One of the longest running races in WA Speedway, the WA Speedcar Championship will be held at the Perth Motorplex for the nineteenth time.
Despite having its first run in the 1946/47 season, some seventy plus years ago where the title was won by Victorian Ken Wylie, there was a couple of years that the event was not held, meaning that this year is indeed the 78th running.
As already mentioned, since the Perth Motorplex’s inception in 2000, the event has been held there a number of times, the first in that inaugural 2000/01 season where Neville Lance claimed his fourth title win, and since then not only has the event returned a number of times, but also Neville has won the title a further three times, coincidently two of which were also at the Motorplex.
2024/25 Champion – Harry Stewart will be one to watch with the GJR #4 this Saturday night – Photo by Richard Hathaway Photography
These results totaled means that Neville has seven WA Title wins, leaving him tied on the all-time leader board with two other Speedcar legends in Johnny Fenton and Michael Figliomeni. If we go simply by wins, these three men, who have each recorded seven wins, account for over a quarter of all title wins in the events history.
Fenton claimed his first in the 1970/71 season, then claimed five wins in a row from 1973/74 through to 1977/78, followed by a final victory in 1979/80. He also recorded four second place finishes in that time, meaning for a period of eleven years straight, he was never outside the top two finishers, an incredible record.
‘Figs’ recorded his first win in the 1992/93 season and he too won five straight, with individual victories in 1999/2000 and 2001/02. He also finished second once and third five times, meaning in a period of eighteen years he claimed a podium finish thirteen times, another incredible record.
Meanwhile, Lance claimed his first WA title podium in 1986/87 with a win, with his last podium appearance being in 2012/13 where he came third. This means that across those twenty seven years he recorded, along with his seven wins, two second places and three thirds, for a total of twelve podium appearances.
Dayne Kingshott is the next best with five wins, one second and one third place, an incredible seven podiums across last ten years, while Kaiden Manders follows closely behind with four stand alone wins.
If we delve further into the history books we can see that the next best based on wins alone are Laurie Stevens, Ray Clarke, Keith Mann and Noel McDonald who have all recorded three wins apiece.
Interestingly, each of these drivers has a total of five podiums in the WA Title races, apart from Mann who has claimed nine overall, across fourteen years.
There have been a further nine drivers who have won two titles and eighteen more drivers have one title victory, the last addition to that single winners list last season when Queenslander Harry Stewart came across to take the win in the Graham Jones Racing #4, bringing the total winners list to thirty-six.
This would be just the third interstate victory: the first in 1946/47 with Victorian Ken Wylie, followed by New South Welshman Adam Clarke in 2012/13.
Amazingly, in the last twelve years, only four drivers have claimed the win, and the only former WA champion in this weekend’s field is the defending champ Stewart.
There is also a huge list of sixty-one other drivers who have podiumed in the event, with greats such as Geoff Pilgrim recording five podium finishes but never actually taking home the coveted number one.
Keenan Fleming, New South Welshman Kaidon Brown, Vaughan Manders, Alfonso Guadagnino, Beau Doyle, Nicholas Rowe and Patrick Watson are the drivers in this weekends field to have come close to a win, but ultimately come up short: Manders, Guadagnino, Doyle and Watson each have a third place finish to their name, Brown has a second, while Rowe has two third places and Fleming has two second places.
So who will add their name this weekend? There’s only one way to answer those questions and that’s to be at the Perth Motorplex this Saturday night!
