By Daniel Powell
Photo from Daniel Powell
Keen, aboard the # 95 Boyanup Cellars / Keens Truck Driver Training supported Triple X, spent the majority of the 20-lap King of Wings feature race in second, before he was able to take the lead in the closing stages and went on to score the $2,500 top prize and his fifth King of Wings victory in a row. As a result of his latest King of Wings win, Keen earned a $5,000 bonus from a group of his supporters, which made it a massive $7,500 paying night.
“To win my first King of Wings five years ago was a big deal, so to win my fifth in a row is a truly amazing achievement, not only for me, but the entire team,” the 28-year-old from Bunbury, Western Australia said, who had the perfect warmup to his King of Wings defence by taking out the Limited Sprintcars feature race spoils in the Fast Friday Night event, which also saw his older brother Daniel join him on the podium in third, the previous night at the Perth Motorplex.
“It was without a doubt one of the biggest weekends of my speedway racing career so far with running the Limited Sprintcar on both the Friday and Saturday night and the 410 Sprintcar on the Saturday night, so the team and I had a fair bit going on throughout the weekend, but it was very satisfying to be able to handle all of the pressure that came with it, especially with the $5,000 winning bonus on offer, and come away with another King of Wings win.”
Despite Keen and his team scoring back-to-back wins in the Limited Sprintcars over the weekend, it wasn’t without some challenges, which saw the team change engines between race nights. Thankfully, the Keens Race Team worked hard and were able to carry out a swift engine change. A big thanks must go to Michael’s pop, Paul Keen from Keenquip, and Shane from Higg Built Race Engines for providing their engines on the Friday and Saturday nights respectively.
On top of his Limited Sprintcar commitments, Keen continued his 410 Sprintcar learning curve on Saturday night in the latest Maddington Toyota Series round running the WA # 41 Cowara Motorsport team Triple X car. In what is his rookie season in 410 Sprintcars, Michael enjoyed his strongest performance to date, which was highlighted by winning his first race in a 410 Sprintcars in the Mid Pack Dash, in only his third race meeting. Although the feature race didn’t go according to plan, Keen showed plenty of promise, despite being innocently involved in three incidents – one which of required a front end change to the race car during the pit stop and they received some help from a few rival teams, but his run was brought to a premature end on lap 23 due to eventually succumbing to the damage sustained. That said, if it wasn’t for those incidents, he probably would have come away with a competitive result.
“Despite there being a lot to learn and work on, I’m really enjoying the move into 410 Sprintcar racing, and massive thanks must go to Steve and Sharron Duggan from Cowara Motorsport for this amazing opportunity,” Keen expressed.
“Racing a 410 Sprintcar racing has been a dream of mine since I was a kid, so to be able to finally achieve it is something I’m certainly not taking for granted. I feel I’m gaining more and more confidence with every outing and the goals for the rest of the season are to get as many laps as possible and hopefully move further up the field.”
The next outing for the Keens Race Team will be this Saturday night in the Limited Sprintcar at Moora Speedway with Michael in the # 95 car, while Michael’s next 410 Sprintcar appearance is set to be the fourth Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series round on November 23 at his home track: Bunbury Speedway.
The Keens Race Team / Cowara Motorsport team would like to thank their 2024-25 season supporters:
• MJB Industries
• Wight & Emmett Stock Feeds and Pet Store
• Cowara Contractors
• Penrite Oil
• Australind Premix
• Shepheard Vacuum Truck Services
• Anstee Earthmoving Co
• Boyanup Cellars
• Keens Truck Driver Training
• Maxwill Racing Engines
• J&S Drilling
• Samios Plumbing