Tonight at the Perth Motorplex Kaiden Manders (DGR - Dan Golding Racing) continued to make history, notching his third straight WA Speedcar Championship win (the fifth person in history to do this), his fourth WA Title, his seventh feature win of the season and also added to his Perth Motorplex feature wins which now stands at thirty-three and puts him fifth on the all-time winners list.
It was a hard fought night for every driver, but Manders’ heat results were enough to qualify himself on the front row, however Logan Seavey (Logan Seavey Racing) would do enough to start from pole position for the second week in a row.
Kaiden was immediately into the lead with Seavey following through as the race went green, former WA Champion Tom Payet (Bennett Motorsport) into third with Daniel Harding and Australia #5 Nick Rowe in hot pursuit.
The top six cars began to spread out as behind them cars were going two and three wide in their battles.
Keenan Fleming (ASTEEL Racing) went to pass Rowe for fifth but drifted up in turn two and was unable to complete the pass, a number of cars coming together shortly after with three laps complete: Tyson Bryden (Tyson Bryden Motorsports), Lee Austen and Gary Mann all coming together.
Unfortunately restarts breed restarts, and as the field went to take off again, Patrick Watson (Watson Racing Team) hit the main straight wall, bouncing back in front of cars, Jake Robinson (Robinson Motorsport) left with nowhere to go and spinning while Watson got collected by a number of other cars and rolled. Alfie Guadagnino (Guadagnino Racing Team - GRT) also got upside down in a scary incident, though all drivers would emerge shaken but unhurt.
Thirteen cars would resume the race, Manders still maintaining his lead on Seavey, Payet and Harding, while Fleming finally slid past Rowe for fifth.
Payet and Harding would now battle for third, the duo passing each other in every corner, but Payet able to get back in front as each lap was concluded.
As this happened, the front two of Manders and Seavey pulled away, while Fleming joined the battle and began to pressure Harding.
The field began to spread out at this point, most cars running high as they made their way around the track.
Joel Watson would get by Nick Rowe for sixth on lap eleven, but two laps later the battle for the lead began to hot up, Manders getting caught up with a lapped car and allowing Seavey to get by for the lead.
Shortly after Fleming would retire infield with a heavily smoking machine after dropping a heap of liquid through turn four, while on track Kaiden and Seavey were now trading slidejobs, Manders getting back in front on lap sixteen.
With twenty complete and five to go Manders had managed to build his lead up to just over one second, while Daniel Harding was now in third having passed Payet and Rowe was back in fifth having repassed Watson.
Manders was in lapped traffic and would touch the wall several times as he attempted to pass them but it wouldn’t do anything to his lead, going on to claim the win over Seavey while Payet slid past Harding for third with one to go and held that until the chequers.
Congratulations to all drivers for an incredible couple of weeks!
Release by DTN Media.
Pics Courtesy Richard Hathaway Photography.
Official Results
Heat 1, 8 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Kaiden Manders, 3. Nicholas Rowe, 4. Keenan Fleming, 5. Rob Golding, 6. Patrick Watson, 7. Joel Watson, 8. Alfonso Guadagnino, 9. Tyson Bryden, 10. Gary Mann, 11. Cory Smith, 12. Bart Curnow. DNF: Glen Mears (6). DNS: Aron Sharp. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.968. Fastest Lap: 16.198 Tom Payet.
Heat 2, 8 laps: 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Daniel Harding, 3. Tom Payet, 4. Joel Watson, 5. Jake Robinson, 6. Beau Doyle, 7. Alfonso Guadagnino, 8. Lee Austen, 9. Rob Golding, 10. Patrick Watson, 11. Vaughan Manders, 12. William Douglas. DNS: Glen Mears, Aron Sharp. Total Time: 2.11.029. Winning Margin: 1.509. Fastest Lap: 16.126 Logan Seavey.
Heat 3, 8 laps: 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Keenan Fleming, 4. Daniel Harding, 5. Nicholas Rowe, 6. Beau Doyle, 7. Tyson Bryden, 8. Lee Austen, 9. Jake Robinson, 10. Gary Mann, 11. Cory Smith. DNF: Bart Curnow (5), William Douglas (2), Vaughan Manders (2). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.810. Fastest Lap: 16.213 Kaiden Manders.
Feature, 25 laps: 1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Tom Payet, 4. Daniel Harding, 5. Nicholas Rowe, 6. Beau Doyle (24), 7. Joel Watson (24), 8. Lee Austen (24), 9. Jake Robinson (24), 10. Rob Golding (24), 11. William Douglas (24), 12. Cory Smith (24). DNF: Keenan Fleming (13), Bart Curnow (3), Alfonso Guadagnino (3), Patrick Watson (3), Gary Mann (3), Vaughan Mander (3), Tyson Bryden (3). DNS: Glen Mears, Aron Sharp. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 3.245. Fastest Lap: 16.241 Logan Seavey.
