In what has been a stout season for Kaiden Manders since teaming up with Dan Golding Race team, he went back-to-back again after winning the second round of the Esslinger Engineering Speedcar Triple Crown Series to go into the final round with a perfect score at Western Australia’s Perth Motorplex.
The event, doubling as the 52nd Annual New Year Speedcar Derby, saw Manders solid all night, claiming a heat win and a second place to qualify on pole position. Nicholas Rowe, who claimed a heat win and a second place, joined him on the front row.
Tom Payet and Alex Bright would fill out the second row while row three would have heat two winner Joel Watson and Tyson Bryden.
Sixteen of the twenty starters on the night would make it out on track for the feature race, but attempt one at a start didn’t last long. Stuart Yates spun in turn one to set up a quick restart.
The second attempt was much better with cars slipping and sliding all over the track. Manders held serve to lead lap one ahead of Rowe and Payet.
Payet would then dive past Rowe to take second on the second lap, while Rowe would then come under pressure from American visitor Alex Bright.
On lap six, Manders would encounter the first of the lapped cars, but it didn’t slow him down any. Manders put his car on the high line and drove through lapped traffic with ease.
Bryden became the first driver to retire from the race with second placed Payet slowing shortly after and joining him on the infield.
The race order was now Manders, Bright and Rowe, while Joel Watson was having a career-best night and pressuring Rowe, with brother Patrick right behind him.
All of a sudden, Alfonso Guadagnino also arrived on the scene, as did Keenan Fleming, now a number of cars fighting for the fourth-place position.
With six laps remaining, Manders had approached the battling pack of cars, but again continued along his merry way on the outside line to lap Guadagnino, who was running sixth.
On lap 19 Manders would put fifth-place running Watson down a lap. While ahead of him still, Fleming had chased down Rowe and passed him for third in the dying stages.
Manders also got past Rowe as a lapped car right on the line, going on to record a massive feature win. Just Manders, second-place finisher Bright and third-place finisher Fleming completed the race on the lead lap.
The win would also be Manders’ 13th feature race win at Perth, elevating him to sixth overall all-time, not to mention his second victory in the New Year Speedcar Derby.
The next show will be round three, which brings the Triple Crown Series to a close.
Feature Finish (20 Laps)
1. Kaiden Manders, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Keenan Fleming, 4. Nicholas Rowe (19), 5. Patrick Watson (19), 6. Joel Watson (19), 7. Cory Smith (19), 8. Alfonso Guadagnino (19), 9. Rob Golding (19), 10. Jake Robinson (18), 11. Brodie Minchin (18), 12. Stuart Yates (17), 13. Aron Sharp (16). DNF: Gary Mann (12), Tom Payet (7), Tyson Bryden (6). DNS: Lee Austen, Bart Curnow, Steven Henderson, Glen Mears. Total Time: 5.34.212. Winning Margin: 9.455. Fastest Lap: 16.483 Kaiden Manders.