Tasmanian young gun Tate Frost headed home the hottest name in Australian Speedway right now, Jock Goodyer, in a mature drive that showcased his ability to manage a race over a 30-lap distance.
In Perth, Dayne Kingshott was in dominating form, leading the feature race from flag-to-flag in a fitting performance from the championship leader in what was a race of attrition with only 14 cars finishing the race.
Borderline Speedway
Night 2 of the Easter Trail saw Brock Hallett and Goodyer again at the pointy end of qualifying for Flight 1 while Night 1 winner Daniel Pestka continued his run of form with QuickTime in Flight 2, from Frost in second.
Heat wins went to Hallett and Frost in the first round while the inverted heats saw Glenn Sutherland win from Parker Scott, with Hallett running into trouble with a backmarker, damaging his front wing and finishing 10th.
Grant Stansfield won Heat 4 from South Aussie Luke Dillon and Pestka.
Pestka and Frost would start on the front row with Goodyer and Tim Hutchins from row two, with Hallett starting from the outside of row 3.
Pestka took advantage of the front row start with Goodyer capitalising on a mistake from frost in the early laps to take second.
Goodyer challenged for the lead on Lap 21, throwing a hail Mary slider which Pestka immediately countered, regaining the position.
Lapped traffic brought Frost back into the equation, taking the lead from Pestka on Lap 15 and holding the position until the first caution of the race flew, for Tim Farrell, with 14 laps to run.
The restart would see Frost start ahead of Pestka and Goodyer, with Hutchins lurking in fourth.
Frost looked fast around the top side and held the quickest lap of the race, with Pestka and Goodyer struggling to find forward bite in traffic.
Frost moved through lapped traffic with ease while the chasers battled hard, dropping almost two seconds to the leader until the caution came out again – this time for Paker Scott who spun in Turn 4.
The restart was a similar story with Frost clearing the field and was never headed, with Goodyear locking in an all Tasmanian 1-2 finish with Pestka holding third from a fast-finishing Hallett by six tenths of a second.
“We were struggling on the restarts, early on I was driving like a busted arse but eventually the car and the track came to me, and I knew Jock was coming but we had enough,” sad Frost.
“As the race went on, I was feeling better and better, and I was actually waiting to get to lapped traffic to slow the race down a bit”.
The SA/VIC Easter Trail moves to Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway on Sunday for the final night.
Perth Motorplex
The Sprintcar Gold Cup at the Perth Motorplex concluded the WA Easter Trial with a solid lineup, plus the addition of several Perth locals that did not race at Bunbury the prior night including Callum Williamson.
With only 23 entries, the field was split into two singular heats with the wins going to Kaiden Manders and Bunbury winner Jason Kendrick respectively.
In 15 events this season, Williamson has finished in the Top 10 every time and in the Top 5 on 13 occasions – an enviable record for the popular racer.
Unfortunately for him, a sub-par performance in his sole heat race landed him in the Mid Pack Dash and a long way back in the starting positions for the feature race.
Dayne Kingshott and Manders won the A and B Dashes respectively.
A dramatic start saw Jamie Veal spin into a pirouette and landing on all four wheels with virtually no damage to the #17 machine and would assume his position at the rear of the field for the restart.
Kingshott was commanding, the WA Series leader virtually flawless for the first part 30 lap race while Manders was running solidly in second until the caution flew on Lap 6 for Jaydee Dack and Jamie Maiolo in Turn 1.
Williamson was the big mover from 16th to sixth in only six laps, and the old saying that cautions breed cautions rang true with Jarrod Bielby taking a heavy tumble in Turn 2 on the restart.
More cautions saw the field reduced to only 15 cars by Lap 8, with Taylor Milling moving into third as the quiet achiever.
Lapped traffic came into play with 15 left to run for the leaders, with Kingshott and Manders making short work of them, but Manders never really bridging the gap to the leader.
Kingshott ran almost the perfect race, leading virtually flag to flag to take a dominating win in the penultimate round of the WA Sprintcar Series.
He won the race from Manders who earned a strong second position, with Williamson the hard charger in the field moving to the podium in third.
The Maddington Toyota Series concludes next Saturday night in the final Sprintcar event for the season at the Perth Motorplex.
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