Test n Tune Thursday 27th February 2020
WITH four rounds of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series in the books, the early-season form is with the Myalup-based LJM Racing outfit.
Jamie, a seven-time series champion, won the first meeting of the season and backed this up with a win in round three.
On the two other occasions he has enjoyed a fifth (also here at the Perth Motorplex) and a third at Bunbury Speedway last Saturday night.
But not to be outdone is younger brother Brad, himself a two-time series champion.
Brad opened his 2018-19 account with a fourth and followed this up with an eighth (with a badly damaged car), a fifth, and then at Bunbury last weekend – a win.
And the win was a dominant one.
Brad started the feature race from sixth but quickly hustled his way to second before eventually claiming the lead and pulling away from the pack.
Despite several restarts where he came back to the field, Brad was able to hold off any challenges and take a convincing victory.
Given the form of the #77 and #99 cars, they head into round five this weekend as two of the favourites.
But, and there’s always a but.
This is no ordinary round – it is also the WA Sprintcar Championship – something that a lot of other drivers are keen to put on their driving resume.
Mitchell Wormall has to be considered a serious championship threat given his drives in the #97 Wormall Motorsport entry.
He was second here at the Motorplex to AJ Nash in the WA 360 Sprintcar Championship and the look on his face afterwards suggested he knew it was one that got away.
And last weekend at Bunbury he was very impressive – starting from P5 and in the dying stages was locked in an entertaining battle for second with Jamie Maiolo – a battle that he won.
Could he made the move to the top step this weekend?
Many believe it is possible.
Jason Kendrick, after posting a pair of DNFs at the start of the season, is showing glimpses of form that have won him previous WA titles – and let’s not forget he is the defending series champion.
A second last time here at the Motorplex, and a late-race surge up to fourth at Bunbury last Saturday, showed what the #11 Kendrick Race Team is capable of.
Northern Territory ace Chace Karpenko is getting better with every drive in the WA-owned Cowara Motorsport #41 and he knows what is required to win big races – making him another driver to watch.
Andrew Priolo has only raced twice this season so far but it is obvious this guy is chasing podium results and wins this year – already enjoying a podium finish.
He has a lot more car speed and is set for a big season.
Ben Ellement returns for his first race in quite some time in the Muir Motorsport #53 and along with Kaiden Manders, Tom Payet, James Inglis, Kye Scroop and AJ Nash, are all capable of having a major say in how the title unfolds.
Now here’s the quicker – Kerry Madsen jets in from the USA for his debut performance with Krikke Motorsport and James McFadden returns to WA for another season with Monte Motorsport.
These two alone will be worth the price of admission and both only have one thing on the mind – a win tonight.
It’s going to be an epic battle and we can’t wait to see how it unfolds.
Don’t miss any of the action this Saturday night at the Perth Motorplex tickets at www.motorplex.com.au
Photo Credit: Peter Roebuck.
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