Kerry Madsen closed the gap on James McFadden in WSS points with his win Saturday at Bunbury (Richard Hathaway Photo) (Video Highlights from SpeedShiftTV.com)
Krikke Motorsport’s Kerry Madsen has survived a last corner stab from James McFadden to take victory in round twelve of World Series Sprintcars at Bunbury Speedway.
Perth’s Jason Kendrick topped the time-sheets to claim Revolution Racegear Quicktime by just four-thousandths of a second over Madsen, while Andrew Priolo claimed an impressive 3rd quickest lap ahead of Pennsylvanian Lucas Wolfe.
McFadden qualified midfield in a disappointing 12th, forcing the Monte Motorsport pilot to work hard through the heat racing to regain points. The four-time series champion responded with a pair of heat wins to claw back into the Top 8 Shootout but didn’t advance past the first chapter, placing the #W17 Daniel Trucking entry on the fourth row, while Madsen secured pole position for the thirty-lap main event.
Madsen was dominant from the start and opened up a solid lead instantly, while second row starter Priolo mysteriously fell back eight spots in the first lap, all while Kendrick and Brooke Tatnell provided and intense battle for second.
Meanwhile Dave Murcott sliced through the field from the fourth row with McFadden in-tow to reach 4th until Glen Sutherland and the fading Andrew Priolo mildly tangled on lap ten to provide the first caution.
Tatnell pounced on the restart to momentarily steal the lead from Madsen but ran out of momentum while McFadden went directly into battle with Kendrick and Murcott and drove between them through turn three to fill 3rd spot.
Matthew Cross provided the second caution of the race, and Glen Sutherland would introduce another with only one additional lap completed.
The game-changer however occurred shortly after the restart with contact between Kris Coyle and Andrew Priolo launching the latter violently into the turn-one catch fence. Neither racer was hurt in the crash, however the extensive fence repair prompted an Open-Red situation where the field parked on the front straight and crews were afforded the opportunity for setup adjustments limited only by the option to change tyres which would result in being sent to the rear of the field.
No teams rolled the dice on rubber change, but many made extensive modifications to shocks and bars in the break, only to find out post-race that the Krikke Motorsport #W2 largely remained unchanged.
After a half-hour stoppage, the restart launched Madsen into another impressive lead and Tatnell looked solid fending off McFadden however Wolfe began his campaign in earnest displacing Murcott and Kendrick to step up to 4th before Rusty Hickman rode a right rear to dart into an awkward forward roll and crunch the turn three wall with ten laps remaining.
Another restart, and this time Tatnell ran out of favours and was passed by McFadden and then Wolfe shortly after, with the Pennsylvanian continuing his momentum to almost dislodge McFadden as well.
McFadden responded with the quickest lap of the race and with just four laps remaining, pulled out all stops to pepper away at the #W2 until the final turn where he swept around the outside to only just fall short on the finish line to trail Madsen by just seven-tenths of a second, but fend off Lucas Wolfe who finished almost 3 seconds behind in third, ahead of Tatnell and Murcott.
“I just had to be patient,” Madsen said in victory lane. “I was watching the board and caught the lappers with three to go and it was tense. James had a dabble on that last corner but I’d made my mind up to not get caught up and open up the bottom. I’ve lost a race here before doing that!”
Ironically, Madsen’s drive to the scales after the race finish was halted when the car appeared to slide into the infield barrier and broke the front end. When questioned on what happened, Madsen revealed that the front end actually started to fall apart on lap 31 and the contact with the wall on en-route to the scales was just the final component failure.
Madsen’s win now closes the gap to series leader McFadden to just 26 points, while Tatnell remains 3rd retaining a mathematical but unlikely chance to claim his tenth crown. Jock Goodyer sits 4th and maintains his “Rookie of the Year” status ahead of Lucas Wolfe by just 61 points.
The series now heads to the Perth Motorplex next Friday for the second last round before the series decider on Saturday night.
Photo courtesy of Richard Hathaway Photography
Results
Qualifying:
1. W11-Jason Kendrick, 13.947
2. W2-Kerry Madsen, 13.951
3. W8-Andrew Priolo, 14.141
4. 5W-Lucas Wolfe, 14.157
5. W77-Brad Maiolo, 14.191
6. V55-Brooke Tatnell, 14.228
7. T22-Jock Goodyer, 14.238
8. V88-David Murcott, 14.247
9. W12-Daniel Harding, 14.299
10. W97-Mitchell Wormall, 14.345
11. W25-Taylor Milling, 14.353
12. W17-James McFadden, 14.384
13. W79-Kris Coyle, 14.435
14. V40-Rusty Hickman, 14.485
15. W14-Jason Pryde, 14.507
16. W60-Brock Hallett, 14.532
17. W63-Todd Davis, 14.545
18. S20-Glen Sutherland, 14.556
19. W3-Callum Williamson, 14.593
20. W42-Ben Butcher, 14.625
21. W9-AJ Nash, 14.635
22. W94-Matthew Cross, 14.761
23. W4-Cameron Mckenzie, 15.221
24. W83-Daniel Hartigan, NT
Heat Race #1:
1. W17-James McFadden
2. W79-Kris Coyle
3. S20-Glen Sutherland
4. T22-Jock Goodyer
5. V55-Brooke Tatnell
6. W11-Jason Kendrick
7. W3-Callum Williamson
8. W83-Daniel Hartigan
Heat Race #2:
1. V88-David Murcott
2. W2-Kerry Madsen
3. W63-Todd Davis
4. W25-Taylor Milling
5. W42-Ben Butcher
6. W4-Cameron Mckenzie
7. W77-Brad Maiolo
8. V40-Rusty Hickman
Heat Race #3:
1. W60-Brock Hallett
2. W12-Daniel Harding
3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe
4. W8-Andrew Priolo
5. W97-Mitchell Wormall
6. W14-Jason Pryde
7. W94-Matthew Cross
8. W9-AJ Nash
Heat Race #4:
1. V40-Rusty Hickman
2. V55-Brooke Tatnell
3. W60-Brock Hallett
4. W2-Kerry Madsen
5. W25-Taylor Milling
6. W12-Daniel Harding
7. W42-Ben Butcher
8. W83-Daniel Hartigan
Heat Race #5:
1. T22-Jock Goodyer
2. W11-Jason Kendrick
3. S20-Glen Sutherland
4. W97-Mitchell Wormall
5. V88-David Murcott
6. W4-Cameron Mckenzie
7. W9-AJ Nash
DNS: W77-Brad Maiolo
Heat Race #6:
1. W17-James McFadden
2. 5W-Lucas Wolfe
3. W8-Andrew Priolo
4. W63-Todd Davis
5. W14-Jason Pryde
6. W3-Callum Williamson
7. W79-Kris Coyle
8. W94-Matthew Cross
B-Main:
1. W42-Ben Butcher
2. W3-Callum Williamson
3. W14-Jason Pryde
4. W94-Matthew Cross
5. W4-Cameron Mckenzie
A-Main:
1. W2-Kerry Madsen
2. W17-James McFadden
3. 5W-Lucas Wolfe
4. V55-Brooke Tatnell
5. V88-David Murcott
6. W11-Jason Kendrick
7. W3-Callum Williamson
8. T22-Jock Goodyer
9. W60-Brock Hallett
10. W63-Todd Davis
11. W97-Mitchell Wormall
12. W42-Ben Butcher
13. W14-Jason Pryde
14. W94-Matthew Cross
15. W79-Kris Coyle
16. W12-Daniel Harding
17. V40-Rusty Hickman
18. W8-Andrew Priolo
19. S20-Glen Sutherland
DQ: W25-Taylor Milling
SERIES TOP 10 WITH TWO ROUNDS REMAINING
1 W17 James McFadden 3239
2 W2 Kerry Madsen 3213
3 V55 Brooke Tatnell 2691
4 T22 Jock Goodyer 2626
5 W5 Lucas Wolfe 2565
6 V88 Dave Murcott 2395
7 W60 Brock Hallett 2369
8 V40 Rusty Hickman 2354
9 W14 Jason Pryde 1860
10 W60 Lockie McHugh 1764