Kendrick’s dominance not enough

Perth Sprintcar driver Jason Kendrick began the New Year in style, winning the final round of the USA vs WA Sprintcar Speedweek on Sunday night at the Perth Motorplex, but a failure to compete on Friday cost him the overall series victory.

Kendrick won the 30-lap A-Main race after starting in pole position and held off American Dominic Scelzi to grab his second victory for the series.

But a failure to compete in Friday night’s feature race at the QUIT Bunbury Speedway looks to have cost Kendrick the series crown, with Cameron Gessner’s sixth place finish and win at Bunbury two nights earlier enough to seal the Speedweek title.

Gessner finished the series on 584 points, 14 ahead of Kendrick.

Kendrick continued his good form at the Kwinana track on Sunday night.

Scelzi looked as if he could grab the lead from Kendrick midway through the race, as he closed in on the leader in traffic.

But Kendrick held on and gained a strong lead.

Myalup driver Brad Maiolo, who finished fifth in the series, came a respectable fourth in the final race, while American Brian Brown finished the race in ninth in a disappointing end to his campaign.

Gessner looked as if he would be the man to beat after claiming a second victory from three races, but struggled in the feature and had to settle for sixth.

Kendrick had a horror night on Friday in Bunbury, with a right rear tyre issue costing him a start in the feature race.

Maiolo finished in second-place on his home track, while Brown had his best race for the series, finishing third and fellow American Scelzi was fifth.

Maiolo won the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time at the start of the show, giving him pole position, but Gessner came from third to overtake the Myalup speedster and claim the pivotal win.

Sprintcar racing returns to the QUIT Bunbury Speedway on February 18, for the penultimate World Series Sprintcars round, where Gessner hopes to claim a fourth-straight feature race at the track.