James McFadden won an exciting WSS stop at Lismore Speedway Tuesday (Video Highlights from SpeedShiftTV.com)
QSS World Series Sprintcars points leader James McFadden has driven from the fourth row of the grid to claim his fourth win of the championship at Castrol Edge Lismore Speedway.
McFadden and series combatant Kerry Madsen both produced miracle comebacks for round ten, with Madsen starting his night by strangely crashing in turn one directly after receiving the chequered flag in Revolution Racegear time-trials.
After qualifying 12th, Madsen drove the Krikke Motorsport #W2 to a win and a 3rd in the heats to provisionally qualify 8th in the Bronze Shootout, and then progressed through to the silver shootout to also be quickest in the Gold to claim pole position for the 35 lap main event.
McFadden meanwhile had timed in 6th, and maintained his position into the bronze shootout, only to be the slowest in the three-lap time trial and be sensationally relegated to 8th position on the grid.
On a racetrack that was tipped to be a single-lane, follow-the-leader affair, no one expected the main event to produce a flurry of lead changes and countless battles for the podium.
Madsen opened with an impressive lead as expected while Rusty Hickman maintained his front row start to sit solidly in second.
McFadden meanwhile had already advanced to 4th before five laps had elapsed and displaced Luke Oldfield for 3rd before Brodie Tulloch turned around on lap ten to produce a caution.
Hickman was brilliant on the restart and drove around Madsen in a jaw-dropping move on the loose top side of the track, before McFadden also dislodged Madsen after an epic fight and set out after Hickman’s Peerless Black Products #V40.
The young Victorian held a convincing lead until lap 24 when he encountered the tail-of-the-field traffic and McFadden finally pounced to secure the top spot, while at the same time Cory Eliason had broken free of a lengthy battle with Revolution Racegear QuickTime winner Dave Murcott to attack Madsen for 3rd.
The move triggered a mind-boggling three-way battle for the runner up spot with McFadden only marginally ahead defending his lead, while Madsen passed Hickman for 2nd with just five laps remaining and Eliason watching closely in 4th.
The Californian then boldly drove under Hickman with only three laps remaining and stayed committed to the bottom, and on the final rotation launched out of turn two while Madsen was locked to the outside, and made a bold pass on the final turn to steal the runner up spot from the #W2.
McFadden crossed the line to win, just half a second ahead of Eliason with only four-one-hundredths back to Madsen in 3rd. Hickman held on to 4th ahead of Brooke Tatnell, Luke Oldfield and Dave Murcott.
“That was a lot of fun. I was watching the big screen and Kerry sitting right on my right rear so I had to hit the rubber on the exits and it was enough to shoot up front.” McFadden said from the podium. “I’m proud of my guys. We struggled all night but it’s super cool to get the win here in front of all the crew at Daniel Trucking at their home track.”
McFadden’s win also earned him the American Racer Hard Charger award as well as the Sunshine Swing trophy for the highest points over the Queensland and New South Wales rounds.
His overall series points tally also received a boost, opening up his lead to 2623 points, 113 clear of Madsen on 2510. Jock Goodyer sits in 3rd on 2140 expanding his Rookie of the Year lead over Lucas Wolfe by 155 points who sits 5th, with Brooke Tatnell nestled in between the two rookies on 2088 points in 4th.
The series now breaks as the majority of drivers head into the January majors and Australian Title before reconvening at Esperance in West Australia on February 15 for round 11.