MADSEN BREAKS WSS DROUGHT AT ESPERANCE
Knoxville, Iowa based Kerry Madsen has parked the Krikke Motorsport W2 in victory lane for the first time in eighteen rounds of QSS World Series Sprintcars, leading from start to finish at the series’ first ever appearance at Esperance Holden Speedway in Western Australia.
The sleepy seaside town became the thirty-fifth venue to host a World Series round and attracted a sellout crowd to witness Brooke Tatnell claim his thirty-fifth Revolution Racegear QuickTime award.
Madsen managed only to qualify 6th, conversely logging a win and a 3rd in his heats to qualify 3rd overall prior to the shootout.
Meanwhile, James McFadden had claimed the highest points ahead of Brooke Tatnell, but faulted in the Gold Shootout and surrendered his pole position to Madsen while Tatnell maintained his front row start.
Madsen’s shootout victory was a game-changer, awarding the Transport Equipment Hire/Pumpa Manufacturing W2 the opportunity to win the start on a challenging racetrack that would deliver limited passing opportunities in the moist and chilly south-western air.
Apart from some minor incidents that produced cautions from Glen Sutherland and Daniel Hartigan, the 35-lap event was largely undisturbed, with Madsen controlling the race from start to finish despite the occasional unsuccessful lunge in traffic from Tatnell, who maintained the runner-up slot ahead of McFadden in 3rd.
“I knew that whoever won the shootout was going to have a big advantage in the main race, so we pushed a bit harder there to give ourselves the best chance,” Madsen said, nursing a broken elbow from an incident at the Australian Title in Tasmania.
“I was so tempted to venture up to the top of the track to see if there was anything up there but thankfully we just kept hitting our marks on the bottom and it was enough to get us home.”
Brock Hallett claimed the American Racer Hard Charger by advancing two spots to finish 7th on his World Series debut with the contracted J&S Drilling Motorsport team.
Madsen’s win reduced McFadden’s series lead by 50 points to a tightening gap of just 65, while Brooke Tatnell has regained 3rd over Jock Goodyer by 28 points, setting the scene for an intense battle tonight at Bunbury for round 12.
Photo courtesy of Graham Gath - Esperance Speedway Photographer
SERIES POINTS TOP 10 WITH 3 ROUNDS REMAINING
1 W17 James McFadden 2925
2 W2 Kerry Madsen 2860
3 V55 Brooke Tatnell 2408
4 T22 Jock Goodyer 2380
5 W5 Lucas Wolfe 2264
6 V40 Rusty Hickman 2175
7 W60 Brock Hallett 2144
8 V88 Dave Murcott 2123
9 W60 Lockie McHugh 1764
10 W14 Jason Pryde 1669