Jason Kendrick claimed the first round of the 2021-22 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night as part of the popular Shannons Powerpalooza show.

Kendrick won the 30-lap feature race from Daniel Harding and Shaun Bradford.

He started from P4 in the main event after setting quick time at the start of the show and then taking a second in his heat race.

Harding started from pole after he was third quickest in his group and then blitzed the field in track record fashion in his heat race.

AJ Nash was due to line up in P6, but he had issues and ultimately started from the rear, seeing teams on the outside row move up, including Bradford who was due to come from P12 but started from P10.

David Priolo joined Harding on the front row after he took a solid win in his heat race and when the lights went green for the main event, he bolted to the lead over Harding, Kendrick, Dayne Kingshott and Jaydee Dack (who started from P3 after also winning his heat race).

The race was only three laps old when Kris Coyle rolled the W79 hard in pits bend, heavily damaging a brand new chassis.

Defending series champion Callum Williamson, who failed to get a time at the start of the show and had to change a motor before his heat race, started from the back and by this stage was a big mover, being up to 11th.

However during the red light stoppage it was obvious it was a tough night for the Williamson Motorsport W3, with the car having major brake issues and after an inspection by officials, he resumed from the rear.

At about the same time Dack, who was running fifth, had a fire under his parked car and he too was sadly out of the contest.

On the restart Bradford was one of the big movers, racing up to fifth and putting himself on the back of Kingshott who was in fourth.

After a handful of laps Priolo, who was setting a cracking pace in the Diamond Bay Motorsport W26, was heading into lapped traffic – and ironically, one of the first cars he had to negotiate was that of Williamson.

With 12 laps in the books Kendrick was on the back of Harding and putting the heat on for second and successfully made the move.

Three laps later Kendrick was then on the back of Priolo in traffic and they ran side by side for a few laps before Priolo edged slightly in front, particularly in heavy traffic.

Then disaster struck on lap 17 when backmarkers Ryan Lancaster and Matthew Cross clashed in turn two – right in front of Priolo who had no room to move and crashed into one of the spinning cars hard.

It was a bitter pill for Priolo to swallow as it was another feature race win that went begging.

Kendrick was able to spin around and slide backwards to avoid the carnage.

While he had minor front end damage, he was able to get a restart in front for the run home, leading away Harding, Bradford, Kingshott and Jolly.

Officials ruled that the W11 was still rolling when the red lights were on, which was the reason he resumed from the front.

With 10 laps remaining Kendrick was getting into a groove from Harding and Bradford.

A few laps later the gap was closed by Harding but he was unable to close it enough to make a move stick.

Second place for Harding was a good result after he has been dogged by bad luck in recent seasons, despite having great pace in the new-look red Adra Group W41.

Bradford was also happy with his first podium placing of the year and revealed afterwards that they damaged their motor in their new Mobil 1-backed 57 at practice last weekend, and they were lucky to race this week, with John McLennan from J&S Motorsport lending them a spare powerplant.

Kingshott, after starting from P8, held on for a solid fourth, on the back of a third placing in his heat race in the Krikke Motorsport W2.

Trevor Jolly, who has branched out to run his own deal, started and finished fifth in the Jolly Good Auto Electrics W18.

This was after he was third quickest in his qualifying group and then took a second in his heat race.

James Inglis started from p7 and crossed the line sixth, ahead of Brad Maiolo (from P14 to p7), Taylor Milling (from P13 to P8), Jason Pryde (from P10 to P9), Todd Davis (from (P16 to P10), Andrew Priolo (from P15 to P11), AJ Nash (from P22 to P12 – winning the Kincrome Hard Charger award), Ryan Lancaster (P19 to P13), Callum Williamson (P18 to P14) and Darren Mewett (from P17 to P15).

Dack went down in the books as the first heat race winner of the season, taking heat one from Nash, Coyle, Pigdon, Andrew Priolo, Callum Williamson, Lancaster and Eaton.

The field took a while to assemble as it waited for Williamson to return to the track after the team changed a motor after major issues in qualifying where he was unable to post a time.

He started from p8 and passed a couple of cars.

Pigdon looked strong in his first race back after a few years away – in the early stages he challenged Coyle for third.

David Priolo started from pole to win the second heat from Jolly, Kingshott, Bradford, Maiolo, Davis and Cross in what was a fairly uneventful heat.

The third heat of the night showed how quick the track was when Daniel Harding got the jump after starting from P2 and powered away to a convincing win.

He shaved about three seconds off the eight-lap track record with the new benchmark being 1.43.74.

Harding won from Kendrick, who started from p4, Inglis, who started from pole, Pryde who came out of P3, Milling, Mewett and Jack Williamson.

Round 2 of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series returns to the Perth Motorplex on Saturday, November 13 for the Scardifields Smash Repairs King of Wings, where the feature race will be determined over 40 laps, with a compulsory midrace pitstop on the infield.

Results

Qualifying:

Group 1: Trent Pigdon 13.836, Kris Coyle 14.341, AJ Nash 14.520, Jaydee Dack 14.568, Ryan Lancaster 14.624, Andrew Priolo 14.766, George Eaton 15.605 and Callum Williamson NTT.

Group 2: Shaun Bradford 13.997, Dayne Kingshott 14.146, Trevor Jolly 14.260, David Priolo 14.519, Brad Maiolo 14.655, Todd Davis 14.874, Matthew Cross 14.008.

Group 3: Jason Kendrick 14.496, Jason Pryde 13.627, Daniel Harding 13.796, James Inglis 13.920, Taylor Milling 14.344, Darren Mewett 15.066 and Jack Williamson 15.543.

Heat 1: 1st Jaydee Dack, 2nd, AJ Nash, 3rd Kris Coyle, 4th Trent Pigdon, 5th Andrew Priolo, 6th Callum Williamson, 7th Ryan Lancaster, 8th George Eaton.

Heat 2: 1st David Priolo, 2nd Trevor Jolly, 3rd Dayne Kingshott, 4th Shaun Bradford, 5th Brad Maiolo, 6th Todd Davis, 7th Matthew Cross.

Heat 3: 1st Daniel Harding, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd James Inglis, 4th Jason Pryde, 5th Taylor Milling, 6th Darren Mewett, 7th Jack Williamson.

Feature race: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Daniel Harding, 3rd Shaun Bradford, 4th Dayne Kinghsott, 5th Trevor Jolly, 6th James Inglis, 7th Brad Maiolo, 8th Taylor Milling, 9th Jason Pryde, 10th Todd Davis, 11th Andrew Priolo, 12th AJ Nash, 13th Ryan Lancaster, 14th Callum Williamson, 15th Darren Mewett. DNF: David Priolo (lap 17), Matthew Cross (lap 17), George Eaton (lap 9), Jack Williamson (lap 4), Jaydee Dack, Kris Coyle and Trent Pigdon (all lap 2).

Kincrome Hard Charger: AJ Nash.

Upcoming events:

Rd2: Scardifields Smash Repairs King of Wings, Perth Motorplex, Saturday, November 13.

Rd3: City of Kwinana Cup, Perth Motorplex, Saturday, November 20.

Rd4: WA Sprintcar Championship/John Day Classic, Perth Motorplex, Saturday, December 4.