From Perth Motorplex
Perth, AU — (November 1, 2014) — A virtually unknown 16-year-old won the biggest Speedcar race on the Perth Motorplex calendar on Saturday night.
Kaiden Manders started from position six for the 34-lap race and showed maturity to systematically pick off the cars in front of him to take the emotional win that pays tribute to former Speedcar and Sprintcar champion Michael Figliomeni.
Shaun Bradford survived the carnage and drama to win round two of the AHG Sprintcar Series at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night.
In his first full season of racing he upstaged some of the biggest names in the sport, winning from Lee Redmond and Dayne Kingshott.
The former karting champion claimed only his second win in Speedcars, with the first victory being at Ellenbrook Speedway on Perth’s outskirts only a month earlier.
The second-generation racer (who was up against his father Vaughan in the race) looked very comfortable in the Keith McAllan-owned #21.
“I was just hoping for a top 10 to be honest, this is better than a top 10,” Manders said.
He paid full credit to the McAllans… “they provide me with a fantastic race car every time it hits the track”.
Redmond, who started from P2 and is only days away from getting married, struggled with the car in the second half of the contest.
“Unfortunately we ran out of brakes on lap five and we struggled from there on in.”
Redmond said he was spent and once he lost the brakes he struggled to keep control of the car.
Kingshott, who started from P1, also had dramas with the motor on the #24 but paid credit to Manders saying “ this kid is going to be an absolute superstar”.
American Jerry Coons junior started and finished fourth with Neville Lance (from P9) finishing fifth.
The race ran nine laps before Ben Hall spun, forcing a restart.
Redmond took the lead from Kingshott on lap 13 and seconds later Manders was showing his hand and slipped into second, relegating the polesitter one more spot.
On lap 24, defending Magic Man winner Alex Bright (USA) was out of the contest after suffering a flat left tyre.
The third American in the field, Casey Shuman, was also out of the contest on the next lap.
Bradford won the 25-lap Sprint Car race from Ryan Farrell and Trent Pigdon in a feature race that had an abnormally high number of red-light stoppages and a power outage that delayed the racing for some time.
Turn 1-2 became a bit of a Bermuda triangle with car after car going over in the same spot.
Jake Beard-Miller was the first casualty on the first lap, two laps later it was Troy Lawson and the third victim was Lee Nash.
Out in front the racing was intense between David Priolo and Farrell with neither prepared to give an inch before Farrell got the upper hand.
Mark Wells rode a rut in pits bend and went over for another stoppage and seconds later the venue was in darkness with a major power outage.
After the lights came back on Scott Reilly was the next victim in turn 1-2 before major contact between Jeff Leisk and Carl Dowling.
Priolo tried a daring move on the back straight on Farrell at midrace distance but it didn’t stick and he rode up the back of Callum Williamson’s 73 before sliding infield. Williamson was lucky to keep going.
Bradford was working his way forward and once he got the job done on Farrell he was able to pull away to claim the win by 1.654 seconds.
Cameron Gessner and Jamie Maiolo were sent to the rear during one of the restarts for illegal passing but Maiolo refused and was disqualified from the event.
POOL SHOP GROUP SPEEDCARS
Qualifying: Lee Redmond 16.832, Dayne Kingshott 16.930, Ben Hall 16.936, Todd Waddell 17.031, Casey Shuman 17.058, Vaughan Manders 17.121, Brett Thomas 17.150, Brock Hallett 17.189, Phil Tremeer 17.198, Kaiden Manders 17.247, Dean Merrylees 17.341, Mark Brown 17.348, Scott Glazebrook 17.369, Jason Tremeer 17.423, Neville Lance 17.433, Paul Robinson 17.489, Lee Dillon 17.553, Glen Mears 17.636, Jerry Coons junior 17.652, Alfonso Guadagnino 17.685, Alex Bright 17.729, David Perry 17.764, Ryan Condren 17.801, Rob Golding 17.909, Daniel Golding 17.948, Chris Telenta 18.246, Phillip Jeffreys 19.232, Shaun North 20.205, Aaron North 23.469.
Heat 1: 1st Lee Redmond, 2nd Jerry Coons junior, 3rd Daniel Golding, 4th Kaiden Manders, 5th Todd Waddell, 6th Brett Thomas, 7th Paul Robinson, 8th Scott Glazebrook, 9th David Perry, 10th Shaun North.
Heat 2: 1st Ryan Condren, 2nd Alfonso Guadagnino, 3rd Casey Shuman, 4th Dayne Kingshott, 5th Dean Merrylees, 6th Lee Dillon, 7th Brock Hallett, 8th Jason Tremeer. DNF: Aaron North, Chris Telenta.
Heat 3: 1st Vaughan Manders, 2nd Mark Brown, 3rd Neville Lance, 4th Alex Bright, 5th Ben Hall, 6th Rob Golding, 7th Phil Tremeer. DNF: Phillip Jeffreys. DNS: Glen Mears.
Heat 4: 1st David Perry, 2nd Kaiden Manders, 3rd Dayne Kingshott, 4th Paul Robinson, 5th Alfonso Guadagnino, 6th Brock Hallett, 7th Todd Waddell, 8th Jason Tremeer. DNS: Chris Telenta and Shaun North.
Heat 5: 1st Daniel Golding, 2nd Jerry Coons junior, 3rd Lee Redmond, 4th Mark Brown, 5th Vaughan Manders, 6th Brett Thomas, 7th Rob Golding, 8th Scott Glazebrook. DNS: Glen Mears.
Heat 6: 1st Alex Bright, 2nd Neville Lance, 3rd Casey Shuman, 4th Ben Hall, 5th Dean Merrylees, 6th Lee Dillon, 7th Phil Tremeer. DNF: Ryan Condren.
B Main: 1st Alex Bright, 2nd Alfonso Guadagnino, 3rd Lee Dillon, 4th Daniel Golding, 5th Rob Golding, 6th Paul Robinson, 7th Jason Tremeer. DNF: Scott Glazebrook, Ryan Condren, David Perry.
A Main: 1st Kaiden Manders, 2nd Lee Redmond, 3rd Dayne Kingshott, 4th Jerry Coons junior, 5th Neville Lance, 6th Todd Waddell, 7th Brock Hallett, 8th Alfonso Guadagnino, 9th Dean Merrylees.
SPRINTCARS
Group 1: David Priolo 15.627, Callum Williamson 15.899, Daniel Harding 15.913, Ryan Farrell 16.248, Ryan Lancaster 16.255, Carl Dowling 16.542.
Group 2: Jason Kendrick 14.92, Jamie Maiolo 15.304, Lee Nash 15.425, Bradley Maiolo 15.512, Troy Lawson 15.649 and Daryl Clayden 15.852.
Group 3: Shaun Bradford 14.819, Cameron Gessner 15.066, Jake Beard-Miller 15.143, Robert Watson junior 15.202, Shane Norris 15.567, Kye Scroop 15.876.
Group 4: Daniel Keen 14.971, Mark Wells 15.000, Scott Reilly 15.043, Trent Pigdon 15.211, Jeff Leisk 15.965, Sean Zemunik 17.051.
Heat 1: 1st Daryl Clayden, 2nd Ryan Lancaster, 3rd Trent Pigdon, 4th Shane Norris, 5th Bradley Maiolo, 6th Daniel Harding, 7th Mark Wells, 8th Shaun Bradford, 9th David Priolo, 10th Jamie Maiolo, 11th Jake Beard-Miller. DNS: Sean Zemunik.
Heat 2: 1st Kye Scroop, 2nd Ryan Farrell, 3rd Lee Nash, 4th Jeff Leisk, 5th Scott Reilly, 6th Cameron Gessner, 7th Callum Williamson, 8th Troy Lawson, 9th Daniel Keen, 10th Jason Kendrick, 11th Robert Watson junior. DNF: Carl Dowling.
Heat 3: 1st David Priolo, 2nd Callum Williamson, 3rd Trent Pigdon, 4th Ryan Farrell 5th Ryan Lancaster, 6th Daniel Harding, 7th Carl Dowling, 8th Scott Reilly, 9th Daniel Keen, 10th Jeff Leisk. DNF: Mark Wells. DNS: Sean Zemunik:
Heat 4: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Shaun Bradford, 3rd Cameron Gessner, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th Lee Nash, 6th Bradley Maiolo, 7th Jake Beard-Miller, 8th Daryl Clayden, 9th Robert Watson junior, 10th Kye Scroop, 11th Troy Lawson, 12th Shane Norris.
Feature: 1st Shaun Bradford, 2nd Ryan Farrell, 3rd Trent Pigdon, 4th Callum Williamson, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Daryl Clayden, 7th Kye Scroo, 8th Jason Kendrick, 9th Ryan Lancaster, 10th Robert Watson junior, 11th Daniel Keen, 12th Cameron Gessner. DNF: Shane Norris, David Priolo, Jeff Leisk, Carl Dowling, Scot Reilly, Mark Wells, Lee Nash, Troy Lawson, Bradley Maiolo, Jake Beard-Miller. DNS: Sean Zemunik. DQ Jamie Maiolo.