In his first appearance in Australia this summer, James McFadden won a drawn out, 35-lap feature over James Inglis and Jason Kendrick at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night.
McFadden arrived in WA earlier in the week and used a midweek practice session at the Motorplex to get accustomed to the W3.
This paid dividends as he set the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time at the start of the show before taking a pair of seconds in his heat races — the first was won from a front row start, while the second was after the second round of heats was inverted and he started from P10.
McFadden was jumped at the start of the feature by Inglis who led until just after a restart with 19 laps remaining.
In lapped traffic, he held enough of an advantage to take the win, with the margin being 0.721 of a second.
The race was not even a lap in when several cars were involved in an incident that saw Jamie Veal go to the rear of the field on the restart while Trent Pigdon, Dayne Kingshott, Jamie Maiolo and Ken Sartori all went to the work area. All but Pigdon repaired and resumed in time for the next restart that was aborted after Kris Coyle had a big roll on the main straight and was out of the contest.
This stoppage was enough time for Pigdon to return to the track.
David Priolo, a late nomination, was the cause of the next restart after he hit the pits bend fence, ending his campaign.
A lap later and Kye Scroop, Kingshott and AJ Nash were all in the wars on the main straight that only saw Scroop get another start – which only lasted a lap before he rolled, drawing another red light. Kendrick, who started from P10 and was fourth at this stage, got by Brad Maiolo to move a spot.
Ryan Lancaster, who crashed in the third heat race and had to qualify via the B Main, rolled on the main straight, ending his campaign — only moments before Veal parked the Monte Motorsport W17 on the infield.
Queenslander Luke Oldfield got underneath Jason Pryde for fifth on the restart, just before Kaide Manders, who was also racing a speedcar on the night, spun in turn two.
On the next green light, McFadden took the lead to set up his win.
For Inglis, it was his third podium finish of the season. Kendrick followed in third.
Feature Results (35 Laps)
1st James McFadden, 2nd James Inglis, 3rd Jason Kendrick, 4th Brad Maiolo, 5th Mitchell Wormall, 6th Luke Oldfield, 7th Jason Pryde, 8th Taylor Milling, 9th Jamie Maiolo, 10th Jaydee Dack, 11th Andrew Priolo, 12th Kyle Francis. DNF: Tim Boujos, Kaiden Manders, Jamie Veal, Ryan Lancaster, Kye Scroop, Trent Pigdon, Dayne Kingshott, AJ Nash, Jack Williamson, David Priolo, Ken Sartori and Kris Coyle