Bunbury’s Dayne Kingshott claims WA Sprintcar Title in drama-filled round of Sprintcar Series

Bunbury’s Dayne Kingshott has been declared the new WA Sprintcar Champion in a drama-filled fourth round of the 2022-23 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series.

The fourth round of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series took place at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, coinciding with the annual John Day Classic.

Kingshott sat in the shadows of paceman James Inglis for much of the contest, only to pounce on a late restart and set sail for home, taking the popular win in the Krikke Motorsport W2.

Taylor Milling was second and Inglis third.

Earlier in the night Kingshott was fifth overall in qualifying before taking a third and a win in his heat races, setting him up for a third position start in the main event.

This was Kingshott’s second win of the four rounds, going with his third and 10th.

Milling was one of the biggest movers in the race, starting from 12th position.

At the start of the night he was 12th-quickest in qualifying and then took a fifth and a fourth in his heat races.

On every restart he kept moving forward and really showed pace in the final 10 laps to overpower some of the cars in front of him for his second podium of the season, after taking a third in the opening show.

For Inglis, the title race was one that got away.

He set the Victory 1 Performance Quick time, then followed it up with a win and a third in the heat races to start from pole position.

It was a tough pill to swallow after leading for much of the feature race, only to slip away in the latter stages.

He has a pair of eighths, a win, and a third to his name from the four feature races.

As the teams took the green, there were cars going everywhere, with Brad Maiolo losing the front end of the 77, Callum Williamson rolled and George Eaton had to take evasive action.

Maiolo was a non-starter while teams thrashed to get the Williamson car repaired, including a new front axle, but they ran out of time to fit a new front wing.

On the next green, Inglis took the lead, with Kingshott and Matt Egel fighting for the minors, while Kye Scroop slipped into fourth over Jason Kendrick just as the caution lights came on – this time in pits bend, with Mitchell Wormall, David Priolo and Trent Pigdon all involved.

Pigdon took his spot at the rear and was eventually joined by Wormall, but Priolo was not ready within the time limit.

The big mover early was Ryan Lancaster, who was up to sixth on this restart from P11.

Scroop was the cause of the next red light after he pushed too hard in pits bend, crashing.

In the break, Willliamson was able to get a front wing fitted.

Inglis got the jump on the next start, with Kingshott and Egel having a great duel, and they had a gap over the rest of the field.

Daniel Harding got inside Kendrick for fourth, while there were some great battles further back involving Matt Cross, Pigdon, Darren Mewett, Jaydee Dack, and Williamson.

Wormall then headed infield with a damaged top wing and Kingshott kept working his way closer to Inglis at the front.

Dack’s night was over after a crash in pits bend with 12 laps in the books for a red-light stoppage.

Inglis again opened up a gap on the next restart from Kingshott, Egel, Harding and Kendrick, with Milling just behind them and ready to pounce.

On lap 22 Jason Pryde spun around after making his way forward into a good position, forcing another restart.

Milling was running the high line while trying to chase down Egel who ran the low line, and for quite a few laps neither was able to gain an advantage over the other.

On lap 27, Kendrick was trying to challenge Harding when he spun in turn one, sending him to the rear on the next start.

Inglis was still in front at the restart from Kingshott, Egel and Milling, and this was where Kingshott took the opportunity, taking the lead after running side-by-side with Inglis.

Milling also won his battle over Egel and then kept his momentum going by taking second place soon afterwards, setting up his podium finish.

In the final laps, however, there was no denying Kingshott, who stamped his authority on the race to take the big win.

Egel finished fourth ahead of Rusty Hickman, who moved up one spot after starting from sixth.

Kris Coyle was the Kincrome Hard Charger, starting from P20 and finishing sixth, while Harding was seventh, Pigdon was eighth, Pryde was ninth (moving up six spots), Andrew Priolo was 10th (moving up seven spots), Williamson was 11th, Cross was 12th (moving up six spots), Kendrick was 13th, Steven Lines was 14th, Darren Mewett was 15th (moving up seven spots), Myles Bolger was 16th (moving up six spots), and Eaton was 17th (moving up six spots).

The series will have a quick break before resuming on Boxing Day at the Perth Motorplex, featuring the first round of Speedweek.