KENDRICK CLEAR LEADER IN SERIES

Jason Kendrick extended his lead in the 2021-22 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series championship when he won round 13 at Perth Motorplex Speedway on Saturday night, February 19.

Kendrick crossed the line first in the 35-lap feature race, that paid tribute to “Mr Sprintcar” Alf Barbagallo, ahead of Daniel Harding and Taylor Milling.

He started from position 7 for the final, while Harding started from position 2 and Milling came from  position 9.

The start of the race was marred by a huge crash that saw Trent Pigdon crash hard on the back straight on the first lap, clouting the fence near the pit gate.

Pigdon’s car took a big hit and officials took time to help him out of the W19 and he was assessed by the medical crew who were quickly on the scene.

James Inglis was involved in the incident and also sustained damage to the W26 car, including a buckled left rear tyre that he was able to change under the red light stoppage before he resumed from the rear of field.

On the first lap polesitter Dayne Kingshott, who earlier in the night set the Victory 1 Performance Quickest Time, led from Harding, Shaun Bradford (who started from P3) and Brad Maiolo who started from P4.

It only took five laps for Kingshott to see the Krikke Motorsport W2 onto the back of lapped traffic, with Harding in pursuit, while Callum Williamson, who started P5, was in third, albeit a bit further back.

Harding was putting pressure on Kingshott with seven laps down and Kendrick was all over the back of Bradford after disposing of Maiolo.

In a stark contrast to his recent shows where he has had a fourth and a second, AJ Nash, who started from P17, was lapped by the front runners.

With 11 laps in the books, Williamson got around the outside of Harding in lapped traffic to take second and then set about reducing the gap to the leading Kingshott.

On lap 15 Kingshott was still holding off Williamson and Harding, with a big gap back to Kendrick, Bradford, Maiolo and Milling.

Kendrick then passed Harding for third with 16 laps remaining before he got the W11 crossed up in pits bend and nearly spun the car around – he was able to gather it and not lose a spot.

With eight laps to go Kingshott became tangled with a lapped car as they came out of turn two, spinning around to bring on the caution lights and also see his lead evaporate.

He was able to get a restart from the rear of the field while Williamson inherited the lead from Kendrick, Harding, Milling and Maiolo.

Kendrick made the move on the restart to take the lead in advance of some great duels, especially  between Harding, Milling and Maiolo

Milling and Maiolo went at it and eventually Williamson, who had a failing wing mount, lost more ground and dropped back a few spots, while Milling won the battle with Maiolo to take third in the latter stages.

Maiolo, finished fourth, crossing the line ahead of Kris Coyle, who showed some awesome pace in the second half of the race, taking fifth after starting from p15 and in the process he won the Kincrome Hard Charger award.

This was a great recovery for the driver of the Merger Motorsport W79 after he was out of the contest earlier in the week before with chassis damage.

Williamson held on for sixth, crossing ahead of James Inglis who started P8 and finished seventh – a solid outcome in his second outing in the Diamond Bay Motorsport W26, particularly after he had gone to the rear of the field from the first-lap crash.

Bradford took eighth, edging out Mitchell Wormall who claimed ninth after starting from p14 – also a good result after a tough weekend prior in the Wormall Motorsport W97.

Jason Pryde (started P11) and finished 10th, while Ryan Lancaster (started P20) and finished 11th.

Earlier in the Backpack Dash, Lancaster and Matthew Cross came together and were both non-finishers.

Trevor Jolly started and finished 12th, while Nash took 13th (from P17), Kingshott managed to hold on to 14th with a damaged front wing, Rod Howe started P18 and finished 15th and Jaydee Dack started 16th – the same position he finished.

David Priolo was a non-finisher after starting the feature race from P6.

Full credit must go to Priolo who played a pivotal role in promoting the Alf Barbagallo show and he fronted with a stunning car that was designed to replicate a previous Barbagallo black and gold paint scheme.

For the night Priolo also adopted the 77wx number, instead of the 8wx he has been running, to also honour Barbagallo.

Kendrick and Bradford won the heat races while Kingshott survived the last round challenge from Harding to win the pole shuffle.

Maiolo progressed a few spots in the shuffle before he retired the W77 to the infield with what appeared to be a lack of fuel.

As a result of his latest win Kendrick extended his lead by a further 10 points in the series.

Harding has switched places with Williamson for second, while Kingshott has moved from fifth to fourth, Maiolo has moved from sixth to fifth and Pryde has moved from seventh to six.

Andrew Priolo, who didn’t race on the night as he attended a wedding, dropped from fourth to seventh overall.

Lancaster, Milling and Coyle held onto their spots to round out the top 10.

The next round of the series will be the Krikke Boys Shootout at Bunbury Speedway next Saturday night (february 26).

Hoosier tyre draw:  Jason Pryde.

Kincrome Hard Charger: Kris Coyle.

Victory 1 Performance Quick Time: Dayne Kingshott. 

Feature:1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Daniel Harding, 3rd Taylor Milling, 4th Brad Maiolo, 5th Kris Coyle, 6th Callum Williamson, 7th James Inglis, 8th Shaun Bradford, 9th Mitchell Wormall, 10th Jason Pryde, 11th Ryan Lancaster, 12th Trevor Jolly, 13th AJ Nash, 14th Dayne Kingshott, 15th Rod Howe. DNF Jaydee Dack, David Priolo, Jarrin Bielby and Trent Pigdon. DNS: Matthew Cross.

Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series points after 13 rounds: Jason Kendrick 2020, Daniel Harding 1972, Callum Williamson 1970, Dayne Kingshott 1858, Brad Maiolo 1846, Jason Pryde 1786, Andrew Priolo 1768, Ryan Lancaster 1756, Taylor Milling 1752, Kris Coyle 1712, AJ Nash 1558, Mitchell Wormall 1502, Trevor Jolly 1344, Jaydee Dack 1318, Matthew Cross 1310, Jack Williamson 1306, Shaun Bradford 1218, Trent Pigdon 1152, David Priolo 1098, Darren Mewett 974, Cameron McKenzie 746, James Inglis 596, Todd David 546, Kaiden Manders 488, Chace Karpenko 400, Robbie Farr 278, George Eaton 278, Rod Howe 250, Kye Scroop 138, Jarrin Bielby 114.

Upcoming rounds

Rd 14 – Krikke Boys Shootout – Bunbury Speedway – Feb 26

Rd 15 – Ampol Retro Night – Perth Motorplex Speedway – March 12.