Waddell Wins At The Motorplex
Author : Darren ODea
Todd Waddell won the 25-lap Coates Hire Sprintcar feature race at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night from David Ellement and Troy Lawson.
Waddell took full advantage of his pole position to set up the win on a very fast race track that had a sprinkling of rain just after qualifying.
He was not challenged at all during the race.
“I am buggered hey, another five laps and we were done,” Waddell said after holding off a very fast-finishing Ellement who was running a lot lower line.
“We have only just put this team together and if the team puts together cars like that we are going to have more wins.”
Ellement was happy with second but was left questioning why he ran a higher line in the opening laps.
After he started working the lower line he made up some serious ground and said his fitness regime with brother Ben was also paying rewards while in the race seat.
“We just drove the wheels off it and had nothing left in the tank,” Lawson said.
The team changed the chassis a few weeks ago and it paid handsome dividends.
“This car works so much better.”
The red lights came on after Robert Watson junior and David Priolo came together after just a lap, seeing Watson go over and be out for the night.
“The right hand side is the blind side so I didn’t even know who I hit,” Watson said.
Jason Boland was the next casualty after getting out of order and damaging the rear end of the #81 machine which was parked in turn one.
Lawson and Ellement put on a sensational race early and traded blows and places for a couple of laps before Lawson got the upper hand and opened up again.
There was a tense moment when Bradley Maiolo, while in fourth, slid on the back straight and managed to join back into the freight train, albeit a long way back.
The next lap Ben Ellement performed a similar move.
Ellement went back under Lawson for second with five laps to go to seal that place and then set sail for Waddell, but he ran out of time.
“The thing was on a rail then it makes our job a lot easier when they go around the track like that,” Mark Wells said after winning the first heat race of the night.
“Everything is going well at the moment but there is only one race that counts and that is at the end of the night.”
Instead of racing with older tyres in the heat races Wells said they would be putting new rubber on each time.
“We will just keep throwing new stuff at it..and spend a bit more of Reggie’s (his father) money.”
Monte won the second heat race from Ben Ellement and Watson junior.
“We have struggled for the last four to five years, but we have got the thing going properly now,” Monte said.
He attributed the change to the upgrading of their shock absorber program.
“The shocks are a big part of the package…if the shocks are right the car will go anywhere on the race track.”
Allan Nash looked like winning the heat but threw away the lead after spinning out on his own on the back straight.
He managed to keep the boot on the throttle and rejoined the race – albeit back in the pack.
Boland won the heat from Bradley Maiolo and Ken Sartori.
“You have got to get what you can get,” Boland said.
“I just have to learn to drive these things a bit better and we will be alright…we need to be a bit smoother in the turns and not throw it in.”
The start of the fourth heat was marred by a big crash by Wells who pulled a massive wheelstand and flipped his new J&J chassis.
“I got a bit sideways and was just hanging on for a ride after that,” Wells said on the infield, nursing a bit of a headache.
“I have never had a car do that to me before…maybe we need to put on a few more pounds like Donny (in reference to the previous owner of the car Donny Schatz).
Nash, who started on pole won the heat from Waddell and Lawson.
“When you have a shithouse time trial like we did you start from the front,” Nash said.
Sprintcars: Qualifying: David Priolo 14.861, Ben Ellement 14.877, Shaun Bradford 14.978, David Ellement 15.058, Jamie Maiolo 15.118, Luch Monte 15.206, Mark Wells 15.298, Ken Sartori 15.438, Kris Coyle 15.535, Troy Lawson 15.592, Todd Waddell 15.648, Troy Lawson 15.592, Todd Waddell 15.648, Rob Watson junior 15.879, Bradley Maiolo 15.905, Wayne Russell 16.068, Steven Ford 17.182, Kye Scroop 17.291, Jason Boland 17.344, Sheldon Brady 17.758, Grant Bevan 17.804, Allan Nash 25.843.
Heat 1: 1st Mark Wells, 2nd Todd Waddell, 3rd Shaun Bradford, 4th David Priolo, 5th Jason Boland, 6th Jamie Maiolo, 7th Bradley Maiolo, 8th Grant Bevan. DNF: Kris Coyle.
Heat 2: 1st Luch Monte, 2nd Ben Ellement, 3rd Robert Watson junior, 4th Troy Lawson, 5th David Ellement, 6th Allan Nash, 7th Ken Sartori, 8th Sheldon Brady. DNF: Kye Scroop.
Heat 3: 1st Jason Boland, 2nd Bradley Maiolo, 3rd Ken Sartori, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th David Priolo, 6th David Ellement, 7th Robert Watson, 8th Sheldon Brady. DNF: Kris Coyle and Kye Scroop.
Heat 4: 1st Allan Nash, 2nd Todd Waddell, 3rd Troy Lawson, 4th Shaun Bradford, 5th Ben Ellment, 6th Luch Monte, 7th Grant Bevan. DNF: Mark Wells.
Feature race: 1st Todd Waddell, 2nd David Ellement, 3rd Troy Lawson, 4th Shaun Bradford, 5th Kris Coyle, 6th Allan Nash, 7th Jamie Maiolo, 8th Ken Sartori, 9th Ben Ellement, 10th Bradley Maiolo, 11th Luch Monte, 12th Wayne Russell, 13th Kye Scroop. DNF: Grant Bevan, Sheldon Brady, Jason Boland, Robert Watson junior and David Priolo.
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WA young gun Todd Waddell in action at the Perth Motorplex
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