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McFadden goes back to back

By Thomas Miles

James McFadden has once again taken Perth by storm, recording back to back victories in the WA Sprintcar Championships.

After successfully subbing for Callum Williamson last year, McFadden did it again in 2024 at Perth Motorplex with new team Brady Motorsport.

The international racing star dominated the majority of the 40-lap A Main and led home Dayne Kingshott by 3.8s.

Whilst he missed out on the state crown, Kingshott importantly extended his lead in the fight for the 2024-25 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series Championship.

Having risen from eighth to second, and Williamson’s 11th, after crashing whilst second and starting from pole position, has increased the margin to 22 points.

In qualifying Williamson showcased his pace early by posting a 13.323s time with McFadden sixth.

The #W3 carried on its speed by winning the opening heat as the sprints were also taken out by Jason Kendrick, McFadden, Kris Coyle, Daniel Harding and Bradley Maiolo.

Dayne Kingshott flew to second. Image: Richard Hathaway Photography

This left just five cars to fight it out in the B Main where Ryan Newton cruised to a commanding eight-lap triumph.

The stage was set for the state final across 40 laps under lights at Perth Motorplex.

Despite going on to win, McFadden did not get off to the greatest start, slipping to third, but stormed to the lead by Lap 5.

In the meantime, Williamson settled into second as Aaron Chirop got a rocket start, rising from fifth to first before falling to third and soon to 12th.

Williamson was battling hard to stay in touch with leader McFadden before clashing with Brooke Newson on lap 21, seeing him go back to be the last car on the lead lap at the restart, clawing back some points with an 11th.

Following the mid-race caution, there was a fierce fight for second and that was initially held by the charging Kerry Madsen.

Having started 11th Madsen showed a lot of pace up high on the track when others were unable to make it stick.

However, Madsen lost grip of second inside the final five laps as Pryde and Kingshott surged ahead and then battled amongst themselves.

The pair traded places for second at the death with Kingshott emerging on top to be best of the rest behind the dominant McFadden.

It was a relatively clean race with Brooke Newson, Jason Kendrick and Myles Bolger the only DNFs.

There was plenty of other racing for fans to enjoy wth the Jolly John Day Speedcar Classic also on show.

This was a wild race with only 11 of the 19 competitors completing the 30 laps.

The biggest drama initially was Kaiden Manders and Daniel Harding taking each other out when fighting for the lead on Lap 8.

Nick Rowe was the Speedcar winner. Image: Richard Hathaway Photography

The fate of the winner’s trophy was not decided until the 29th lap as Nicholas Rowe snatched it from longtime leader Michael Pickens in a thriller.

There were fight changes for the lead in the John Day XLI Late Model Classic.

Jamie Oldfield and Brent Vosbergen took turns in first throughout the opening half of the race before Warren Oldfield made the knockout blow and was not challenged again from Lap 20.

Blake Iwanow showed why he has the #W1 by cruising to Wingless Sprints success.

Late Models runner-up Brent Vosbergen smokes it up. Image: Richard Hathaway Photography

He dominated the race and won by a second as Matt Iwanow won a tight battle for second with Tom Britton as they pair swapped spots for four successive laps.

There is now a break in the 2024-25 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series before round at the Perth Motorplex on Boxing Day, which is also the first event of the nine-night Speedweek series and the High Limit International.

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