February 4 - The Wingless Sprints returned to the Perth Motorplex for the first time in over a month last night for Round 11 of the Rogue Race Products Season Championship. After an entertaining night's racing, it was Rogue Race Products owner Daryl Clayden who steered his W45 QT to a perfect 3 wins from 3 starts in a new car to provide the perfect lead in to next weekend's Australian Title at Sydney Speedway. For the eagle eyed, the new car did indeed debut with the W45 livery after running the #1 for close to two years, but on last night's form you wouldn't bet against Clayden needing to employ the services of a signwriter again next week. In another ominous sign for the eastern states contingent hoping to keep the A1, Daniel Keen followed up his last start victory at Sydney Speedway with a second placed finish last night behind Clayden. Keen has now finished his last 4 race meetings on the podium, with two victories, and the Northern Territory champion heads to Sydney with no shortage of confidence. Enough confidence to take the Perth Motorplex announcer to task last night when he was introduced to the crowd to receive his 2nd placed trophy with the nickname 'Mustard'. Following the pair home was Ryan Condren, who continues to rack up podium finishes and always has the W11 at the pointy end of the field, while Ash Hounsfield was 4th to continue his great run of form following on from his feature race win at Margaret River last time out. W.A's third and fourth representatives at the national title had mixed fortunes. Scotty Elst had a tough night in the Esco Electrical W95. Elst started the opener from the back of the pack, and on a greasy early night track found it tough to make up positions. Elst worked his way to 6th by the end of his first heat, and with a front row start in his second looked to make up points. Elst got away well, but was soon under pressure with Condren diving under the W95. Keen then also put a pass on Elst to relegate him to 3rd, before Daniel Coleman joined the fray in the Polylink Piping Systems W16. An entertaining 4 way scrap followed, with Elst looking likely to grab at least a 3rd, before an uncharacteristic spin on the last lap. With his feature starting spot decidely lower than he would have liked, Elst then suffered the final insult of the evening, rolling infield before the start of the 15 lap feature. A mismatched gear set saw the car on the rev limiter as soon as he hit the throttle, and that was the end of a disappointing night for Elst. Adrian LaMacchia also had an up and down night of form to take to Sydney with him in the Northside Service Centre W6. LaMacchia grabbed a 2nd in his opening heat race, and looked to be right on the pace with a new motor in the car. During a restart in Heat 4, LaMacchia was sent ROF for a jump on the original race start, and had to make do with a 7th placed finish. LaMacchia rounded out the night with 10th in the feature. The night started with the aforementioned first up win for Clayden, who won by a big margin over Keen and Hounsfield. The returning Bill Stocks who was doing double duty in his wingless sprint and 360 sprintcar grabebd 4th. The lead three cars all have commanding gaps over their nearest rivals, to set the tone for the speed all three would show throughout the night. Heat 2 saw the first big shake up of the night. As the cars lined up to take the green, the yellow Motorworld W22 entry of 4th placed in the season points, Marshall McDiarmid failed to fire. Several laps with the assistance of a John Day ute failed to get the McDiarmid car moving and he retired to the infield. It was shaping up to be one of those nights for McDiarmid, after his truck had provided a challenge or two of it's own en route to the Motorplex on the Kwinana Freeway. The field did take the green, with Daryl Spalding leading the field away. LaMacchia, who had benefitted from McDiarmaid's absence from the grid moved by Ben Migro for 2nd, before Merv Lowther had a moment in Turn 2, made contact with Condren and found himself upside down. At the resumption it was Spalding who once again led away, with LaMacchia following. LaMacchia and Migro were having a wonderful duel over 2nd, before the two cars made contact on the main straight. Migro did a good job of pulling the AJ Cochrane & Sons W7 back into line, but not before Glen Francis and Condren moved by. At the finish it was Spalding, LaMacchia and Francis making up the top three. Heat 3 saw the aforementioned stoush between Keen, Condren, Elst and Coleman, with the race in 4 over the final laps some of the best racing of the night. The racing was hard but fair between the group, with Keen winning out. It was a great win by Keen, having come from 8th and having to pass Condren, Elst (not to mention some other quick cars) to get the job done. Phil Taylor made the most of a front row start in Heat 4, taking off and opening up a good lead at one point. Clayden was midpack, alongside LaMacchia, but on a track that had received plenty of water between the first and second round, that pair had their challenges moving past Travis Southwell, Tom Britton and Troy Tomlinson, who were all between the title bound pair and the W71 up front. Mid race, Clayden had worked his way to 2nd, but still couldn't find the drive on the slippery track to close down Taylor. Tomlinson then found himself in trouble after contact on turn two, and retired with a flat tyre. The restart put Clayden alongside Taylor, and LaMacchia to the rear for being too eager on the original race start. LaMacchia's journey to the back not coming before he made contact with Tom Britton in the NT9 who had been quicker to grab the brakes on seeing the yellow than the following cars were expecting. If Clayden though the job was done he was mistaken, as Taylor again led away at the restart, but as the laps wound down Clayden did catch his man and take the heat win. Spalding ultimately took 3rd behind Taylor, with Hounsfield one spot further back. This set things for an enthralling feature race with Clayden and Keen on the front row, with Spalding, Condren, Hounsfield and Taylor all lurking in the front six. Clayden did lead away and took a commanding lead, as Keen tried in vain to catch the W45. Hounsfield moved by Spalding and into the top four, while Migro was making up good ground coming from 13th to 6th. A big group of cars were putting on some very entertaining racing mid pack with Danny Attwood one of the beneficiaries, climbing all the way to 5th by race end. Migro took 6th, ahead of Spalding, while Tom Britton had a solid result in 8th. Stocks and LaMacchia rounded out the Top 10, with 18 of the original 23 starters seeing the chequered flag. Wingless Sprints W.A wishes all 4 of the state's representatives a safe and successful national title assault on Sydney Speedway next week, while in W.A the Polylink Piping Systems 1000 will hit the track on Friday night at Bunbury Speedway, doubling as Round 12 of the Rogue Race Products Season Points. With 18 cars nominated, including the return of Lee Redmond following a couple of successful outings in a speedcar, another great night of action looms. Wingless Sprints WA would like to thank all their sponsors for season 2011 / 12, with the support from season sponsor Rogue Race Products, and Gold Sponsors Steel Blue Workwear, Transit Clothing, Jim Kidd Sports and Keen Driver Training assisting in getting the club on the road to a successful season. |
