McFADDEN IS WA SPRINTCAR CHAMPION

James McFadden is the 62nd winner of the WA Sprintcar Championship.

The former national champion was the super sub for the Williamson Motorsport W3 with regular driver Callum Williamson sidelined with health issues.

In his first appearance in Australia this summer, McFadden won the drawn out 35-lap feature race from James Inglis and Jason Kendrick at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, December 2.

McFadden arrived in WA earlier in the week and used a midweek practice session at the Motorplex to get accustomed to the W3.

This paid dividends as he set the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time at the start of the show before taking a pair of seconds in his heat races – the first being after starting on the front row, while the second was after the second round of heats was inverted and he started from P10.

McFadden was jumped at the start of the final by Inglis who led until just after a restart with 19 laps remaining.

In lapped traffic he held enough of an advantage to take the win, with the margin being 0.721 of a second.

The race was not even a lap in when several cars were involved in an incident that saw Jamie Veal go to the rear of the field on the restart while Trent Pigdon, Dayne Kingshott, Jamie Maiolo and Ken Sartori all went to the work area.

All but Pigdon repaired and resumed in time for the next restart that was aborted after Kris Coyle had a big roll on the main straight and was out of the contest.

This stoppage was enough time for Pigdon to return to the track.

David Priolo, a late nomination, was the cause of the next restart after he hit the pits bend fence, ending his campaign.

A lap later and Kye Scroop, Kingshott and AJ Nash were all in the wars on the main straight that only saw Scroop get another start – which only lasted a lap before he rolled, drawing another red light.

Kendrick, who started from P10 and was fourth at this stage, got by Brad Maiolo to move a spot.

Ryan Lancaster, who crashed in the third heat race and had to qualify via the B Main, rolled on the main straight, ending his campaign – only moments before Veal parked the Monte Motorsport W17 on the infield.

Queenslander Luke Oldfield got underneath Jason Pryde for fifth on the restart, just before Kaide Manders, who was also racing a speedcar on the night, spun in turn two.

On the next green light McFadden hit the lead to set up his win.

For Inglis it was his third podium finish of the season, on the back of another second and a win.

After being seventh quickest in qualifying, he took a third and a win in his heat races.

Kendrick’s third was a big result after starting from P10, and he was followed over the line by Brad Maiolo (from p8), Mitchell Wormall (from p20), Luke Oldfield (from p14), Jason Pryde (from p15), Taylor Milling (from p5), Jamie Maiolo (from p6) and Jaydee Dack who rounded out the top 10 after starting from P18.

Other finishers were Andrew Priolo in 11th (from p16) and Kyle Francis in 12th after starting from p24).

RESULTS

Qualifying: James McFadden 13.358, Taylor Milling 13.461, Trent Pigdon 13.559, Jamie Veal 13.582, Bradley Maiolo 13.610, Jamie Maiolo 13.652, James Inglis 13.666, Dayne Kingshott 13.695, Kaiden Manders 13.707, Kye Scroop 13.712, Jason Kendrick 13.746, David Priolo 13.789, Ken Sartori 13.816, Luke Oldfield 13.834, Mitchell Wormall 13.879, Jaydee Dack 13.881, Andrew Priolo 13.899, Brenten Farrer 13.943, AJ Nash 13.948, Jason Pryde 13.970, Ryan Lancaster 13.995, Jack Williamson 14.000, Kris Coyle 14.096, Tim King 14.195, Tim Boujos 14.286, Brock Kenny 14.302, Kyle Francis 14.365, Todd Davis 14.417, Nathan Swan 14.286, Rod Howe 15.843.

Heat 1: 1st Jamie Veal, 2nd James McFadden, 3rd James Inglis, 4th Jaydee Dack, 5th Ken Sartori, 6th Kye Scroop, 7th Tim Boujos, 8th Jack Williamson, 9th Todd Davis.

Heat 2: 1st Brad Maiolo, 2nd Taylor Milling, 3rd Dayne Kingshott, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th Kris Coyle, 6th Andrew Priolo, 7th Jason Pryde, 8th Luke Oldfield, 9th Brock Kenny and 10th Nathan Swan.

Heat 3: 1st Trent Pigdon, 2nd David Priolo, 3rd Jamie Maillo, 4th Tim King, 5th Kyle Francis, 6th Rod Howe.

Heat 4: 1st Todd Davis, 2nd Jason Pryde, 3rd Dayne Kingshot, 4th Luke Oldfield, 5th Jamie Veal, 6th Jack Williamson, 7th Taylor Milling, 8th Jaydee Dack, 9th Kye Scroop, 10th Brock Kenny.

Heat 5: 1st Mitchell Wormall, 2nd Kris Coyle, 3rd Ryan Lancaster, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th Kaiden Manders, 6th Andrew Priolo, 7th Trent Pigdn, 8th Brad Maiolo, 9th Kyle Francis, 10th Nathan Swan.

Heat 6: 1st James Inglis, 2nd James McFadden, 3rd Tim Boujos, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th David Priolo, 6th Ken Sartori, 7th Rod Howe.

B Main: 1st Tim Boujos, 2nd Mitchell Wormall, 3rd Jack Williamson, 4th AJ Nash, 5th Ryan Lancaster, 6th Kyle Francis. DNF: Rod Howe and Nathan Swan. DNS: Brenten Farrer.

Feature race: 1st James McFadden, 2nd James Inglis, 3rd Jason Kendrick, 4th Brad Maiolo, 5th Mitchell Wormall, 6th Luke Oldfield, 7th Jason Pryde, 8th Taylor Milling, 9th Jamie Maiolo, 10th Jaydee Dack, 11th Andrew Priolo, 12th Kyle Francis. DNF: Tim Boujos, Kaiden Manders, Jamie Veal, Ryan Lancaster, Kye Scroop, Trent Pigdon, Dayne Kingshott, AJ Nash, Jack Williamson, David Priolo, Ken Sartori and Kris Coyle.

Victory 1 Performance Quick Time: James McFadden.

Hoosier tyre draw: Rod Howe.

Wilson Brewing Co Best Presented: Brad Maiolo.

Upcoming rounds:

Rd5 – Perth Motorplex – December 26 – Speedweek Rd1

Rd6 – Perth Motorplex – December 28 – Merger Contracting Sprintcar Muster Speedweek Rd2

Rd7 – Bunbury Speedway – January 1 – New Year Sprintcar Bash – Speedweek Rd3