Donny Schatz opened his five night tour at Supercheap Auto Archerfield Speedway in the best possible manner with victory in Round 7 of the KRE Race Engines Sprintcar Track Championship on Boxing Night, leading home David Muir and Cameron Gessner in the thirty lap Feature race. Fellow American Rico Abreu opened his International Sprintcar racing account with a solid fifth place finish and won himself a legion of fans in the process.
It was a team reversal for Kendrick 92.9 Racing with youngster Jason Kendrick bringing his race car home on top of the podium ahead of team mate Kerry Madsen for the Boxing Night show at Coates Hire Bunbury Speedway.
In one of the biggest nights of the racing season, with a bumper crowd in attendance, Kendrick showed the speedway public why his name is being bantered around the racing circle so often of late.
Earlier in the evening, he set close to a record fast time of 12.98, only three hundredths of a second from the lap record of 12.95 set by Max Dumesney way back in 2004.
The heats were extremely fast with winners being Kerry Madsen, Victorian Matthew Reed and visiting US driver Kaley Gharst taking two heat wins.
A front row with Madsen and Jamie Maiolo for the A Main event was to be a scintillating affair from the outset. After several stoppages and many exits with cars dropping out machinery failures, Kendrick was too fast for his team mate Madsen.
On the re-starts he out shone his closest rivals and showed maturity beyond the five years of racing under his belt. In the end he took the win and advanced his narrow four point lead in the Battery All Types Southern Thunder Series.
The night boasted a massive support program with big numbers of Wingless Sprints where Darryl Clayden out drove Kris Coyle to win the night. The Street Stocks were large in numbers. Although visiting North West drivers took the win, it was locals Wayne Thomson and Mick Hamon, who debuted a new car who were outstanding.
The Junior Sedans put on some excellent racing as they prepared for their WA Championship in Esperance over the new year weekend.
The next event is scheduled for January 7th with an historic event as a four car USA Late Model team will take on all WA drivers in a massive night of racing.
The night will be supported by the 360 Sprintcar Power Series with names like Ryan Farrell, Ben Ellement and Jason Kendrick to do battle. This will no doubt be a great show for the crowds to witness as the venue continues to boast hard hitting speedway events for the local region.
RESULTS-BUNBURY-DEC 26TH
HOT FM TIME TRIAL:
JASON KENDRICK: 12.98
HEAT 1:
1ST- MATTHEW REED (VIC )
2ND- KERRY MADSEN
3RD- DAVID PRIOLO
HEAT 2:
1ST- KALEY GHARST ( USA )
2ND- SHELDON BRADY
3RD- JAMIE MAIOLO
HEAT 3:
1ST- KERRY MADSEN
2ND- DAVID PRIOLO
3RD- TRENT PIGDON
HEAT 4:
1ST- KALEY GHARST ( USA )
2ND- BRAD MAIOLO
3RD- JAMIE MAIOLO
DASH A:
1ST- KERRY MADSEN
2ND- JASON KENDRICK
3RD- BEN ELLEMENT
DASH B:
1ST – JAMIE MAIOLO
2ND – BRAD MAIOLO
3RD – DAVID PRIOLO
A MAIN:
1ST- JASON KENDRICK
2ND- KERRY MADSEN
3RD- BRAD MAIOLO
