Defending WSS champion James McFadden was too good for his rivals wrapping up the final ENZED WSS Speedweek (presented by Hogs Breath Cafe) night of competition in front of an excellent crowd that braved wintry conditions at Premier Speedway Warrnambool last night.
The Totally Workwear #25 Cool chassis was wielded to maximum result for the Queensland based Northern Territorian as he sped away from his rivals to win as he pleased in the 35 lap A-Main, in the process also claiming the Speedweek Title from Luke Dillon.
“The car was fast in the (Vortex Race Products Top 8) Shootout,” smiled James on the podium, “and when we got by Kyle in the A-Main I was pretty sure we had the car speed to go on with the job.”
It’s been a very successful campaign for McFadden, with two wins paying $10,000 each (Mt. Gambier and Warrnambool) and a $5000 bonus for being Speedweek champion he netted a cool $25,000 plus.
“Yeah it’s been a good week,” smiled car owner Scott Milling, “he did a great job as always.”
Early leader in the Warrnambool main event Kyle Hirst was an eventual second place at the fall of the chequers ahead of Daniel Pestka in third, Shane Stewart in fourth and David Murcott rounding out the top five.
“I haven’t seen much of James racing before this week but he’s very very good. When he went by me on the bottom I knew I was going to have a difficult time getting back by,” admitted Hirst, “so I’m just really pleased for the Ruhs boys and grateful for this opportunity to race with everyone in these World Series deals. They’re really neat.”
South Aussie rising star Daniel Pestka was thrilled with his career best third place finish.
“Before the night I thought I’d be happy just to roll the car back into the hauler without any damage at the end of the racing and leave for Brisbane, but this is definitely a huge bonus.”
Grant Anderson ran a strong sixth ahead of Luke Dillon who charged from the rear of the field after being caught up in a spectacular four-car crash that took out Jason Johnson, Stephen Bell and Darren Mollenoyux in turn three of the opening lap.
Mollenoyux and Johnson came together into turn three with Johnson flipping the HM Maxim high into the air and Stephen Bell rolling over against the wall as he contacted with Mollenoyux.
Dillon replaced the front wing and top wing on the #81 Action Line marking Eagle and restarted from the rear before charging back through the field with little in the way of brakes.
Taylor Milling recorded a career best 8th place finish in the TWW #25 ahead of fellow West Aussie Trent Pigdon whose 9th place result was also his best WSS result as a contracted driver.
Tenth place home was Matthew Reed, ahead of John Vogels and Ashley Scott as the last running cars.
Drivers not able to finish the main event included Steven Lines (flat left rear tyre) Tim Kaeding (engine problems) Ricky Maiolo (mechanical), Danny Smith (rollover when the steering arm broke) Matt Egel (mechanical) Jason Johnson (rollover) Stephen Bell (rollover) and Darren Mollenoyux (crash).
Earlier in the night Luke Dillon was the Revolution Racegear Quick Time award winner with a sizzling 10.455s lap.
James McFadden won the Vortex Gold Shootout to score the pole position for the 35 lap A-Main alongside Californian wildcard Kyle Hirst.
Several drivers had devastating bad luck on the night including Shaun Bradford who suffered a combination of engine woes (he didn’t even record a qualifying lap) flat tyres and steering box issues.
Brad Keller got caught up in a crash in his heat, which unfortunately tweaked his chassis and ended the night prematurely, and Carl Ludeman withdrew after rear end issues in the KFC car.
Nick Lacey rode out a big rollover in the #26 Video Ezy car as did West Aussie youngster Todd Waddell and both were unable to return to competition later in the night.
Series points after Night Five of the ENZED World Series Sprintcars, presented by Hogs Breath Cafe, are as follows for the top twenty:
| James McFadden | 1440 |
| Luke Dillon | 1304 |
| Steven Lines | 1254 |
| Jason Johnson | 1202 |
| Shane Stewart | 1183 |
| Daniel Pestka | 1110 |
| Kyle Hirst | 1069 |
| Tim Kaeding | 1064 |
| Robbie Farr | 1033 |
| Brad Keller | 1028 |
| David Murcott | 929 |
| Shaun Bradford | 805 |
| Matt Egel | 790 |
| Shaun Dobson | 729 |
| Trent Pigdon | 718 |
| Mark House | 713 |
| Taylor Milling | 702 |
| Steve Caunt | 676 |
| Nick Lacey | 632 |
| Jake Tranter | 605 |
The next round of the Championship is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday (January 4/5) at Archerfield Speedway in Queensland.
Ends release…
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