Wingless Sprint newcomer Nathan Walton wasn’t considered one of the favourites heading into last Saturday night’s fifth WA Club Championship round at the Perth Motorplex, but that didn’t stop him from powering to his maiden feature-race victory.
Stepping into the class late last season off the back of a successful stint in Dirt Karts, the 29-year-old racer had only contested two Wingless Sprint race meetings prior to the start of the 2018-19 season and only three prior to last Saturday night’s event, due to the nature of his fly-in-fly-out work schedule, but with such a great racing pedigree, lack of experience wasn’t going to be enough to stop him.
Building on his first heat-race win, which he recently achieved at Narrogin Speedway, Walton tasted victory again during his opening heat race, backing it up with a fourth-place finish in heat-race two which was enough to earn him a position three feature-race start.
Quickly chasing down his more experienced counterparts in Brendon Wedge and Chad Pittard, Walton wasted no time taking over the lead, doing so by the completion of the opening lap. Not only did Walton manage to hold on to his position to greet the chequered flag in first place, he set the fastest lap of the night.
“Achieving our first feature-race win with only a handful of race meetings to my name is a great feeling and to do it at the Perth Motorplex made it even better,” enthused Walton, who fittingly played his Joker last Saturday night to earn double points for the round.
“Wingless Sprints are completely different from Dirt Karts, so it’s definitely a learning curve, but we’re getting more and more confident with each lap and last Saturday night’s win was the perfect boost heading into the rest of the season.”
From the south-eastern Perth suburb of Byford in Western Australia, Walton has been racing Dirt Karts for the past 16 years, with his accolades including seven WA Titles in senior competition. Continuing to dabble in Dirt Karts, Walton is also the current Australia # 2 in both KT Twins and 125 Light classes.
Mixing things up in the 2005-06 season, Walton, at the tender age of just 16, contested half a dozen Speedcar race meetings with car owner Steve Doyle, before driving for Russell Norman in Formula 500s briefly at the beginning of last season, eventually making the decision to step into Wingless Sprints, purchasing a J&J car from Jason Jones.
Planning to continue his initiation into Wingless Sprints throughout the remainder of the 2018-19 season, Walton hopes to come away with a strong result in the Western Australian Title at Kalgoorlie International Speedway, which will take place over the Australia Day long weekend (January 26 and 27).
Due to his work schedule, his next meeting won’t be until the New Year, with the eighth WA Club Championship round at the Perth Motorplex on January 12.
Walton would like to thank the following 2018-19 season sponsors for their support: Higgs Organic Blends, Tommy’s Mobile Mechanical Service, Dalton Motorsport, Gravity Fabrications, In-Style Collision, and JP Signs. He would also like to thank his wife Katy and their two kids Bodi and Annalyce, his dad Graeme, his younger brother Josh, Nathan Miller and Dustin Higgs.
To find out more about Walton and his team, LIKE them on Facebook by searching Nathan Walton Motorsport.
