After being rescheduled from earlier this year to avoid the devastating WA bushfires; tonight sees the return of the mighty Midgets to the Quit Bunbury Speedway for the final round of the national Five Crown Speedcar Series and the 68th running of the Aspired Aluminium & Glass Western Australian Speedcar Championship!
Queenslander Michael Harders and his Q14 Auto Upgrade Speedsport Racing team have made the huge trek to WA for the event. Harders aims to be the 2nd ever WA Championship winner from Queensland, with only Todd Wanless achieving the first back in season 2001/02. His appearance at the event will also lock in his Five Crown win with certainty, earning him a cool $4,500 series prize from the allocated $10k prize pool for the top five.
With round four and the 66th SA Speedcar Championship winner Nicholas Rowe of WA out of contention with a date clash, it appears only fellow West Australian and ex-WA Champion Todd Waddell can earn enough points to make it into the top five positions currently held by the East coasters! Waddell, who currently sits in 26th place will need an almost perfect round in the Bennett Motorsport W7 machine to make it happen; with 145 points the maximum that could be won, against a difference of 139 points from current 5th place holder Michael Stewart of the ACT.
Waddell won't have an easy job of it though, with the likes of Lee Redmond, Kaiden Manders, Michael Harders, Ryan Condren, David Perry, Chris Griffiths and more, all out for the WA crown!
FIVE CROWN SERIES POINTS AFTER 4 ROUNDS:
1. Q14 Michael Harders, QLD - 477 2. S6 Paul Murphy, NSW - 460 3. N89 Braydan Willmington, NSW - 343 4. V6 Anthony Chaffey, QLD - 308 5. N51 Michael Stewart, ACT - 255 6. S71 Ben Hall, SA - 247 7. S86 Nathan Squiers, SA - 235 8. V71 Domain Ramsay, VIC - 142 9. T7 Nathan Smee, NSW - 140 10. W79 Nicholas Rowe, WA - 134 11. S25 Todd Bennett, SA - 134 12. N97 Matt Jackson, NSW - 132 13. Q42 Scott Wilson, QLD - 130 14. N78 Troy Jenkins, NSW - 126 15. V0 Stewart Grant-Campbell, VIC - 126 16. N42 Jaimie Mckinlay, NSW - 125 17. Q7 Matt Smith, NSW - 123 18. S10 Brad Warwick, WA - 122 19. Q71 Troy Ware, QLD - 122 20. Q58 Rusty Whittaker, QLD - 120 21. V2 Paul Farrell, VIC - 120 22. S88 Todd Wigzell, SA - 119 23. Q67 Grant Draney, QLD - 118 24. Q10 Ken Stanaway, QLD - 117 25. Q18 Matt Hefford, QLD - 117 26. W7 Todd Waddell, WA - 116 27. N10 Trevor Malouf, NSW - 115 28. Q76 Reid Mackay, QLD - 115 29. Q19 Darren Vine, QLD - 114 30. Q17 Gavin Wesble, QLD - 114 31. V12 Justin McMinn, VIC - 112 32. V59 Ashley Booker, VIC - 112 33. Q69 Brett Thomas, QLD - 111 34. N40 Gary Rooke, NSW - 110 35. V4 Stuart Ferguson, VIC - 109 36. N55 Cameron Restall, NSW - 107 37. V25 Matt Papa, VIC - 107 38. Q48 Brad Young, QLD - 106 39. S16 Tim Caddy, SA - 105 40. N76 Bob Jackson, NSW - 105 41. V39 Nick Parker, VIC - 103 42. N3 Darren Jenkins, NSW - 102 43. Q5 Rodney Harders, QLD - 102 44. N28 Dean Meadows, NSW - 101 45. V57 Ian Jones, VIC - 101 46. N66 Courtney O'Heir, NSW - 98 47. N65 Don Mackay, NSW - 96 48. V18 Andy Pearce, VIC - 94 49. N58 Jeremy Evans, NSW - 93 50. N41 Jordan Mackay, NSW - 91 51. V8 Jack Day, NSW - 90 52. N6 Jack Black, NSW - 89 53. N17 Kaitlyn Anthony, NSW - 83 54. N34 Michael Paice, NSW - 82 55. N87 Aiden Corish, NSW - 79 56. Q33 Lance Towns, QLD - 33 57. V29 Jessica Moulden, VIC - 31 58. V88 Craig Smith, VIC - 21 59. S35 Brett Ireland, SA - 10 60. N23 Matt Hunter, NSW - 10 61. Q44 Corey Stadart, QLD - 10
Tonight competitors will battle it out in three rounds of heats and the feature event.
68th Aspired Aluminium and Glass WA SPEEDCAR CHAMPIONSHIP & FIVE CROWN FINAL NOMINATIONS - QUIT BUNBURY SPEEDWAY, WA:
W7 Todd Waddell W10 David Perry Q14 Michael Harders W19 Steven Henderson W21 Kaiden Manders W22 Chris Telenta W23 Glen Mears W25 Bob Goddard W28 Ryan Condren W35 Jack Alfirevich W38 Travis White W40 Chris Griffiths W41 Jason Tremeer W42 Phil Tremeer W52 Lee Redmond
Photos of W7 Todd Waddell courtesy of Michael Zoob Zubrinich.