After a few weeks break the WA Formula 500’s will this weekend light the track up once again as a good field of cars heads to Manjimup Speedway for Saturday nights round of the West Coast Series.
After two rounds complete (After round one was rained out) it is Thomas Davies who leads the series by a country mile after three heats wins (from a possible four) and two feature wins. He has nominated for Manjimup and after not racing at this round last year, will be hoping for a third win on the trot to further extend his lead.
Of course, Davies can expect strong competition from a number of drivers, in particular Cameron McKenzie. McKenzie has been in good form recently, sitting in fourth in the West Coast Series standings and sixth in the Perth Motorplex Track championship, with a string of solid finishes including a fine fourth place finish at the last show. He will be hoping for a strong showing this weekend and goes in as one of the favourites to take out the feature race.
Brent Lockwood is currently second in the series overall and with a run of consistent finishes in the country and at the Motorplex, can be confident of banking another good haul of points towards the overall series.
The two fastest females in the west, namely Tegan Broadwood and Ashleigh Oldfield, have both also nominated for this weekend and will be looking not to just outdo each other, but also outmuscle the boys. Oldfield has been improving each time she hits the track and is currently third in the West Coast Series, while Broadwood did a lot of racing in the winter months and is looking forward to getting back out on the track in her immaculate #5 machine after recent good news has her and her legendary father Bill back into the thick of racing action.
Trystan Caley and Travis Bell are two drivers who haven’t been able to compete as much as they would like this season, but both are nominated for this weekend and can be expected to be right on the pace. Both are fast whenever they show up and with a little bit of luck, could very well be standing on the top step of the podium come feature race time.
Jeff Ross has been getting plenty of laps under his belt at recent Motorplex practice sessions and he will be hoping that all the extra seat time works in his favour at the ultra-fast Manjimup venue. He will be joined by the veteran Bill Richards and the very quick Glenn Carstairs this weekend, with Carstairs in particular looking for a good result after not racing much recently. Carstairs is always quick and should be a tough man to beat for the rest of the competitors.
Daniel Beamish and Josh Partridge are two of the newer drivers in the division, and will be joining Brendan Wright as the trio get more and more laps under their belt in their bid to improve their race craft and become more competitive.
Unfortunately none of the three drivers who podiumed in the Manjimup event last year are nominated for this weekend, and in fact only four drivers who competed there last year are back again this time round, so these four drivers, including Broadwood, McKenzie, Lockwood and Richards will be hoping for an advantage, despite Lockwood and Richards not even starting the main last time after issues during the heats.
Competitors need to be in the pits by no later than 3pm, while racing will begin from 5pm.

Release by DTN Media.

Official Nominations – 13
5 Tegan Broadwood
16 Daniel Beamish
29 Thomas Davies
32 Trystan Caley
33 Travis Bell
41 Cameron McKenzie
44 Bill Richards
49 Glenn Carstairs
50 Josh Partridge
53 Brendan Wright
73 Jeff Ross
78 Brent Lockwood
84 Ashleigh Oldfield