By T.J. Buffenbarger
WARRNAMBOOL, VIC (January 26, 2025) – James McFadden became a three-time winner of the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic Saturday night at Premier Speedway. McFadden, from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, earned a hard-fought victory in the 52nd edition of Australia’s largest sprint car race having to overcome a tangle with slower traffic and battling back and forth with Jamie Veal and Jock Goodyer for the lead until pulling away during a late race restart.
With a new surface in place for the 2024-2025 season at Premier Speedway, the Classic produced top to bottom racing that challenged all of the drivers including McFadden during the finale.
“Oh, man, that was tough,” said McFadden of the 40-lap feature. “I’ll eat humble pie when I need to that track was a lot of fun. It kind of brought the old school James out a little bit. What a race! It was intense, I bet it was cool to watch.”
While the victory was McFadden’s third in the event, it was the first win for the newly formed Team Brady Racing McFadden started driving for in Australia this season.
“This is race I grew up sitting on the hill watching and wanted to win,” McFadden said of growing up around the Classic. “To do it three times is unreal. I think (crew chief Kim Buzzwell) is now the most winning crew chief in history, so that’s really cool. Sheldon Brady gives us everything to get this done and to repay him with a classic in his first-year racing, it’s pretty badass.”
Goodyer and McFadden started on the front row with Goodyer taking the lead at the start while Veal slid by McFadden for the second position. While Veal set out to challenge Goodyer for the lead, McFadden had his hands full with defending Australian Sprint Car Title winner Lachlan McHugh racing for the third position.
Goodyer, Veal, McFadden, and McHugh separated themselves from the field early on dicing between each other for position switching positions with Goodyer maintain the point.
On lap 10 with the quartet in heavy traffic Veal was able to slide by Goodyer for the lead with McFadden moving into second using the bottom of the racetrack. By lap 15 Veal, McFadden, and Goodyer pulled away as McHugh dropped back and eventually fell out of the race with a steering issue.
McFadden’s run nearly ended on lap 16 while trying to keep pace with Veal, making contact with James Ingles sending him spinning in turn two to bring out the caution flag. McFadden managed to keep his car under power and somehow was able to keep going to maintain second position.
Veal continued to lead after the restart with Goodyer driving around the top of McFadden for the second position. Just as Goodyer appeared to use his momentum at the top of the race track to drive by Veal for the lead, the caution appeared again on lap 17 for Grant Anderson making contact with the wall and suffering damage to the right rear corner of his car.
After the restart Veal was able to pull away until starting to overtake slower cars on lap 22. This allowed Goodyer and McFadden to close in on Veal to challenge for the lead. McFadden found an opening to drive by Goodyer on lap 23 for the second position, but Goodyer battled back to hold the position. The pair continued to race side by side for the second position until McFadden took over the spot on lap 24.
One lap later McFadden was able to slide by Veal for the lead on lap 25. This proved to be a pivotal moment in the feature with McFadden, Veal, Goodyer, and Cory Eliason joining the race for the lead, the caution flag appeared once again on lap 26 for a spin by Matt Egel.
That caution flag gave McFadden a clear race track and drove away from the field and was never seriously challenged the remaining 14 laps. The race for second continued to be intense with Goodyer and Veal racing side by side for the position until Goodyer rode the wall in turns one and two, allowing Veal and Eliason to move past.
Eliason was able to get under Veal for second with three laps to go, but up front it was all McFadden driving away to a 0.709 second advantage at the finish. Eliason, Veal, Brock Hallett, and Goodyer rounded out the top five.
After the race Eliason felt he may have had the better race car at the end, but ran out of laps without being able to make a challenge for the lead.
“We just had that one caution where I just got by Jock and kind of had Beal in a position where I felt he wasn’t going to make it back to the bottom,” said Eliason of his battle at the end of the race. “I felt that was my opportunity when James snuck by him there. I raced with Jamie for a while and James kind of pulled away, but towards the end (McFadden) kind of started missing it a little bit into turn one. I think his lane kind of went away. I was able to move off where I was running and open the corner and make a little more speed. I felt like we closed right up to (McFadden) and wish it was 50 laps.”
For Veal, some changes made before the feature might have hurt their performance in the later stages of the feature.
“We worked hard all weekend. I made a few setup decisions, and I was too good, too early,” said Veal of his speed early in the race. “It just got a little too left there at the end there, and I just struggled off the corner. We tried, I gave my best shot and the team gave the best shot.”
52nd Flying Horse Bar & Brewery Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic
Premier Speedway
Warrnambool, Victoria
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Southern City Auto Salvage Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. Q5-Brock Hallett[1]
2. V98-Peter Doukas[3]
3. Q54-Randy Morgan[2]
4. V10-Steven Loader[4]
5. W8-Andrew Priolo[7]
6. T45-Chad Gardner[10]
7. T62-Tate Frost[5]
8. Q10-Adam Butler[8]
9. V28-Andrew Hughes[9]
10. N53-Alex Attard[11]
11. V17-Dennis Jones[12]
DNS: S96-Brendan Guerin
Wheelie Waste Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. W3-Callum Williamson[1]
2. N57-Matt Dumesny[3]
3. S3-Ben Morris[5]
4. N78-Kobi Wright[2]
5. NS14-Michael Stewart[6]
6. V68-Brett Milburn[4]
7. VA36-Ashley Cook[7]
8. Q46-Dylan Menz[10]
9. T15-Ethan Wyllie[8]
10. W14-Jason Pryde[9]
11. S37-Terry Kelly[11]
12. N36-Eddie Lumbar[12]
Hire Australia Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. V6-Cameron Waters[1]
2. D26-Todd Moule[3]
3. S98-Luke Dillon[4]
4. USA9-Chase Randall[2]
5. NS21-Jordyn Brazier[5]
6. Q16-Brodie Davis[6]
7. Q23-Callum Walker[9]
8. VA71-Domain Ramsay[10]
9. Q47-Kinser Claridge[12]
10. NT25-Will Carroll[7]
11. NQ24-Ryan Potts[8]
12. V15-David Dennison[11]
Wood Motorcycle Mower Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. Q66-Ryan Newton[1]
2. V11-Chris Solomon[2]
3. S97-Ian Madsen[4]
4. NQ10-Jy Corbett[3]
5. N47-Marcus Dumesny[5]
6. S27-Daniel Pestka[9]
7. N15-Luke Thomas[6]
8. N88-Kalib Henry[12]
9. S63-Ryan Jones[8]
10. Q49-Cody O’Connell[10]
11. N42-Zac Pacchiarotta[11]
12. W2-Dayne Kingshott[7]
Warrnambool Isuzu Heat Race #5 (10 Laps)
1. N48-Jackson Delamont[2]
2. V37-Grant Anderson[1]
3. N99-Cole Macedo[4]
4. S11-Scott Enderl[7]
5. V25-Jack Lee[5]
6. V8-Bobby Daly[3]
7. V96-Dane Court[6]
8. V55-Parker Scott[8]
9. N56-Mick Saller[9]
10. V89-Jamie Heyen[11]
11. V64-David Aldersley[10]
Welshs Garage Doors Gates Heat Race #6 (10 Laps)
1. S52-Matt Egel[1]
2. W80-James Inglis[2]
3. USA45-Riley Goodno[3]
4. S20-Glen Sutherland[7]
5. N55-Jessie Attard[5]
6. T33-Brody Appleby[4]
7. V49-Josh Buckingham[6]
8. VA29-Terry Rankin[8]
9. VA88-Grant Stansfield[9]
10. N9-Lachlan Caunt[11]
11. D7-Jordan Rae[10]
Truck Trailer Parts Warrnambool C-Main (15 Laps)
1. VA88-Grant Stansfield[1]
2. D7-Jordan Rae[7]
3. Q46-Dylan Menz[2]
4. N88-Kalib Henry[17]
5. N9-Lachlan Caunt[13]
6. N53-Alex Attard[8]
7. VA71-Domain Ramsay[3]
8. V17-Dennis Jones[14]
9. Q47-Kinser Claridge[15]
10. Q49-Cody O’Connell[5]
11. V64-David Aldersley[6]
12. V89-Jamie Heyen[12]
13. V15-David Dennison[10]
14. S37-Terry Kelly[9]
15. N42-Zac Pacchiarotta[11]
DNS: S96-Brendan Guerin
DNS: N36-Eddie Lumbar
Dirt X Industries B-Main 1 (20 Laps)
1. V98-Peter Doukas[2]
2. N99-Cole Macedo[7]
3. Q54-Randy Morgan[1]
4. USA9-Chase Randall[3]
5. V25-Jack Lee[10]
6. S20-Glen Sutherland[16]
7. T62-Tate Frost[12]
8. NQ10-Jy Corbett[5]
9. NS21-Jordyn Brazier[9]
10. NS14-Michael Stewart[11]
11. S11-Scott Enderl[15]
12. Q23-Callum Walker[20]
13. Q10-Adam Butler[17]
14. V96-Dane Court[14]
15. Q16-Brodie Davis[13]
16. T45-Chad Gardner[21]
17. Q46-Dylan Menz[24]
18. N56-Mick Saller[22]
19. NQ24-Ryan Potts[19]
20. S3-Ben Morris[8]
21. VA88-Grant Stansfield[23]
22. D26-Todd Moule[4]
23. S63-Ryan Jones[18]
24. V10-Steven Loader[6]
The Midfield Group B-Main 2 (20 Laps)
1. N57-Matt Dumesny[3]
2. N78-Kobi Wright[2]
3. W80-James Inglis[1]
4. S98-Luke Dillon[5]
5. N47-Marcus Dumesny[9]
6. S97-Ian Madsen[6]
7. N88-Kalib Henry[24]
8. VA36-Ashley Cook[15]
9. W8-Andrew Priolo[12]
10. T33-Brody Appleby[11]
11. VA29-Terry Rankin[20]
12. NT25-Will Carroll[16]
13. S27-Daniel Pestka[19]
14. W2-Dayne Kingshott[17]
15. W14-Jason Pryde[22]
16. V55-Parker Scott[18]
17. V8-Bobby Daly[7]
18. V28-Andrew Hughes[21]
19. N15-Luke Thomas[13]
20. USA45-Riley Goodno[4]
21. N55-Jessie Attard[10]
22. D7-Jordan Rae[23]
23. V49-Josh Buckingham[14]
24. V68-Brett Milburn[8]
Flying Horse Bar Brewery The Classic (40 Laps)
1. WX23-James McFadden[4]
2. USA17-Cory Eliason[7]
3. V35-Jamie Veal[2]
4. Q5-Brock Hallett[9]
5. T22-Jock Goodyer[1]
6. NT11-Jordyn Charge[8]
7. USA44-Garet Williamson[6]
8. N99-Cole Macedo[19]
9. N57-Matt Dumesny[18]
10. W26-Kerry Madsen[5]
11. V6-Cameron Waters[11]
12. N48-Jackson Delamont[15]
13. V98-Peter Doukas[17]
14. S52-Matt Egel[14]
15. W80-James Inglis[22]
16. Q66-Ryan Newton[12]
17. S98-Luke Dillon[24]
18. V11-Chris Solomon[16]
19. Q54-Randy Morgan[21]
20. N78-Kobi Wright[20]
21. V37-Grant Anderson[13]
22. A1-Lachlan McHugh[3]
23. W3-Callum Williamson[10]
24. USA9-Chase Randall[23]