McFADDEN’S BUNBURY MADDINGTON SPRINTCAR SERIES ROUND WIN
McFADDEN’S BUNBURY MADDINGTON TOYOTA SERIES ROUND WIN
Photography by: Richard Hathaway Photography.
James McFadden continued his strong run in the Brady Motorsport 23, winning round 10 of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series at Bunbury Speedway, January 1.
McFadden started from position three for the 30-lap final and after switching spots with Kerry Madsen on lap 17 (up to that point Madsen had led all the way), he was never challenged in the run to the checkers.
Ryan Newton, who started from position eight, grabbed second in the dying stages, relegating Madsen to third.
The Brook’s Hire New Year’s Day Sprintcar show victory was McFadden’s fourth win since joining forces with the Brady family-owned team, headed by former racer Sheldon Brady.
He was second in his qualifying group and then took a heat race win after starting from position three.
“The team is firing on all cylinders, all eight of them, the KRE is ripping,” McFadden said.
“Our car, we basically ran the same as we ran at Kwinana and it went around the track nice.”
He described the race track as “brutal”, saying it was “tough to keep it on all four wheels”.
“I just try to be a conservative as I can and keep it on all four wheels because it is a lot of work for the guys tomorrow if you wreck a race car,” McFadden said.
“We were fortunate enough to get through traffic good and capitalise when Kerry made a mistake.”
Newton’s position eight start came after he was third quickest in his qualifying group, setting up a front row start in his heat race which he won.
He held down fifth from lap 10 to lap 28, before claiming another three scalps in two laps to be runner up.
The Queenslander has contested all 10 rounds of the series so far, either in his regular Q66 or in the Monte Motorsport W17.
He said it “was a real racy track and you could move around”.
Newton said the surface “came alive” in the last couple of laps.
“I pulled my wing back a little bit and the car took off, so I could just run around those guys and they were stuck behind lapped cars,” Newton said.
For Madsen it was a case of so near, yet so far after looking solid in the Diamond Bay Motorsport W26 for the first 17 laps.
He was third in his qualifying group and took full advantage of a front row start in his heat race to claim a win.
Madsen won the Revolution Racegear B Dash, setting up a front row start with Keen.
He was “a little disappointed”, especially after leading for so long,
“You just had to be really careful with the lapped cars I thought,” Madsen said.
“I had my chances, so nothing to complain about.”
Despite surrendering the lead, it was his best result since starting with the team before Christmas.
Former Australian Champion Jock Goodyer started and finished fourth, while Gio Scelzi was fifth (after starting p6),
Matt Egel started 11th and finished sixth, ahead of Justin Whittall, from fifth to seventh, Brock Zearfoss from 16th to eighth, Jamie Maiolo, from 12th to ninth (he was also the only WA driver to finish in the top 10) and Matt Juhl who rounded out the top 10 after starting from ninth.
Taylor Milling moved up three spots to be 11th, ahead of Jack Wiliamson, position 13 to position 12, Cory Eliason, position 20 to position 13, Kris Coyle, position 21 to position 14, Dayne Kingshott, position 17 to position 15, Ryan Lancaster, from position 25 to 16 to be this round’s Kincrome Hard Charger, Callum Williamson, from position 18 to position 17, Luke Oldfield, position 26 to position 18, Kaiden Manders position 22 to position18, Aaron Chircop, position 19 to position 21, Jaydee Dack, position 27 to position 22 and Myles Bolger, position 24 to position 22.
Daniel Harding was out earlier after tagging the fence, while Brad Sweet flipped in turns 1-2 on lap 10.
Andrew Priolo, who started from position seven and Michael Keen, who started on pole after winning the Revolution Racegear A Dash, were non-finishers after clashing on the exit of turn four on the last lap.
Goodyear started the show strong by setting the Victory 1 Performance Quickest Time, while Lancaster won the B Main.
The King Racing Products Midpack was cancelled due to time restrictions.
Round 11 of the series will be held at the Perth Motorplex January 2, being the Merger Contracting Sprintcar Muster.
Results
Qualifying 1: Michael Keen 13.850, Justin Whittall 13.859, Matt Juhl 13.984, Joel Ettridge 14.001, Aaron Chircop 14.002, Myles Bolger 14.503, Brooke Newson ntt.
Qualifying 2: Jamie Maiolo 13.828, Callum Williamson 13.867, Kerry Madsen 13.872, Taylor Milling 13.970, Brad Sweet 13.990, Cory Eliason 14.007, Kaiden Manders 14.128, Ryan Lancaster 14.133.
Qualifying 3: Gio Scelzi 13.871, James McFadden 14.005, Matt Egel 14.084, Andrew Priolo 14.104, Dayne Kingshott 14.303, Jaydee Dack 14.723, Luke Oldfield ntt.
Qualifying 4: Jock Goodyer 13.767, Jack Williamson 13.818, Brooke Newton 13.988, Brad Maiolo 14.092, Brock Zearfoss 14.119, Daniel Harding 14.331, Jason Kendrick 14.370.
Heat 1: 1st Matt Juhl, 2nd Justin Whittall, 3rd Michael Keen, 4th Kris Coyle, 5th Aaron Chircop, 6th Myles Bolger. DNF Joel Ettridge, DNS Brooke Newson.
Heat 2: 1st Kerry Madsen, 2nd Brad Sweet, 3rd Taylor Milling, 4th Cory Eliason, 5th Kaiden Manders, 6th Jamie Maiolo, 7th Ryan Lancaster, 8th Callum Williamson.
Heat 3: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Andrew Priolo, 3rd Matt Egel, 4th Dayne Kinghott, 5th Gio Scelzi, 6th Luke Oldfield, 7th Jaydee Dack.
Heat 4: 1st Ryan Newton, 2nd Brad Maiolo, 3rd Jock Goodyer, 4th Brock Zearfoss, 5th Jack Williamson, 6th Daniel Harding. DNF: Jason Kendrick.
Revolution Racegear A Dash: 1st Michael Keen, 2nd James McFadden, 3rd Justin Whittall, 4th Andrew Priolo, 5th Matt Juhl, 6th Matt Egel.
Revolution Racegear B Dash: 1st Kerry Madsen, 2nd Jock Goodyer, 3rd Gio Scelzi, 4th Ryan Newton, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Jamie Maiolo.
B Main: 1st Ryan Lancaster, 2nd Luke Oldfield, 3rd Jaydee Dack, 4th Joel Ettridge, 5th Jason Kendrick. DNF Brooke Newson.
A Main: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Ryan Newton, 3rd Kerry Madsen, 4th Jock Goodyer, 5th Gio Scelzi, 6th Matt Egel, 7th Justin Whittall, 8th Brock Zeafross, 9th Jamie Maiolo, 10th Matt Juhl, 11th Taylor Milling, 12th Jack Williamson, 13th Cory Eliason, 14th Kris Coyle, 15th Dayne Kingshott, 16th Ryan Lancaster, 17th Callum Williamson, 18th Luke Oldfield, 19th Kaiden Manders, 20th Brad Maiolo, 21st Aaron Chircop, 22nd Jaydee Dack, 23rd Myles Bolger. DNF: Andrew Priolo, Michael Keen, Daniel Harding and Brad Sweet.
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