KENDRICK BREAKS TWO-YEAR DROUGHT WITH BUNBURY WIN

Jason Kendrick claimed round 16 of the 2023-24 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series at Bunbury Speedway on Saturday night, from James Inglis and Ryan Lancaster.

It was Kendrick’s first feature race win in more than two years on a night when the Kendrick Racing Team driver hardly put a foot wrong. He started out being third quickest in his qualifying group and third overall with a 13.069 second lap, only being bettered by Victory 1 Performance Quick Timer Jamie Veal’s 12.887 and Taylor Milling’s 13.003.

Kendrick then started from P2 in his heat race and won that from Veal and Lancaster.He started from p1 in the B Dash and crossed the line ahead of Lancaster and Jason Pryde, setting up a start on the front row with Inglis, the defending series champion.Inglis was quickest in the opening qualifying group with a 13.105 second lap, which put him out of four in his heat race, which he converted into a third place finish.

He then started from p2 in the A Dash, on the outside of Veal and he won that, giving him the front row start for the 30-lap feature race, where he elected to start from the outside row.

The start of the final was a drawn-out affair – firstly when Todd Davis spun, and then on the next attempt, there was contact between a series of cars which eliminated Veal – with the Monte Motorsport crew electing to take the car direct to the pits rather than the infield work area.

Sadly it was the end of the show too for Queenslander Dylan Menz in the Trevor Jolly Racing 18, with officials exercising caution in getting him out of the car before he walked to the ambulance for medical assessment.

Kris Coyle, who originally started from p9 and series points leader Dayne Kingshott, who started from p7, both sustained heavy damage, but their crews were able to hastily make repairs for them to resume at the rear of the field after an open red stop.

Kendrick was the early leader while Lancaster held down second until Inglis put on a move with a handful of laps in the book. With nine laps down, Milling, who was running fifth, triggered a caution after pulling up on the main straight.

Two laps later he was joined on the infield by Jason Pryde who rode a rut in pits bend and was out of the contest. Just before midrace distance Kris Coyle slowed up on the first turns for another caution. Inglis pushed head and won another battle with Lancaster soon afterwards and was edging his way closer to Kendrick.

With 11 laps to go, it was game on, on the back straight as both Kendrick and Inglis battled for the lead when negotiating the lapped car of Cameron McKenzie. Inglis had a couple of more attempts in lapped traffic, without success and had to settle for second place. Lancaster crossed the line in third, his first podium of the season. Earlier in the night Lancaster was third in his heat race and second in the B Dash, to start from p4.

Andrew Priolo claimed fourth after originally lining up from p13, but after the first lap carnage he started from p7 for the full restart.

Brad Maiolo was fifth after originally starting from p12 and being promoted to p10 for the full restart.

Sixth went to Kaiden Manders who was slated to start from p10, but moved up a row after Trent Pigdon didn’t take his spot at p8.

Kingshott, after the first-lap chaos, resumed from p17, and finished a very credible seventh, ahead of AJ Nash, Jamie Maiolo, Jarrin Bielby and McKenzie.

RESULTS Qualifying group 1: James Inglis 13.105, Trent Pigdon 13.111, Jarrin Bielby 13.4678, Kris Coyle 13.544, AJ Nash 13.694, Brad Maiolo 13.829, Cameron McKenzie 13.811, Todd Davis 14.065.

Qualifying group 2: Jamie Veal 1.887, Taylor Milling 13.003, Jason Kendrick 13.069, Ryan Lancaster 13.102, Dayne Kingshott 13.132, Kaiden Manders 13.132, Dylan Menz 13.207, Andrew Priolo 13.212 and Jamie Maiolo 13.213.

Heat 1: 1st Jason Pryde, 2nd Jarrin Bielby, 3rd James Inglis, 4th Trent Pigdon, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Kris Coyhle, 7th AJ Nash, 8th Cameron McKenzie, 9th Todd Davis.

Heat 2: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Jamie Veal, 3rd Ryan Lancaster, 4th Taylor Milling, 5th Kaiden Manders, 6th Dayne Kingshott, 7th Andrew Priolo, 8th Jamie Maiolo, 9th Dylan Menz

A Dash: 1st James Inglis, 2nd Jamie Veal, 3rd Taylor Milling, 4th Dayne Kingshott, 5th Kris Coyle, 6th Jarrin Bielby.

B Dash: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Ryan Lancaster, 3rd Jason Pryde, 4th Trent Pigdon, 5th Kaiden Manders, 6th Brad Maiolo.

Midpack: 1st Andrew Priolo, 2nd AJ Nash, 3rd Cameron McKenzie, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th Dylan Menz, 6th Todd Davis.

Feature: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd James Inglis, 3rd Ryan Lancaster, 4th Andrew Priolo, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Kaiden Manders, 7th Dayne Kingshott, 8th AJ Nash, 9th Jamie Maiolo, 10th Jarrin Bielby, 11th Cameron McKenzie. DNF: Kris Coyle, Jason Pryde, Taylor Milling, Dylan Menz, Jamie Veal, Todd Davis. DNS: Trent Pigdon.

Upcoming rounds: Rd17 – Perth Motorplex – tonight, Saturday, March 30.

Grand Final – Perth Motorplex – Saturday, April 6.– –

FOLLOW THE MADDINGTON TOYOTA SPRINTCAR SERIES

Facebook: Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series

Instagram: Maddington Toyota Sprintcars

TikTok:  MaddingtonToyotaSprintcars

Email: sprintcareg@gmail.com