VEAL DOMINANT IN AUSTRALIAN SPRINTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP OPENER

All photos courtesy: Peter Roebuck

By Sprintcars Australia.

Warrnambool’s Jamie Veal dominated the opening night of the 60th Australian Sprintcar Championship at the Perth Motorplex, Friday, January 10, after leading all 25 laps of the preliminary feature.

He was followed to the chequered flag by minor placegetters Lachlan McHugh and Jock Goodyer.

In what was a true national top five, Kerry Madsen finished fourth while Matt Egel completed to top five – five Australian states represented in the top five!

“It ended up being a pretty good night without any drama but we still have a lot of work to do before we can think about winning the title,” added Veal in a casual manner following the A-Main.

Jason Kendrick was the best of the locals in sixth with Luke Dillon, Callum Williamson, Ian Madsen and David Priolo completing the top ten.

Following the heats, Veal was the top points scorer with McHugh joining him in the front row. Dillon, who was driving his own car at the Motorplex for the first time in over 10 years, started third ahead of Goodyer, Ian and Kerry Madsen, Egel, Trent Pigdon, David Priolo and Brad Maiolo.

The A-Main commenced in dramatic fashion as Matt Dumesny, who started from position 14, rode out a big crash on the opening turn in the Monte Motorsports #17 bringing on the red light.

Marcus Dumesny takes a wild ride on night one of national title at Perth Motorplex.

The only other significant incident occurred with seven laps to go as a tyre exploded on Brad Maiolo’s #77 bringing out the yellow, bunching the field up for the sprint to the flag.

On the restart Goodyer tried a massive slide job on the leading pair from position three but came up short and had to settle for third. Only moments before the caution came out Goodyer got by McHugh for second but he had to give the spot back.

In all, a total of 48 cars fronted for the opening night with Luke Dillon, Trent Pigdon, Lachlan McHugh and Jamie Veal pacing their qualifying groups in time trials with Veal the quickest overall with a lap of 13.237.

Eight heat races were run with a Western Australian car owner sweep of the first round, which was a top 10 invert from qualifying, with Taylor Milling, Kerry Madsen, Callum Williamson and Brad Maiolo winning. Heat four saw the demise of young Western Australian Jack Williamson who rolled hard in turn two destroying his race car putting him out for the weekend.

Round two heats were a straight up fastest to the front with no real surprises in the results as Dillon, Pigdon, David Priolo and Veal took wins. The final heat saw the defending Australian Champion Marcus Dumesny take a heavy tumble in turn two after contact with Ryan Newton, making it a tough night for the Dumesny boys.

The B-Main saw Kris Coyle, Ryan Newton, Jason Pryde and Rusty Hickman progress to the 18 car A-Main while Tate Frost and Robbie Farr just missed out.