet, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Kaidon Brown, 5. Matthew Jackson, 6. Glen Mears, 7. Joel Watson, 8. Lee Austen, 9. Steven Henderson, 10. Jake Robinson. Total Time: 2.10.677. Winning Margin: 1.433. Fastest Lap: 16.145 Michael Pickens.

Heat 3, 8 laps: 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Daniel Harding, 4. Keenan Fleming, 5. Jade Avedisian, 6. Zoe Pearce, 7. Cory Smith, 8. Declan Minchin, 9. Aron Sharp, 10. Bart Curnow. Total Time: 2.10.275. Winning Margin: 0.756. Fastest Lap: 16.113 Kaiden Manders.

A Dash, 6 laps: 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Tom Payet, 4. Alex Bright, 5. Keenan Fleming, 6. Nicholas Rowe. Total Time: 1.36.221 RECORD. Winning Margin: 1.761. Fastest Lap: 15.876 Kaiden Manders.

B Dash, 6 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Michael Pickens, 3. Daniel Harding, 4. Cody Nash, 5. Kaidon Brown, 6. Alfonso Guadagnino. Total Time: 1.37.521. Winning Margin: 0.513. Fastest Lap: 16.005 Logan Seavey.

Mid Pack Dash, 6 laps: 1. Daniel Whitley, 2. Beau Doyle, 3. Glen Mears, 4. Patrick Watson, 5. Matthew Jackson, 6. Zoe Pearce, 7. Lee Austen, 8. Cory Smith. Total Time: 1.40.670. Winning Margin: 2.657. Fastest Lap: 16.493 Daniel Whitley.

Last Chance Qualifier, 10 laps: 1. Jade Avedisian, 2. Joel Watson, 3. Robert Heard, 4. Declan Minchin, 5. Jake Robinson, 6. Rob Golding, 7. Aron Sharp, 8. Bart Curnow (9). DNF: Steven Henderson ( , Tyson Bryden (0). Total Time: 2.46.942. Winning Margin: 5.519. Fastest Lap: 16.442 Jade Avedisian.

Feature, 20 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kaiden Manders, 4. Michael Pickens, 5. Tom Payet, 6. Daniel Harding, 7. Alex Bright, 8. Kaidon Brown, 9. Daniel Whitley, 10. Keenan Fleming, 11. Nicholas Rowe, 12. Alfonso Guadagnino, 13. Lee Austen, 14. Declan Minchin (19), 15. Glen Mears (19), 16. Joel Watson (19), 17. Zoe Pearce (19), 18. Aron Sharp (19), 19. Cory Smith (19), 20. Matthew Jackson (19), 21. Rob Golding (19), 22. Jake Robinson (19), 23. Robert Heard (19). DNF: Jade Avedisian (16), Cody Nash (10), Patrick Watson (1). DNS: Beau Doyle. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.579. Fastest Lap: 16.549 Logan Seavey