WILLIAMSON LEADS MADDINGTON TOYOTA SPRINTCAR SERIES
Callum Williamson’s red-hot form in recent weeks was clearly evident when round 17 of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series was held at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, April 2.
Williamson started from pole and apart from a few challenges along the way from Jock Goodyer, he dominated to take the win in the Asphalt Recyclers Australia Gold Cup meeting – and in the process he took the lead in the series championship with two rounds remaining.
Heading into the round, Williamson was 16 points shy of series leader Jason Kendrick, however after his dominant win and Kendrick’s DNF (his third one in the past four rounds), Williamson now has a 26 point lead.
This gives him the advantage for the final two shows and a major chance of defending his series championship from last season.
At the start of the feature race it was Williamson and Goodyer who shared the front row and they traded blows immediately, however the reds quickly came when Kye Scroop, who started from position four, crashed on the back straight, with David Priolo and Jason Kendrick getting caught up in the incident.
Kendrick suffered front-end damage and went to the work area as the field rolled around to reform and he resumed from the rear of the field with an ill-handling front end, while Priolo also got a restart.
On the next green Williamson opened up a gap on Goodyer and Brad Maiolo, and it only took four laps before he was up into lapped traffic, Just as Williamson was about to catch championship rival Kendrick, Jarrin Bielby spun in turn one, forcing another restart.
Kendrick went straight back to the work area for more rapid repairs, with the Williamson team also helping out to get the 11 back on track and resume from the rear. With 18 laps to go, Ryan Lancaster, who started position six, spun in turn one for another caution, as Kendrick limped the 11 to the infield and took no further part in the contest,
On the next restart it was Williamson from Goodyer, Maiolo, Dayne Kingshott, AJ Nash and Robbie Farr, who started from position nine, who led the field away.
Goodyear went under Williamson on the next green, however Williamson was up for the challenge and after they traded blows for a lap, the local claimed the spot outright from the Tasmanian who was driving his last race for Monte Motorsport after the team announced this week it was parking up.
With 15 laps down and 15 to go, Williamson had a handy buffer thanks to a couple of lapped cars between himself and Goodyer, who also had a good lead over Kingshott and Maiolo.
Farr and AJ Nash were racing hard together – a little too hard – with contact on the back straight between the pair seeing Nash flung to the infield bike track, something he was not too happy about as he restarted, albeit from the rear.
Next time around it was Williamson to lead away from Goodyer, Kingshott, Maiolo, Farr, Shaun Bradford and Kris Coyle.
Kingshott had a look under Goodyer on the next restart and they were locked in a great battle for a couple of laps.
By this stage Williamson was deep in traffic with 10 laps to go.
Coyle was starting to move forward by this stage and looking for something on the low line for a few laps, something he said afterwards he was surprised others were not doing the same. As the laps wore down, the track’s cushion was right up on the concrete fence which saw quite a few campaigners tag the fence, but manage to keep their momentum.
In the latter stages Coyle kept moving forward and took third, a big result for the team, particularly with car owner Scott Chatwin being the event sponsor.
Kingshott held on for fourth from Maiolo, Farr, Ian Madsen (who started from p14), Shaun Bradford (who went from 10th to 8th), Mitchell Wormall (who went from 11th to 9th), Andrew Priolo (18th to 10th), AJ Nash (7th to 11th), David Priolo (24th to 12th), Ryan Lancaster (6th to 13th), Jason Pryde (13th to 14th), Jaydee Dack (12th to 15th), Darren Mewett (22nd to 16th), Kyle Mock (19th to 17th) and Myles Bolger 18th.
Non-finishers were Todd Davis, Troy Lawson, Kendrick, Bielby and Scroop with Daniel Harding and Trent Pigdon being non-starters.
The night started with Daniel Harding setting the Victory 1 Performance overall quickest time, which was his fourth for the season.
Kendrick and Wiliamson set the quickest times in their groups.
Harding’s tough run of luck continued in the A Dash when he crashed out midway through and was then hit by Trent Pigdon, who was in his first race after his big crash recently. Pigdon was able to resume and limp the #19 home while Harding was out for the night. Pigdon also withdrew from the rest of the show at that point.
David Priolo started the mid-pack alongside brother Andrew and he crashed out halfway through and it looked like he was not going to get a start in the main event. A few teams dropped out which saw Priolo start and he moved up 12 spots by the end of 30 laps to be this round’s Kincrome Harder, collecting another $300 tool voucher.
Williamson now has 2518 points, 26 better than Kendrick’s 2494, while Dayne Kingshott is still third, on 2406 and Brad Maiolo is still fourth on 2390.
Kris Coyle has moved from seventh to fifth with his podium, while Harding has slipped from fifth to sixth in the overall points.
Andrew Priolo has moved from eighth to seventh, while Ryan Lancaster has moved from ninth to eighth.
Taylor Milling, who didn’t contest this round, has dropped from sixth to ninth and Jason Pryde remains in 10th place.
Feature: 1st Callcum Williamson, 2nd Jock Goodyer, 3rd Kris Koyle, 4th Dayne Kingshott, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Robbie Farr, 7th Ian Madsen, 8th Shaun Bradford, 9th Mitchell Wormall, 10th Andrew Priolo, 11th AJ Nash, 12th David Priolo, 13th Ryan Lancaster, 14th Jason Pryde, 15th Jaydee Dack, 16th Darren Mewett, 17th Kyle Mock, 18th Myles Bolger. DNF: Todd Davis, Troy Lawson, Jason Kendrick, Jarrin Bielby and Kye Scroop. DNS: Trent Pigdon and Daniel Harding.
Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series points after Rd17 of 19: Callum williamson 2518, Jason Kendrick 2492, Dayne Kingshott 2406, Brad Maiolo 2390, Kris Coyle 2286, Daniel Harding 2282, Andrew Priolo 2272, Ryan Lancaster 2242, Taylor Milling 2150, Jason Pryde 2136,(10) AJ Nash 2076, Mitchell Wormall 2036, Jaydee Dack 1808, David Priolo 1612, Trevor Joly 1564, Matthew Cross 1552, Shaun Bradford 1482, Jack Williamson 1446, Darren Mewett 1358, Trent Pigdon 1202, James Inglis 1022, Cameron McKenzie 986, Todd Davis 886, Kaiden Manders 610, Jarrin Bielby 498, Robbie Farr 416, Jock Goodyer 404, Kye Scroop 402, Chace Karpenko 400, George Eaton 278, Rod Howe 250, Troy Lawson 228, Ian Madsen 136, Kyle Mock 116, Myles Bolger 114.
Victory 1 Performance Quickest Time: Daniel Harding.
Hoosier tyre draw: Kris Coyle.
Kincrome Hard Charger: David Priolo.
Upcoming rounds:
Rd18 – Bunbury Speedway – Friday, April 15 -Maddington Toyota Triple Crown, Rd 2.
Final – Perth Motorplex – Saturday, April 16-Maddington Toyota Triple Crown Rd 3.
BIGGEST INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY EVENT IN ADELAIDE FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES