James McFadden took Saturday's WSS/AHG feature in Perth (Perth Motorplex Photo)
(Perth Motorplex) JAMES McFadden claimed the feature race at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night from the fast-finishing Kerry Madsen and Brooke Tatnell in what turned out to be a drama-filled 30 laps.
The meeting was the penultimate round of World Series Sprintcars (that will be decided on Sunday night) and the third last round of the AHG Sprintcar Series (that will be determined at Quit Bunbury Speedway next Saturday night).
McFadden went into the event as the leader and a strong chance of winning back-to-back WSS championships, and despite the win, he hasn’t quite got enough points to seal the deal yet over arch rival Jamie Veal who crossed the line in fourth.
Even before the race got underway there were machinations.
Kaiden Manders, who was due to start from P12, withdrew after heavy damage sustained in a big heat race crash.
Ben Ellement, who won the B Main, also elected not to run at the back of the pack in the main event.
Jason Kendrick claimed pole after winning the Gold Dash, but it came at a cost with the motor sounding off at the end of the dash, forcing the team to change the engine.
Kendrick took his spot at the front.
The race was not even a lap old when a few cars were out of the contest – Jack Lee, Darren Mollenoyux, Jamie Maiolo and Jye O’Keefe
Two laps in and Glen Sutherland got sideways and was collected by Mitchell Womrall, putting them both out of the contest.
Madsen opened up a handy lead over Kendrick in the early laps with McFadden tucked into third ahead of Veal and Tatnell.
With eight laps in the book Madsen was running through traffic and McFadden was into second over Kendrick.
He was rounded up by McFadden who hit the lead on lap 18.
Kendrick was then starting to slow and the engine was struggling as he pulled infield on lap 19.
Tatnell was running high on lap 24 and after running down Carson Macedo went around the outside of him with five laps remaining.
Macedo then got tangled up with a lapped car and was lucky to regroup and keep going.
Veal mounted a challenge on Tatnell with a few laps to go, to no avail and Madsen put in one hell of a slide on McFadden to try and steal the lead back on the last corner, but had to concede, taking second.
Macedo held on to take fifth from Daniel Harding who was very impressive for sixth after starting from P20.
Seventh was Brad Maiolo (from p5), from Lachlan McHugh (from p18), Jamie Oldfield (from p16) and Brad Keller who rounded out the top 10 (from P23).
Other finishers were Mick Saller, Andrew Priolo, Tom Payet, Jason Pryde and Daryl Clayden.
At the start of the night Madsen claimed the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time award with a 13.586 second lap to edge out McFadden’s 13.655 and Kendrick’s 13.698.
Clayden won the first heat from McHugh and Madsen with the second heat going the way of Mitchell Wormall from Veal and Oldfield.
Heat three was won by Andrew Priolo from Macedo and Jamie Maiolo, while the fourth heat went to Veal from McFadden and Wormall.
In this heat AJ Nash and Tom Payet came together at the start and Tatnell was forced to limp the W26 around the track after they crashed into his top wing.
Priolo took the fifth heat from McHugh and Madsen while Lee won the final heat from Macedo and Kendrick (who started from P9).
David Murcott was leading the B Main in convincing style before withdrawing, handing the win to Ellement from Harding, Payet, Saller, Pryde and Lee.
The next combined round of the AHG Sprintcar Series/World Series Sprintcars will be held at the Quit Motorplex this Sunday night.