American Alex Bright has returned to the high banks of the Perth Motorplex and made the long trip worth it as he raced his way to victory in tonight’s event, his second career win at the Motorplex, and in the process reset a seventeen year old record.
Bright started from the rear in the feature, but it was Rob Golding was the man who led the field through the opening turns while Bright, coming from the back of the field was into third by the end of lap one.
David Perry, who earlier won the opening heat race, then applied the pressure on Golding, able to grab the lead on the third lap with Golding still right on his tail. As the front two battled Bright was content to watch and wait for his moment, looking for a pass on lap four but unable to make it stick.
One lap later Bright again slid under Golding and this time it worked, but by now the top three were well ahead of fourth placed Dan Golding who was holding off a hard charging Travis White, who earlier came from the back to win the Indian File race, and Glen Mears.
Beau Doyle headed infield but the race continued around him, Bright stalking Perry and again waiting for his chance.
Bright had a couple of looks underneath Perry, but it wasn’t until the halfway distance that he finally made his move, diving under Perry in turn one and taking over the point.
From here Bright began to pull away as Perry and Golding, Golding and White continued to chase, no one able to actually gain enough ground to make a passing maneuver.
As the laps wound down Golding was able to close the gap on Perry and with three to go he stuck his nose underneath but couldn’t make it work, then shifted to the outside as he looked for a way through.
With one to go the duo were just 0.172 seconds apart, Golding looking for another outside move but it didn’t pay off, Bright going on to defeat Perry and Rob Golding by over three seconds in what was a new twenty lap track record resetting Neville Lances old mark by nearly two seconds, set back in 2002.
Dan Golding, Alfonso Guadagnino, Travis White, Glen Mears and Gary Mann would round out the finishers.
Courtesy of tonight’s results Glen Mears still leads the Pool Shop Group Perth Motorplex Track Championship, with a seventy five point gap back to Rob Golding while Beau Doyle is third overall with only a few race meetings left for the year.
The next event for the Speedcars will be next weekend when we head down the highway to the Make Smoking History Collie Speedway for the annual Laurie Matthews Memorial!
Release by DTN Media. Pictures Courtesy Aidan Skraha.
Official Results Heat One, 8 laps: 1. 10 David Perry, 2. USA4 Alex Bright, 3. 17 Dan Golding, 4. 23 Glen Mears, 5. 38 Travis White, 6. 16 Alfonso Guadagnino, 7. 15 Rob Golding, 8. 51 Beau Doyle, 9. 97 Gary Mann. DNF: 26 Keenan Fleming (4). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.757. Fastest Lap: 16.057 Alex Bright.
Indian File, 8 laps: 1. 38 Travis White, 2. 10 David Perry, 3. USA4 Alex Bright, 4. 17 Dan Golding, 5. 16 Alfonso Guadagnino, 6. 23 Glen Mears, 7. 15 Rob Golding, 8. 51 Beau Doyle, 9. 97 Gary Mann. DNS: 26 Keenan Fleming. Total Time: 2.14.977. Winning Margin: 0.527. Fastest Lap: 16.402 Alfonso Guadagnino.
Feature, 20 laps: 1. USA4 Alex Bright, 2. 10 David Perry, 3. 15 Rob Golding, 4. 17 Dan Golding, 5. 16 Alfonso Guadagnino, 6. 38 Travis White, 7. 23 Glen Mears, 8. 97 Gary Mann (19). DNF: 51 Beau Doyle (5). DNS: 26 Keenan Fleming. Total Time: 5.28.832 RECORD. Winning Margin: 3.276. Fastest Lap: 16.113 Alex Bright.
