McFADDEN OPENING NIGHT SPRINTCAR FESTIVAL WINNER

Former Australian sprintcar champion James McFadden fired the first shot in the first of the five-night Festival of Sprintcars at the Perth Motorplex on Friday night, January 6.

The W23 won the first night of the Barbagallo Australian Mr Sprintcar Nationals from local ace Dayne Kingshott and Kerry Madsen.

He started from pole for the 30-lap race, leading for the first six laps before settling into second until about lap 19 where he was never headed in the run to the checkers.

It was drama-filled and drawn out final that saw two separate incidents from attempts to get the first lap in the books.

On the first occasion Marcus Dumesny, who started p6, spun around on the back straight, sustaining front-end damage that was repaired in the work area.

Next time Ryan Lancaster spun in a similar area of the track which also involved Michael Keen and Andrew Priolo.

There was a red-light stoppage three laps in after Lancaster crashed hard and officials opted for a fuel stop, given the high number of rolling laps already completed.

From there the race settled into a groove.

Mikey Green completed a 360 spin as front runner Aaron Reutzel went to put him a lap down, seeing officials activate a caution, but then reinstate the green as Green quickly recovered and kept going.

Four laps later Green’s good luck ended, when he spun again for a caution period.

With only three laps remaining contact between a couple of cars on the back straight flicked a driveline onto the track for the final restart.

McFadden led the field away from Madsen, American Justin Whittall and Kingshott, with the latter capitalising, going from fourth to second in the run to the finish.

McFadden started the show by being second quickest in his qualifying group and went from third to first in his heat race.

A win from the front row in the Revolution Racegear A Dash set up the front-row start for the final.

Kingshott was fourth in his qualifying group and took second, after starting on the front row in his heat race.

He then went to sixth to second in the A Dash.

Madsen, now driving the S&D Motorsport W95 put together by Sean and Dot Carren, was second in his qualifying session, and then went from third to second in his heat race, before taking a fourth in the A Dash.

Queenslander Ryan Newton claimed the Revolution Racegear B Dash to start next to McFadden on the front row.

He dropped ground early before posting a DNF on lap 22.

Reutzel, who started from p4 and lead from lap 7-18, faded late to finish 8th.

Callum Williamson was fourth (from p9), Whittall 5th (from p8), Kaiden Manders 6th (from p14), Matt Egel 7th (from p12), Reutzel 8th, newly-minted Australian champion Jock Goodyer 9th (from p13) and Jason Kendrick rounded out the top 10 (from p16).

Reutzel claimed the overall Victory 1 Performance Quick Time.

There were dramas at the start of the show with Queenslander Luke Oldfield damaging the Q65 chassis after a left-rear tyre exploded before he was even able to set a lap, putting him out for the night.

Teams have a quick turnaround, being back at the Perth Motorplex tonight for the final of the Barbagallo show which is also round 15 of the overall Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series.

The winner of the feature race will receive $40,077 (with the 77 a nod to the race number famously campaigned by Alf Barbagallo).

Results:

Qualifying 1

Aaron Reutzel 12.949, Kerry Madsen 13.080, Taylor Milling 13.134, Lachlan McHugh 13.137, Michael Keen 13.257, Jason Pryde 13.291, Jye McKenzie 13.409, Harrison Peet 13.491, Glen Sutherland 13.654, Luke Oldfield NTT.

Qualifying 2

Ryan Newton 13.085, James McFadden 13.185, Brad Maiolo 13.312, Jock Goodyer 13.351, Kodi Clayden 13.428, Randy Morgan 13.456, Kris Coyle 13.598, Myles Bolger 13.690, Aaron Chircop 13.754.

Qualifying 3

Ryan Lancaster 13.341, Jaydee Dack 13.376, Callum Williamson 13.428, Jake Robinson 13.475, Jack Williamson 13.513, Kaiden Manders 13.534, Jason Kendrick 13.548, Declan Minchin 14.229, Daniel Harding NTT.

Qualifying 4

Justin Whittall 13.450, Matt Egel 13.476, Marcus Dumesny 13.506, Dayne Kingshott 13.529, Mikey Green 13.592, Brodie Davis 13.685, Andrew Priolo 13.698, Mick Saller 13.895, Brodie Kostecki 13.955.

Heat 1: 1st Taylor Milling, 2nd Kerry Madsen, 3rd Aaron Reutzel, 4th Lachlan McHugh, 5th Jason Pryde, 6th Michael Keen, 7th Glen Sutherland, 8th Jye McKenzie, 9th Harrison Peet. DNS: Luke Oldfield.

Heat 2: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Ryan Newton, 3rd Jock Goodyer, 4th Brad Maiolo, 5th Randy Morgan, 6th Aaron Chircop, 7th Kris Coyle, 8th Kodi Clayden, DNF Myles Bolger.

Heat 3: 1st Ryan Lancaster, 2nd Callum Williamson, 3rd Kaiden Manders, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Jaydee Dack, 7th Jack Williamson, 8th Declan Minchin. DNF: Jake Robinson.

Heat 4: 1st Marcus Dumesny, 2nd Dayne Kingshott, 3rd Matt Egel, 4th Justin Whittall, 5th Brodie Davis, 6th Mikey Green, 7th Andrew Priolo, 8th Brodie Kostecki. DNS: Mick Saller.

Revolution Racegear A Dash: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Dayne Kingshott, 3rd Ryan Lancaster, 4th Kerry Madsen, 5th Callum Williamson, 6th Taylor Milling.

Revolution Racegear B Dash: 1st Ryan Newton, 2nd Aaron Reutzel, 3rd Marcus Dumesny, 4th Justin Whittall, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Matt Egel.

BR Motorsports / King Racing Products Midpack: 1st Jock Goodyer, 2nd Kaiden Manders, 3rd Lachlan McHugh, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th Jaydee Dack, 6th Randy Morgan, 7th Michael Keen, 8th Jason Pryde,

Last Chance Qualifier: 1st Mikey Green, 2nd Brodie Davis, 3rd Daniel Harding, 4th Jack Williamson, 5th Jye McKenzie, 6th Kris Coyle, 7th Andrew Priolo, 8th Glen Sutherland, 9th Kodi Clayden, 10th Brodie Kostecki, 11th Mick Saller, 12th Harrison Peet, 13th Myles Bolger. DNS: Aaron Chircop.

Final: 1st James McFadden, 2nd Dayne Kingshott, 3rd Kerry Madsen, 4th Callum Williamson, 5th Justin Whittall, 6th Kaiden Manders, 7th Matt Egel, 8th Aaron Reutzel, 9th Jock Goodyer, 10th Jason Kendrick, 11th Marcus Dumesny, 12th Lachlan McHugh, 13th Jack Williamson, 14th Taylor Milling, 15th Jason Pryde, 16th Daniel Harding, 17th Randy Morgan, 18th Kris Coyle, 19th Michael Keen, 20th Brodie Davis, 21st Jaydee Dack, 22nd Jye McKenzie. DNF: Glen Sutherland, Brodie Kostecki, Mikey Green, Ryan Newton, Brad Maiolo and Ryan Lancaster.

Victory 1 Performance Quick Time: Aaron Reutzel.

Hoosier Tyre Draw: Kaiden Manders.