The Australia #1 of Lockie McHugh and past Australian Champs Jock Goodyer, Jamie Veal, and Marcus Dumesney all made the trek from the East Coast, among a number of other notable drivers.
The first heat of the night saw Trent Pigdon take a straightforward win from Queensland’s Jy Corbet and Kris Coyle, bouncing back from a tough first night that saw him upside down twice.
Heat 2 was dramatic with Night 1 winner Jamie Veal, Callum Williamson, and Daniel Harding all involved in a Turn 1, Lap 1 incident.
Williamson admitted that the team had changed a rear end prior to the heat race, and in the process the brakes were non-existent – meaning that when Taylor Milling washed up the racetrack in front of him, he had no choice but to hit the wall.
Milling went on to win the heat from Marcus Dumesney and Veal who restarted after the crash.
Brad Maiolo stretched out and won Heat 3, but it was a fierce battle between Goodyer and Lockie McHugh for the remaining podium positions that drew most of the attention.
Goodyer would end in second position with McHugh holding third from Ryan Newton and Dayne Kingshott rounding out the top five.
Veal was dominant in the Mid pack dash and secured the #11 starting position easily from Andrew Priolo and Ryan Newton.
The Pole Shuffle was all about Dayne Kingshott, progressing from the 10 v 9 match up all the way to secure a fifth place start – only halted by a rear end failure in the matchup with Taylor Milling.
The Pole Shuffle was won by Goodyer, securing the pole position for the feature race in a one-on-one battle with Maiolo.
Cam McKenzie won the Last Chance showdown from Callum Williamson, Brock Kenny and Daniel Harding.
The Feature race began with former Aussie champion Goodyer and Brad Maiolo on the front row, and it was fairly orderly until Ryan Newton and Jamie Veal came together, with Cameron McKenzie having a wild flip as he slowed under caution.
Jy Corbet was impressive on the re-start, moving into the top 4 and he set his sights on a podium position.
Traffic was not an issue for Goodyer, cutting though with ease as he extended his lead over Maiolo and Dayne Kingshott.
Kingshott and Corbet traded places for second place, with Kingshott narrowly surviving a scare when lapped car Andrew Priolo spun in front of the #2 Krikke Motorsports car.
McHugh was outstanding on the restart with his car coming to life as the track slicked off, moving into second quickly and setting sail for the T22 car of Goodyer.
Negotiating traffic would prove difficult, with the two young guns trading the lead at least eight times over the last 10 laps.
With five to go, McHugh took the lead, but Goodyer was not done, throwing a ‘Hail Mary’ slide job to take the lead back – at the same time that the Caution flag flew for the errant car of Daniel Harding.
Because the restart order went back one lap, McHugh would start in the lead with four laps left to run with Goodyer, Kingshott and Callum Williamson (who had climbed back from the 22nd starting position to find himself fourth) behind.
Goodyer committed to the outside line and railed around McHugh for the lead in a high-risk, high-reward move that paid off, taking the lead and holding onto it by 0.07s over the #A1 of McHugh and Dayne Kingshott in third.
It was an incredible race that was lauded as one of the best feature races of the past several years, continuing the reputation of the Perth Motorplex as one of the premier speedway venues in the country.
An elated Goodyer was glowing after the race, saying, “man that was freaking awesome. I haven’t raced that hard, been up in my seat that hard for a long time. It’s great to race one of my best mates so hard.”
“When Lockie took the lead, I knew he was going to get up on the wheel and I thought to myself ‘here we go’ so I just knuckled down and raced him as hard as I could, I’m lost for words. I’ve got great people behind me when I come over here to race.”
Racing resumes at the Motorplex on Wednesday, with the Krikke Boys Shootout next Friday and Saturday night.