The switch from Sprintcars to Speedcars in the off-season paid off for David Ellement when he claimed the 64th WA Speedcar Championship from defending champion Scott Glazebrook and Vaughan Manders.
Ellement started on the front row with Manders and after getting the early jump was never headed in the 25-lap event.
It continues his spectacular rookie season in the Wild and Wingless division after already claiming a feature race on the Perth track earlier in the season.
Ellement spoke highly of his radical Synergy V8 engine he is campaigning but said they had trouble with the engine’s computer management system on Wednesday night, enlisting the help from another team owner Mark DeRosa.
While singing the motor’s praises he joked that he hoped no one else would purchase one.
“And I am happy to win because my brother (Ben) just won the WA 360 Sprintcar state title and had gone one up on me.” – that was until Ben the Sprintcar race about 30 minutes later.
Former state and national champions John Fenton and Keith Mann helped present the trophies after watching the racing from the infield.
“That was certainly very exciting,” Fenton said.
“Everybody would have loved that.”
Manders recovered well after a bad start to finish on the podium.
“I wanted to be further up but I really enjoyed the race,” Manders said.
“That was a great race, I really enjoyed it.”
Glazebrook, who started from fifth, said he didn’t have any more speed.
“I was pretty much flat out the whole way around,” Glazebrook said.
He was happy with the caution periods midrace, allowing the engine to cool down.
“Things didn’t fall our way tonight…David is really hitting his straps and he is a good racer…maybe next year.”
Ellement was the early leader over Dene McAllan with Neville Lance settling into third and Manders into fourth.
McAllan showed his nose early on the low line but Ellement was equal to the challenge, while there was a great battle for fourth between Manders and Lance for the next spot.
Glazebrook slipped into third at mid race distance after a good move over Manders while Ellement had opened up a handy buffer over McAllan.
The race was stopped when Jason Roser and Lee Redmond had contact in turn on with 10 laps remaining.
Roser was apologetic after the incident taking blame, thinking he was clear of Redmond but in hindsight he wasn’t and felt bad about also taking someone else out of the event.
It also ended an impressive debut for Redmond in speedcars who like every comfortable behind the wheel of the #9 machine.
On the restart Ellement bolted away while Glazebrook and McAllan were locked into a battle for the minor placings seeing Glazebrook squeezing through with seven laps remaining.
Manders was carrying a lot of speed while in fourth and crawling all over the back of McAllan and moments later he was literally on the back of the #21 machine after McAllan slowed up, Manders rode a wheel and pulled a massive wheelstand.
Manders managed to recover to resume on the start but it was all over for McAllan.
Combined Smash Repairs WA Speedcar Title:
Qualifying: Neville Lane 16.621, Vaughan Manders 16.634, Dene McAllan 16.638, Scott Glazebrook 16.667, David Ellement 16.751, Jason Roser 16.809, Lee Redmond 16.855, Rick Geneve 16.915, Alfonso Guadagnino 16.936, Tom Watson 17.175, Ross Heywood 17.404, Bryn Lake 17.409, Dayne Kingshott 17.851, David Perry 18.234, Steven Henderson 25.366.
Race 1: 1st David Ellement, 2nd Alfonso Guadagnino, 3rd Neville Lance, 4th Lee Redmond, 5th Dene McAllan.
Race 2: 1st Bryn Lake, 2nd Vaughan Manders, 3rd Scott Glazebrook, 4th Jason Roser, 5th Tom Watson, 6th Rick Geneve.
Race 3: 1st Dene McAllan, 2nd Lee Redmond, 3rd Bryn Lake, 4th Scott Glazebrook, 5th Rick Geneve, 6th Steven Henderson.
Race 4: 1st Alfonso Guadagnino, 2nd David Ellement, 3rd Vaughan Manders, 4th Jason Roser, 5th Neville Lance, 6th Tom Watson.
Final: 1st David Ellement, 2nd Scott Glazebrook, 3rd Vaughan Manders, 4th Rick Geneve, 5th Neville Lance, 6th Alfonso Guadagnino, 7th Tom Watson, 8th Steven Henderson. DNF: Dene McAllan, Jason Roser, Lee Redmond, Bryn Lake, Dayne Kingshott, Ross Heywood and David Perry.
WATSONS EXPRESS TRANSPORT SPRINTCARS
THERE would have been plenty of celebrations in the Ellement clan after Ben won the Sprintcar feature race from Jamie Maiolo and Brad Maiolo.
Ellement was the early leader over Maiolo, Priolo and Gharst and he quickly opened up a handy buffer in traffic.
Priolo’s night came to an early end when he hit a run in pits bend with 12 laps to go.
A few minutes later Lee Nash’s bad night continued after he rode a wheel on the main straight and went over on the main straight.
It was heartbreaking for the second-generation racer who had only just got the car repaired after a nasty crash in an early heat race.
Ken Sartori, who started from 12th, carried some sensational pace and was impressive as he worked his way through the field.
On the next restart he stomped the throttle hard from the start and got up to second before there was contact with Jamie Maiolo, taking out the #41 car’s front-end and ending Sartori’s night.
Sartori was not happy with the outcome and this was on top of being sent infield in an earlier heat race for jumping starts.
With two laps to go Jamie Maiolo was all over the back of Ellement’s car but he didn’t have enough to get by and had to settle for second.
Brad Maiolo said the car wasn’t great but was happy to run third.
Big brother Jamie enjoyed his night out.
“It was a pretty good race there…I thought I might have got Ben at the end there,” Maiolo said.
“The track was real heavy up the top…but Ben checked out a bit at the start.”
While happy with the win Ben was happy with brother David’s effort.
“I think I was a bit more stoked for my brother winning the state title,” Ellement said.
“That was a fantastic effort by him.”
It was Ellement’s second consecutive race win.
“That’s a good feeling…we are heading over east on Tuesday and it’s a pretty good start.”
Qualifying: Ben Ellement 14.225, David Priolo 14.360, Trent Pigdon 14.720, Bradley Maiolo 14.784, Jamie Maiolo 14.813, Robert Watson 14.877, Ken Sartori 14.938, Kaley Gharst 15.172. Adyme Harvey 15.229, Kye Scroop 15.246, Jason Boland 15.332, Troy Lawson 15.392, Callum Williamson 15.513, Daniel Harding 15.614, Trevor Harding 15.759, Lee Nash 14.979 (missed time trial order), Shannon Peet no time.
Heat 1: 1st Jamie Maiolo, 2nd Ben Ellement, 3rd Ken Sartori, 4th Jason Boland, 5th Callum Williamson, 6th Trent Pigdon, 7th Adyme Harvey, 8th Trevor Harding. DNF: Shannon Peet.
Heat 2: 1st Kaley Gharst, 2nd Bradley Maiolo, 3rd David Priolo, 4th Lee Nash, 5th Robert Watson, 6th Daniel Harding, 7th Kye Scroop. DNF: Troy Lawson.
Heat 3: 1st Kaley Gharst, 2nd Bradley Maiolo, 3rd Jason Boland, 4th Trent Pigdon, 5th Troy Lawson, 6th Trevor Harding. DNF: Lee Nash, Shannon Peet and Ken Sartori.
Heat 4: 1st Callum Williamson, 2nd David Priolo, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Ben Ellement, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Adyme Harvey, 7th Kye Scroop.
Final: 1st Ben Ellement, 2nd Jamie Maiolo, 3rd Bradley Maiolo, 4th Kaley Gharst, 5th Kye Scroop, 6th Callum Williamson, 7th Jason Boland, 8th Trent Pigdon, 9th Daniel Harding, 10th Trevor Harding, 11th Adyme Harvey. DNF: Ken Sartori, David Priolo, Lee Nash, Troy Lawson, Shannon Peet and Robert Watson.