James McFadden won the WSS finale and the series championship at Perth Motorplex Saturday (Perth Motorplex PR)
(Perth Motorplex PR) JAMES McFadden put the icing on his World Series Sprintcars championship cake when he won the 30-lap series grand final at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night.
McFadden started from P3 but got to the lead early and then led to the finish line, claiming victory over Australian champion Kerry Madsen and Cameron Gessner.
The driver of the Monte Motorsport W17 wrapped up the championship battle midway through the night’s racing and with the pressure off, he was able to race as hard as he wanted.
The results were spectacular and he was into lapped traffic within six laps.
The front runners were boxed in at certain parts by lapped cars at certain parts of the contest but McFadden maintained his composure when it counted.
Gessner, who started from P5, got under Veal, who started from P2, for fourth on lap 15 before they traded blows for a handful of laps.
Twenty two non-stop laps were put in the book before Taylor Milling spun on the approach to turn three.
On the restart Madsen pounced to the lead but he left the door open for McFadden who reclaimed the lead and went on to claim the win by 1.460 of a second.
Gessner then got by Kendrick who was in third for much of the race and opened up an advantage.
In the latter stages Kendrick, Veal and a few others went low, particularly in turns 3-4 looking for any advantage but they were not able to make up any ground.
Kendrick held on for fourth ahead of Veal, Lines, Brooke Tatnell, Ian Madsen, Brad Maiolo, Ben Ellement, Jason Pryde, Carl Dowling, James Inglis, Daniel Harding, Trent Pigdon, Lee Nash, Mitchell Wormall and Andrew Priolo.
Milling was the only non-finisher with David Priolo pulling out of the contest before the race started.
Ian Madsen won the B Main and transferred to the back of the A Main, along with Dowling, Milling, Nash, Andrew Priolo and Wormall.
Daryl Clayden, in his first race of the season, spun around on the fourth lap and was collected by team mate Scott Chatwin, with Jamie Landrigan doing well to miss the parked car.
Kye Scroop tagged the back straight fence and as he came down the track, he was hit by Tim Van Ginneken and Jamie Maiolo with only the latter getting a restart – albeit with a damaged top wing but he pulled infield with two laps remaining.
Callum Williamson was out after a crash in the fifth heat race, seeing the #73 too damaged to continue, but the consolation was his impressive win in the first heat race where he stormed around his rivals on the high line for the popular win.
Pigdon won both his heat races from the start while other heat winners were Kendrick, Wormall and Jason Pryde.
In the Formula 500s Glenn Carstairs led the lap that mattered – the last one – when he rounded up Troy Johnson on the last lap of the 20-lap final.
Johnson held on for second after leading but was four seconds in front of Brock Nanovich who was third.
Jamie Nardini and Jamie Pages were the only other finishers in the main event.
Carstairs ended the night the same as he started it – with a win, taking the first bout from Jamie Nardini and Matt Brown.
Johnson claimed the second qualifier from Luke Nardini and Brock Nanovich, while in the final heat it was Ryan McNamara from Brown and Johnson.
Results
Qualifying: Kerry Madsen 13.951, Jamie Veal 14.189, Jason Kendrick 14.266, James McFadden 14.287, Brad Maiolo 14.448, Cameron Gessner 14.464, Ben Ellement 14.587, David Priolo 14.595, Daniel Harding 14.617, James Inglis 14.633, Taylor Milling 14.637, Steven Lines 14.652, Ian Madsen 14.669, Brooke Tatnell 14.723, Tim Van Ginneken 14.733, Callum Williamson 14.847, Lee Nash 14.858, Daryl Clayden 14.870, Andrew Priolo 14.884, Kye Scroop 14.935, Mitchell Wormall 14.976, Trent Pigdon 14.980, Jason Pryde 14.986, Jamie Landrigan 15.510, Chad Ely 15.220, Jamie Maiolo 15.569, Carl Dowling 14.847, Scott Chatwin 15.987.
Heat 1: 1st Callum Williamson, 2nd Jamie Maiolo, 3rd James McFadden, 4th Kerry Madsen, 5th Ian Madsen, 6th Mitchell Wormall, 7th Daryl Clayden, 8th James Inglis, 9th Scott Chatwin and 10th Ben Ellement.
Heat 2: 1st Trent Pigdon, 2nd Bradley Maiolo, 3rd David Priolo, 4th Brooke Tatnell, 5th Jamie Veal, 6th Chad Ely, 7th Andrew Priolo. DNF: Carl Dowling and Taylor Milling.
Heat 3: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Steven Lines, 3rd Jason Pryde, 4th Cameron Gessner, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Kye Scroop, 7th Tim Van Ginneken, 8th Jamie Landrigan. DNF: Lee Nash.
Heat 4: 1st Trent Pigdon, 2nd Carl Dowling, 3rd Kerry Madsen, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th Daryl Clayden, 6th Ben Ellement, 7th Taylor Milling. DNF: Ian Madsen. DNS: Brad Maiolo.
Heat 5: 1st Mitchell Wormall, 2nd James McFadden, 3rd James Inglis, 4th Kye Scroop, 5th Jamie Landrigan, 6th Daniel Harding, 7th Scott Chatwin. DNF: Callum Williamson, Tim Van Ginneken.
Heat 6: 1st Jason Pryde, 2nd Steven Lines, 3rd Jamie Veal, 4th Lee Nash, 5th Brooke Tatnell, 6th David Priolo, 7th Chad Ely, 8th Andrew Priolo, 9th Cameron Gessner.
Gold shootout: Kerry Madsen 13.886, Jamie Veal 13.499, James McFadden 13.519 and Jason Kendrick 13.525.
Silver shootout: Jamie Veal 13.469, Jason Kendrick 13.501, Cameron Gessner 13.641 and Steven Lines 13.790.
Bronze shootout: Cameron Gessner 13.698, Steven Lines 13.763, Bradley Maiolo 13.781 and David Priolo 13.908.
B Main: 1st Ian Madsen, 2nd Carl Dowling, 3rd Taylor Milling, 4th Lee Nash, 5th Andrew Priolo, 6th Mitchell Wormall, 7th Chad Ely, 8th Jamie Landrigan. DNF: Jamie Maiolo, Tim Van Ginneken, Kye Scroop, Scott Chatwin and Daryl Clayden. DNS: Callum Williamson.
A Main: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Kerry Madsen, 3rd Cameron Gessner, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th Jamie Veal, 6th Steven Lines, 7th Brooke Tatnell, 8th Ian Madsen, 9th Bradley Maiolo, 10th Ben Ellement, 11th Jason Pryde, 12th Carl Dowling, 13th James Inglis, 14th Daniel Harding, 15th Trent Pigdon, 16th Lee Nash, 17th Mitchell Wormall, 18th Andrew Priolo. DNF: Taylor Milling and David Priolo.