Although it was only the first night of the two night 10th Annual Sprintcar Muster at the Perth Motorplex, it was a night that had absolutely everything and more.
The on track action put on by the whole division of Formula 500's was absolutely superb across the night, but was unfortunately marred by some big crashes throughout the events.
Worst of these was a big crash that saw the hugely popular Matt Brown taken off to hospital. Brown rode a wheel on a restart during the feature race and made heavy contact with the front straight wall before collected by a number of other competitors who had nowhere to go. Matt was carefully extracted from his car by the very professional Perth Motorplex crash crew and transported to hospital. All of us involved with the Formula 500 division and indeed speedway in general wish Matt all the best and hope to see him back out on track soon.
The feature race prior to the crash saw Thomas Davies racing into the lead while behind him Troy Johnson, Jason Priolo and Brock Nanovich were fighting tooth and nail for second place. The yellows came on for a stranded car, then the restart saw the afore mentioned melee ensue, with no less than seven cars being involved. After a lengthy delay, the race restarted, with Andrew Priolo making his way onto the scene and racing into third place. The yellows then came on for another spun car and the race was declared, going to the last completed lap (which was lap nine) for the race results, seeing Davies awarded the win from Johnson, Andrew Priolo, Nanovich and Jason Priolo.
Earlier in the night the opening heat race got off to a rough start, with Glenn Carstairs taking the early lead before he was rounded up by Thomas Davies. Brown half spun his machine and was collected by another car, but both kept going. Andrew Priolo meanwhile was making his way through the pack before he went high into the turn three/four wall and rolled his machine over, ending his charge. Davies again led away the field and claimed the win while Troy Johnson outlasted an epic battle with Jason Priolo for second.
Heat two saw the second red light of the night, with Graham Terry and David Sinagra making contact, sending Terry into a series of flips in the exit to turn two. Terry emerged unscathed, though the same couldn't be said for his car, while Sinagra was sent rear. The race resumed and Adrian La Macchia battled it out with Brock Nanovich for the lead. Nanovich took the lead on lap five while Matt Higgs put pressure on La Macchia for second, but come the fall of the chequers it was Jeremy Saffin who came from nowhere to grab third in the dying stages, finishing behind the winner Nanovich and second placed La Macchia.
The third heat saw Craig Bottrell race away from the front row, with Andrew Priolo on his back bumper while Matt Brown worked his way up behind the pair and stalked them, waiting for the right time. The trio went three wide for the lead, with Brown coming off the best, while Bottrell was forced infield a lap later, handing the win to Brown over Andrew Priolo and Sinagra.
The final heat saw Adrian Fogliani leading, while behind him the Multi Scaffold Racing team of Jason Priolo and Nanovich were fighting their way through the pack. Unfortunately Fogliani had some issues that saw him spinning infield and bringing on the yellows. In the end it was Nanovich who outlasted Andrew Priolo and Johnson.
The stars and their cars will now perform some quick overnight maintenance before converging on the Perth Motorplex once more for the second night of the Muster. With two more heats and the all important feature, this is going to be even bigger and better than the opening!
Release by DTN Media.
Official Results Heat One - 1. Thomas Davies, 2. Troy Johnson, 3. Jason Priolo, 4. Glenn Carstairs, 5. Brent Lockwood, 6. Tom Hooper, 7. Todd Broadwood, 8. Gavin Connelly, 9. David Carstairs, 10. Brooke-Louise Sharpe, 11. Bill Richards, 12. James Dawson. DNF: Andrew Priolo, Steven Gay, Matt Brown, Glenn Cross, Trystan Caley.
Heat Two - 1. Brock Nanovich, 2. Adrian La Macchia, 3. Jeremy Saffin, 4. Matt Higgs, 5. Chris Dymock, 6. Cody Turrachio, 7. Craig Bottrell, 8. Aaron Fullgrabe, 9. David Sinagra, 10. Peter Blight, 11. Adrian Fogliani, 12. Adrian Tyler, 13. Glenn Holdaway, 14. Jeff Ross. DNF: Lizz Plummer, Graham Terry, Chanelle Condren, Ash Kent.
Heat Three - 1. Matt Brown, 2. Andrew Priolo, 3. David Sinagra, 4. Steven Gay, 5. Cody Turrachio, 6. Glenn Cross, 7. Todd Broadwood, 8. Adrian Tyler, 9. Aaron Fullgrabe, 10. James Dawson, 11. Chanelle Condren, 12. Gavin Connelly, 13. David Carstairs. DNF: Jeff Ross, Craig Bottrell. DNS: Jeremy Saffin, Trystan Caley, Ash Kent, Graham Terry.
Heat Four - 1. Brock Nanovich, 2. Jason Priolo, 3. Troy Johnson, 4. Thomas Davies, 5. Peter Blight, 6. Brent Lockwood, 7. Chris Dymock, 8. Matt Higgs, 9. Adrian La Macchia, 10. Glenn Carstairs, 11. Brooke Louise Sharpe, 12. Bill Richards, 13. Glenn Holdaway, DNF: Adrian Fogliani, Tom Hooper. DNS: Lizz Plummer.
Feature Race - 1. Thomas Davies, 2. Troy Johnson, 3. Andrew Priolo, 4. Brock Nanovich, 5. Jason Priolo, 6. David Sinagra, 7. Adrian La Machia, 8. Matt Higgs, 9. Brent Lockwood, 10. Glenn Carstairs, 11. Todd Broadwood, 12. Gavin Connelly, 13. Brooke-Louise Sharpe, 14. Glenn Cross, 15. David Carstairs. 16. Glenn Holdaway, 17. Chanelle Condren. DNF: Matt Brown, Cody Turrachio, Jeremy Saffin, Chris Dymock, Steven Gay, Peter Blight, Tom Hooper, Adrian Fogliani, Bill Richards, Aaron Fullgrabe, Adrian Tyler, Craig Bottrell, James Dawson, DNS: Trystan Caley, Ash Kent, Graham Terry, Lizz Plummer, Jeff Ross.
