James McFadden has sealed his fifth QSS World Series Sprintcars Championship with a breathtaking win at the Perth Motorplex, after series combatant Kerry Madsen failed to finish with a broken front end.

McFadden entered the final event of the season with a 42-point lead over Madsen, and expanded the gap to 64 after securing Revolution Racegear Quicktime and logging a 3rd and 4th in his heats.

Madsen however had a nightmare start to his campaign, battling motor issues in time trials to qualify 16th, which sparked a motor change prior to the heats that thankfully produced a 1st and a 3rd but only enough to slot into the 11th spot on the main event grid.

McFadden lost his provisional front row start to Brad Maiolo and Cory Eliason in the Gold Shootout, however he wasted no time in assuming the 2nd spot behind Eliason from the start of the main event before Taylor Milling brought on the first caution driving over Madsen’s right rear and crunching the wall.

The contact with Madsen cast concern over the fitness of the #W2, however the car looked fine on the restart, locking in to 4th within two laps until he rolled to a stop in turn three with a broken right front stub axle and ending his campaign for a maiden World Series championship victory.

Ben Ellement endured a large spill shortly after the restart to bring on the third and final caution of the race, and with Madsen out of the picture, McFadden threw away any need for conservation on the restart, and aggressively pursued Eliason who produced another blistering launch to leave behind the field.

Eliason was amazing in traffic and had fans nervously watching on as he systematically disposed of everyone in his path, with passes on any and every line of the track while McFadden watched from behind, contemplating his move.

Meanwhile Dave Murcott was chipping away from 9th on the grid to usurp Maiolo’s hold on 3rd on lap 23, as Jason Kendrick was working his way forward from 12th to 5th along with Brock Hallett who’d eventually claim the American Racer Hard Charger award climbing from 19th to 8th.

McFadden was looming in the closing stages and with three laps remaining started to hint at being within striking distance of Eliason after exploring a higher groove, and on the final lap closed in and breathtakingly drove around the #W26 to claim the win by just 0.097 of a second.

Brooke Tatnell finished 9th and locked in his overall 3rd place for the series for the Ray Scott Transport team, while Lucas Wolfe finished 11th ahead of Jock Goodyer in 12th, handing Goodyer the Rookie of the Year honours by just three points.

The Black-tie Gala Dinner will be held tonight in Perth, where the coveted peer-voted awards such as Driver’s Driver, Crew Chief and Sportsman of the Year will be presented in addition to the Top Ten point scorers.

RELEASE ENDS

Photo Courtesy of Richard Hathaway Photography.