RYAN Farrell had plenty of reasons to smile after he won The General John Day Tribute Night feature race at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night from Jason Kendrick and Victorian Jamie Veal.

Farrell started from pole for the 30-lap showdown that was also round one of the AHG Triple Crown and showed his class on a busy race track to win by 1.295 seconds.

The Diamond Bay Motorsport pilot got the jump on Kendrick who started alongside him in the main event and was never challenged as he caught up to the backmarkers by lap five.

It was a consistently good night for Farrell who was third quickest in qualifying then took a win and a sixth in the heats to be the second highest point scorer as the top eight headed into the Top 8 Knockout series, introduced for the first time in many years.

Farrell defeated David Priolo and then knocked out Kendrick to get pole for the main event.

Veal, driving for the Krikke Motorsport W2 that Brooke Tatnell drove so successfully this year, was very strong in the feature race, converting a 10th place start into a trophy finish.

Cameron Gessner, who only two weeks ago wrapped up the 2014-15 AHG Sprintcar Series championship, had a lacklustre night by his standards and didn’t even make the Top 8 Knockout round.

He started from P14 but by the end of the 30-laps managed to carve his way forward and take fourth.

Carl Dowling looked very strong in the DiCandilo Steel City #87.

He went into the Knockout round sixth on points before going on to defeat Brad and then Jamie Maiolo to move forward and start from P4 for the feature race.

After looking threatening early on he managed to hold on for a fifth.

Callum Williamson finished sixth after starting from P11 and was followed over the line by Jamie Maiolo (from P5), Robert Watson junior (from P15), Priolo (from P3 and was penalised two spot for a restart infringement late in the race) and Bradley Maiolo (from P6) who rounded out the top 10.

Jamie Maiolo lost round early on in the feature race, completing a 360 on the back straight and losing valuable ground before continuing.

Lee Nash also spun around on lap nine but was not as fortunate, being collected by team mate Daryl Clayden, putting them both out of action.

There were a few tense moments on lap 14 when Troy Lawson spun around in front of Kendrick and Veal who were coming up to pass him.

Jason Boland spun on the back straight on lap 22 and Shaun Bradford rolled over for a red light stop, ending a strong charge from the #57 machine that was moving forward after starting midpack.

Daniel Harding, fresh from a big win in Karratha the previous weekend, cut a left rear tyre and headed infield on lap 25.

There was drama at the start of the Knockout round when Nash and Harding came together in the first of the two-lap showdowns, putting them both on the infield.

Round two of the AHG Triple Crown will be held at the Perth Motorplex next Saturday night – April 4.

RESULTS

Qualifying: David Priolo 13.891, Jason Kendrick 13.953, Ryan Farrell 14.041, Bradley Maiolo 14.045, Callum Williamson 14.047, Kye Scroop 14.063, Jamie Maiolo 14.081, Jamie Veal 14.086, Carl Dowling 14.131, Jake Beard-Miller 14.136, Lee Nash 14.187, Daniel Harding 14.214, Cameron Gessner 14.234, Aldo De Paioli 14.348, Shaun Bradford 14.404, Jason Priolo 14.520, Terry Cutts 13.553, Robert Watson junior 14.571, Daryl Clayden 14.735, Troy Lawson 14.761, Corey Hunter 14.809, Jason Boland 15.163.

Heat 1: 1st Ryan Farrell, 2nd David Priolo. 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Carl Dowling, 5th Lee Nash, 6th Daryl Clayden, 7th Callum Williamson, 8th Cameron Gessner, 9th Terry Cutts, 10th Jason Boland. DNS: Jason Priolo.

Heat 2: 1ST Bradley Maiolo, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Kye Scroop, 4th Jamie Veal, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Shaun Bradford, 7th Jake Beard-Miller, 8th Robert Watson junior, 9th Troy Lawson, 10th Corey Hunter. DNF: Aldo De Paioli.

Heat 3: 1st Daniel Harding, 2nd Cameron Gessner, 3rd Carl Dowling, 4th Callum Williamson, 5th Jamie Veal, 6th David Priolo, 7th Robert Watson junior, 8th Bradley Maiolo, 9th Daryl Claydren, 10th Jason Priolo, 11th Aldo De Paioli.

Heat 4: 1ST Shaun Bradford, 2nd Lee Nash, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Jake Beard-Miller, 5th Jason Kendrick, 6th Ryan Farrell, 7th Kye Scroop, 8th Jason Boland, 9th Terry Cutts, 10th Corey Hunter, 11th Troy Lawson.

Feature: 1st Ryan Farrell, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Jamie Veal, 4th Cameron Gessner, 5th Carl Dowling, 6th Callum Williamson, 7th Jamie Maiolo, 8th Robert Watson junior, 9th David Priolo, 10th Bradley Maiolo, 11th Jake Beard-Miller, 12th Jason Boland, 13th Kye Scroop, 14th Terry Cutts, 15th Troy Lawson, 16th Aldo De Paioli, 17th Corey Hunter. DNF: Daniel Harding, Shaun Bradford, Jason Priolo, Lee Nash and Daryl Clayden.