Brad Sweet claimed the Western Australia Speedweek Grand Final at Perth Motorplex on Saturday night, topping local hero Callum Williamson and fellow American Brock Zearfoss.
It was the third win in five outings for the five-time World of Outlaws champion – taking this win after starting third — and biding his time in a demanding track that took rubber and was hard on tires due to the extreme weather conditions in Perth.
He now heads back to America to prepare for the start of the High Limit Racing season on the back of a second and a DNF in his only other Western Australia outings.
Sweet started the night with a fourth in his qualifying group and then took a third in his heat race and a second in the A Dash.
He slipped into second early behind early race leader Jason Kendrick before dropping back to third and then by lap four was up into second where he stayed before putting a move on Zearfoss, who led for much of the middle sector.
Sweet made the winning move with seven laps to go, setting up the popular win.
Williamson, thanks to a win, a pair of seconds, a third, a fourth and an eighth from the last six shows, claimed the speedweek crown after his main rival heading into the last round, American Rico Abreu, was involved in an incident on the back straight and was unable to have the front-end of his No. 24 replaced in time in the work area after only a couple of laps completed.
Williamson was second quickest in his qualifying group before racing to wins in both his heat race and A Dash to start on the front row with Kendrick.
Zearfoss, who was quickest in his qualifying group, went from fourth to second in his heat race, and took a second in the B Dash, started the final in fourth.
He looked strong on a couple of restarts before taking the lead, only to lose it to Sweet in the dying stages.
Notable Finishers
James Inglis, who started 10th, crossed the line in fourth, while Jason Pryde, who started 14th, was impressive to take fifth, a gain of nine places against tough opposition, to be this round’s Kincrome Hard Charger award winner.
Kendrick found some form and started the feature race from second after taking wins in his heat race and B Dash.
After leading early, he was unable to maintain that momentum but crossed the line in sixth place.
Series points leader Dayne Kingshott started from eighth and finished seventh, while Kaiden Manders started 12th and finished eighth.
The fourth American in the field, Cory Eliason, had a night he would rather forget after starting fifth. Eliason spun on the first lap and resumed from the rear before slowing and heading to the infield with 12 laps remaining.
Sprint car racing now takes a break in Western Australia to allow competitors to travel east for the Australian Sprint Car Championship and the Warrnambool Classic, both in Victoria.
The series resumes with the LJM Sprintcar Grand Prix at Bunbury Speedway on Feb. 3.
Feature Finish
1st Brad Sweet, 2nd Callum Williamson, 3rd Brock Zearfoss, 4th James Inglis, 5th Jason Pryde, 6th Jason Kendrick, 7th Dayne Kingshott, 8th Kaiden Manders, 9th Kris Coyle, 10th Brenten Farrer, 11th Jamie Maiolo, 12th Andrew Priolo, 13th AJ Nash, 14th Ken Sartori, 15th Jack Williamson, 16th Tim King. DNF Brock Kenny, Cameron McKenzie, Cory Eliason, Trent Pigdon, Rico Abreu, Bradley Maiolo, Ryan Lancaster and Taylor Milling.