DAYNE KINGSHOTT WA SPRINTCAR CHAMPION
Dayne Kingshott won the 61st running of the state title event that took an eternity to complete and had plenty of drama over the 35 lap journey in the fourth round of the 2022-23 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series at the annual John Day Classic.
Kingshott sat in the shadows of paceman James Inglis for much of the contest at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, December 3, only to pounce on a late restart and set sail for home, taking the popular win in the Krikke Motorsport W2.
Taylor Milling was second and Inglis third.
Earlier in the night Kingshott was fifth overall in qualifying before taking a third and a win in his heat races, setting him up for a position three start in the main event.
This was Kingshott’s second win of the four rounds, going with his third and 10th.
Milling was one of the biggest movers in the race, starting from p12.
At the start of the night he was 12th quickest in qualifying and then took a fifthand a fourth in his heat races.
On every restart he kept moving forward and really showed pace in the final 10 laps to overpower some of the cars in front of him, for his second podium of the season,
after taking a third in the opening show.
For Inglis the title race was one that got away.
He set the Victory 1 Performance quickest time, then followed it up with a win and a third in the heat races to start from pole position.
It was a tough pill to swallow after leading for much of the feature race, only to slip away in the latter stages.
He has a pair of eighths, a win and a third to his name from the four feature races.
As the teams took the green there were cars going everywhere with Brad Maiolo losing the front end of the 77, Callum Wliamson rolled and George Eaton had to take evasive action.
Maiolo was a non-starter while teams thrashed to get the Williamson car repaired, including a new front axle, but they ran out of time to fit a new front wing.
On the next green Inglis took the lead with Kingshott and Matt Egel fighting for the minors, while Kye Scroop slipped into fourth over Jason Kendrick just as the caution lights came on – this time in pits bend, with Mitchell Wormall, David Priolo and Trent Pigdon all involved.
Pigdon took his spot at the rear and was eventually joined by Wormall, but Priolo was not ready within the time limit. The big mover early was Ryan Lancaster who was up to 6th on this restart from p11.
Scroop was the cause of the next red light after he pushed too hard in pits bend, crashing big time.
On the break Willliamson was able to get a front wing fitted.
Inglis got the jump on the next start with Kingshott and Egel having a great duel and they had a gap over the rest of the field.
Daniel Harding got inside Kendrick for fourth, while there were some great battles further back involving Matt Cross, Pigdon, Darren Mewett, Jaydee Dack and Williamson.
Wormall then headed infield with a damaged top wing and Kingshott kept working his way closer to Inglis at the front.
Dack’s night was over after a bone crunching crash in pits bend with 12 laps in the books for a red light stoppage.
Inglis again opened up a gap on the next restart from Kingshott, Egel, Harding and Kendrick, with Milling just behind them and ready to pounce.
On lap 22 Jason Pryde spun around after making his way forward into a good position, forcing another restart.
Milling was running the high line while trying to chase down Egel who ran the low line and for quite a few laps neither was able to gain an advantage over the other.
On lap 27 Kendrick was trying to challenge Harding when he spun in turn one, sending him to the rear on the next start.
Inglis was still in front at the restart from Kingshott, Egel and Milling and this is where Kingshott took the opportunity, taking the lead after running side by side with Inglis.
Milling also won his battle over Egel and then kept his momentum going by taking second soon afterwards, setting up his podium finish.
In the final laps however, there was no denying Kingshott who stamped his authority on the race to take the big win.
Egel finished fourth ahead of Rusty Hickman who moved up one spot after starting from sixth.
Kris Coyle was the Kincrome Hard Charger, starting from position 20 and finishing sixth, while Harding was seventh,, Pigdon was eighth, Pryde ninth (moving up six spots), Andrew Priolo was tenth (moving up seven spots), Williamson finished 11th, Cross 12th (moving up six spots), Kendrick 13th, Steven Lines 14th, Darren Mewett 15th (moving up seven spots) Myles Bolger 16th (moving up six spots) and Eaton was 17th (also moving up six spots).
The series now takes a short break before resuming on Boxing Day at the Perth Motorplex, featuring the first round of Speedweek.
Results:
Qualifying: James Inglis 13.833, Matt Egel 13.890, Jason Kendrick 13.906, Daniel Harding 13.932, Dayne Kingshott 13.970, Kye Scroop 13.970, Rusty Hickman 14.004, David Priolo 14.010, Callum Williamson 14.080, Ryan Lancaster 14.100, Brad Maiolo 14.132, Taylor Milling 14.161, Kris Coyle 14.171, Trent Pigdon 14.190, Matthew Cross 14.198, Steven Lines 14.209, Jason Pryde 14.213, Andrew Priolo 14.232, Jaydee Dack 14.358, Mitchell Wormall 14.426, Todd Davis 14.616, Myles Bolger 15.378, Nathan Swan 15.452, Darren Mewett 15.521, George Eaton 15.607. AJ Nash NTT.
Heat 1: 1st James Inglis, 2nd Rusty Hickman, 3rd Daniel Harding, 4th Kris Coyle, 5th Jaydee Dack, 6th Ryan Lancaster, 7th Myles Bolger, 8th George Eaton, DNF Steven Lines.
Heat 2: 1st Matt Egel, 2nd David Priolo, 3rd Dayne Kinghsott, 4th Trent Pigdon, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Mitchell Wormall, 7th Jason Pryde, 8th Nathan Swan. DNF: AJ Nash
Heat 3: 1st Kye Scroop, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Callum Williamson, 4th Andrew Priolo, 5th Taylor Milling, 6th Matt Cross, 7th Darren Mewett, 8th Todd Davis.
Heat 4: 1st Dayne Kingshott, 2nd Jason Pryde, 3rd James Inglis, 4th Rusty Hickman, 5th Jaydee Dack, 6th Nathan Swan.
Heat 5: 1st Steven Lines, 2nd Callum Williamson, 3rd Jason Kendrick, 4th Ryan Lancaster, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Myles Bolger, 7th Matthew Cross.
Heat 6: 1st Mitchell Wormall, 2nd Matt Egel, 3rd Trent Pigdon, 4th Taylor Milling, 5th David Priolo, 6th Kye Scroop, 7th Andrew Priolo, 8th Andrew Priolo, 9th AJ Nash, 10th Darren Mewett.
Feature :WA SPRINTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP . . . 1st Dayne Kingshott, 2nd Taylor Milling, 3rd James Inglis, 4th Matt Egel, 5th Rusty Hickman, 6th Kris Coyle, 7th Daniel Harding, 8th Trent Pigdon, 9th Jason Pryde, 10th Andrew Priolo, 11th Callum Williamson, 12th Matt Cross, 13th Jason Kendrick, 14th Steven Lines, 15th Darren Mewett, 16th Myles Bolger, 17th George Eaton. DNF: Ryan Lancaster, AJ Nash, Jaydee Dack, Mitchell Wormall, Kye Scroop, David Priolo and Brad Maiolo.
Kincrome Hard Charger: Kris Coyle.
Victory 1 Performance Quick Time: James Inglis.
MADDINGTON TOYOTA SPRINTCAR SERIES POINTS after round four::Dayne Kingshott 718 (Joker), James Inglis (Joker) 712, Jason Kendrick (Joker) 704, Callum Williamson (Joker) 656, Taylor Milling (Joker) 654, Kye Scroop 626 (Joker), Andrew Priolo (Joker) 612, Jason Pryde 514, Brad Maiolo 512, Kris Coyle 508, Ryan Lancaster 504, David Priolo 502, Trent Pigdon 500, Mitchell Wormall 482, Jaydee Dack 480, AJ Nash 474, George Eaton 408, Daniel Harding 394, Robbie Farr 374 (Joker), Matt Egel 282, Nathan Swan 264, Todd Davis 264, Rusty Hickman 252, Troy Lawson 240, Jack Williamson 230, Matthew Cross 176, Brenten Farrer 124, Steven Lines 122, Darren Mewett 120, Myles Bolger 118, Kaiden Manders 50,
Jokers played at 1st rd of 5 opportunities (next Joker round opportunity Dec 26): Robbie Farr, Dayne Kingshott, Jason Kendrick, Taylor Milling, Kye Scroop, Callum Williamson, James Inglis and Andrew Priolo.
What’s next ? ROUND FIVE – SPRINTCAR SPEEDWEEK, Perth Motorplex, December 26.ROUND SIX SPRINTCAR SPEEEDWEEK, Perth Motorplex, December 28.
MACEDO’S TULARE USAC MIDGET WIN