Madsen wins finale, Kingshott crowned

Kerry Madsen drove to victory in the grand final of Speedweek at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, but the overall crown was claimed by Dale Kingshott in a nail biter.

Madsen bounced back brilliantly from disappointment on the previous night to win from second on the grid.

The fight for the overall crown went down to the wire and was not decided until the final race.

Kingshott finished fifth in the ninth and final night to wrap it up, which was critical with nearest rival Brock Zearfoss only managing 11th.

This meant Kingshott emerged on top by the slender margin of six points.

Kerry Madsen leads the field down the back straight at Perth. Image: Richard Hathaway Photography

Boosted by a sixth place finish, Matt Egel rose to third ahead of James McFadden.

In the fight for the wider 2024-25 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series, Kingshott is still on track to do the double, with a commanding 94-point lead over Callum Williamson.

Whilst there was plenty of attention on the Speedweek title fight, there was also a race on.

Madsen started on the front row, but Kaiden Manders got the initial jump before the caution lights were activated after an Andrew Priolo incident in turn three.

Madsen took six laps to hit the lead and never looked back.

He survived a couple of challenges and a couple of restarts late in the race, to claim the win.

The biggest threat came from an unlikely source in James McFadden.

Whilst McFadden was on fire having won the previous night, he started the finally down in 13th after battling in qualifying.

James McFadden was fast again. Image: Richard Hathaway Photography

The Brady Motorsport driver then put the foot down, flying through the field and producing an entertaining battle for the lead with Madsen and Taylor Milling.

Whilst McFadden ultimately finished second best, it was a special comeback.

Milling also produced a a massive turnaround from the race meeting at the same venue 24 hours earlier, where the car stumbled with engine issues early on, and was then damaged too much for him to even qualify for the main event.

Milling was a frontrunner all night and challenged for the lead before slotting into third.

Callum Williamson reclaimed vital points by being the Hard Charger, storming from 24th to fourth having encouraged engine issues in qualifying.

Callum Williamson passing Brad Sweet. Image: Richard Hathaway

Jack Williamson was originally slated to start towards the front of the pack after qualifying for the A Dash, but was a DNF from a crash, ruling him out for the rest of the night.

With the Speedweek out of the way, the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series resumes on Friday, February 7 for the opening night of the Barbagallo Australian Sprintcar Nationals.

Feature race: 1st Kerry Madsen, 2nd James McFadden, 3rd Taylor Milling, 4th Callum Williamson, 5th Dayne Kingshott, 6th Matt Egel, 7th Cole Macedo, 8th Kaiden Manders, 9th Cory Eliason, 10th Brad Sweet, 11th Brock Zearfoss, 12th Daniel Harding, 13th Jason Pryde, 14th Michael Keen, 15th Gio Scelzi, 16th Kris Coyle, 17th James Inglis, 18th Jamie Maiolo, 19th Andrew Priolo, 20th Jason Kendrick, 21st Aaron Chircop, 22nd Myles Bolger, 23rd Jaydee Dack. DNF: Justin Whittall, Brad Maiolo, Ryan Lancaster, Tim King and AJ Nash.

Speedweek points: Dayne Kingshott 1226, Brock Zearfoss 1220, Matt Egel 1187, James McFadden 1176, Callum Williamson 1156, Taylor Milling 1146, Justin Whittall 1086, Kaiden Manders 1080, Cory Eliason 1070, Andrew Priolo 1064, Kerry Madsen 1058, Brad Sweet 1052, Cole Macedo 964, Gio Scelzi 948, Jason Kendrick 940, Jack Williamson 936, Brad Maiolo 910, Matt Juhl 904, Jock Goodyer 878, Kris Coyle 856, Aaron Chircop 852, Michael Keen 850, Luke Oldfield 832, Daniel Harding 818, Jamie Maiolo 802, Ryan Newton 762, James Inglis 748, Ryan Lancaster 738, AJ Nash 718, Jaydee Dack 628, Jason Pryde 576, Tim King 472, Joel Ettridge 464, Myles Bolger 458, Kyle Larson 424, Cameron McKenzie 262, Brooke Newson 250, Matthew Cross 200.

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