Kerry Madsen claimed the grand final of Speedweek at Western Australia’s Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, in what was also round 14 of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series.
Driving the Diamond Bay Motorsport 26, he started from p2 for the 30-final in the ninth night of the epic Speedweek campaign.
Madsen’s win, ahead of James McFadden and Taylor Milling, was a massive turnaround from the race meeting at the same venue 24 hours earlier, where the car stumbled with engine issues early on, and was then damaged too much for him to even qualify for the main event.
He was fourth in his qualifying group before winning a heat race from the front and then the B-Dash, setting up the front row start, alongside Kaiden Manders.
Manders got the initial jump at the start over the ‘Mad Man’, before the caution lights were activated after an Andrew Priolo incident in turn three.
Madsen hit the lead on lap six and survived a couple of challenges restarts late in the race to claim the win.
McFadden, who won the round the night before, had to dig deep, from 13th after struggling in the qualifying session where he was seventh quickest in his group.
He clawed back some points with a third in his heat race and then a second in the Midpack Dash.
McFadden pushed hard in the latter stages, locked into an entertaining duel with both Madsen and Milling for the lead, but ultimately finished second – another solid result for Brady Motorsport.
Milling’s very strong run in the last few shows continued, posting his best result for the season in the No. W25.
While he was happy with the podium placing, he would have also been disappointed after challenging for the lead on a number of occasions, chasing that maiden sprint car feature race win.
He was second quickest in his qualifying group, third in his heat race and fourth in the B-Dash to start eighth for the main event.
Callum Williamson was the Kincrome Hard Charger, taking fourth after lining up in 24th – a massive turnaround after the team had to change an engine before qualifying, forcing the No. W3 to qualify from the B-Main.
Dayne Kingshott was fifth after starting 10th, while Matt Egel was sixth after starting fourth, Cole Macedo seventh after starting sixth, polesitter Manders was eighth, Cory Eliason ninth after starting seventh and Brad Sweet rounded out the top 10 after starting from 15th.
Kingshott was crowned the Sprintcar Speedweek champion by six points over Brock Zearfoss.
Zearfoss was 11th (from fifth), Daniel Harding 12th (from third), Jason Pryde 13th (from 12th), Michael Keen 14th (from 19th), Gio Scelzi 15th (from 26th), Kris Coyle 16th (from 27th), James Inglis 18th (from 20th), Jamie Maiolo 18th (from 21st), Andrew Priolo 19th (from 25th), Jason Kendrick 20th (from 18th), Aaron Chircop 21st (from 16th), Myles Bolger 22nd (from 28th) and Jaydee Dack 23rd (from 17th).
Young gun Jack Williamson was originally slated to start towards the front of the pack after qualifying for the A Dash, but was a DNF from a crash, ruling him out for the rest of the night.
The Maddington Toyota Sprintcar series now takes a break, allowing some competitors to travel east.
The series resumes on Feb. 7 for night one of the Barbagallo Australian Sprintcar Nationals.
