Tonight at the Perth Motorplex it was Tom Payet who raced away to win the Grand Final feature of the Triple Crown, but it was Dan Golding who did enough over the three nights of racing to claim the overall Esslinger Engineering Speedcar Triple Crown.

Payet would go through the night undefeated, winning both of his heats and earning the right to start on pole for the twenty-lap feature alongside Keenan Fleming who won the other preliminary heat race.

As the race went green, Payet moved from the bottom to the top to take the led from Fleming with Dan Golding also blasting into second, but the yellows came on as they went down the back straight for Ross Heywood who spun to a stop in turn two.

Payet was clearly away on the second start from Fleming, with Tom Callaghan diving low into third momentarily before dropping back through the field, allowing Golding to move into third.

Alfonso Guadagnino then began to pressure Golding and then quickly drove around the outside to take third on lap two, Guadagnino then sliding underneath Fleming in turn three to take second on lap three.

Fleming fought back but got caught up with a lapped car and Guadagnino was able to get away again.

With six laps complete the yellows came on for a spun Tom Callaghan in turn two.

We were able to get one more lap in the books with Guadagnino and Fleming fighting hard on the resumption, but then the yellows came on again as Cory Smith spun in turn two.

While under the yellow light Golding was relegated for overlapping before the cone on the previous restart, while Payet would again pull away as the race went back under green, Fleming passing Guadagnino a couple of laps later for second once again.

Shortly after this, Guadagnino went high in turn four, hit the wall and rolled, with Jacob Potts crashing into Guadagnino as he came back down to earth, ending both drivers nights prematurely.

Fleming looked under Payet at the restart but Payet simply drove away on the top, while Beau Doyle, now in third place, was holding off the charging Tom Callaghan and Nick Rowe by the barest of margins.

The yellows came out once again with eleven laps completed as Smith spun again, this time in turn three and was sent infield for his efforts.

Again Fleming dove under Payet for the lead and this time he momentarily took it, but Payet got back by going down the back straight. Fleming didn’t give up and tried again in turn four, the two brushing wheels, but again Payet was too good.

Meanwhile Callaghan made his way past Doyle for third, Doyle looking for a way back through on lap fifteen but clipping the curb and unsettling the car and dropping back in turns one and two, then spinning half a lap later to bring out the yellows.

Once again the field reformed, and again Payet was away, this time Callaghan pressuring Fleming for second, going around the outside on lap sixteen, but Fleming had just enough to hold on.

Callaghan didn’t give up, the two going side by side, Callaghan diving under Fleming in turn three and grabbing second.

From here the order would remain unchanged, Payet going on to record his fourth feature race win of the year, crossing the line ahead of Callaghan and Fleming, with Nick Rowe, and James Inglis in his first ever Speedcar meeting aboard the Graham Jones Racing #4, rounding out the top five finishers.

Once the feature race was over the team behind the scenes worked quickly to determine the overall point score for the Esslinger Engineering Speedcar Triple Crown, with Dan Golding confirmed the overall victor due to his consistent finishes by just four points over Payet, with Glen Mears third overall.

Beau Doyle was also presented with the trophy for being the highest Division Two driver in the points. A full release on the Triple Crown will follow later today.

Speedcars now have a short fortnight break before they return to action, this time at the Bunbury Speedway on the 5th of February for what will be the third and final round of the Speedcar Country Series!

Release by DTN Media.

Pics Courtesy Richard Hathaway Photography and WASDA Media.

Official Results

Heat One, 8 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Daniel Golding, 3. Jacob Potts, 4. Tom Callaghan, 5. Glen Mears, 6. Nicholas Rowe, 7. Cory Smith, 8. Patrick Watson, 9. Gary Mann. Total Time: 2.22.960. Winning Margin: 1.012. Fastest Lap: 17.467 Tom Payet.

Heat Two, 8 laps: 1. Keenan Fleming, 2. Alfonso Guadagnino, 3. Daniel Golding, 4. Nicholas Rowe, 5. Tom Callaghan, 6. Beau Doyle, 7. Ross Heywood, 8. Glen Mears, 9. James Inglis. DNS: Gary Mann. Total Time: 2.22.312. Winning Margin: 2.661. Fastest Lap: 17.514 Keenan Fleming.

Heat Three, 8 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Beau Doyle, 3. Jacob Potts, 4. Keenan Fleming, 5. Alfonso Guadagnino, 6. James Inglis, 7. Ross Heywood, 8. Cory Smith. DNS: Patrick Watson. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.359. Fastest Lap: 16.989 Tom Payet.

Feature, 20 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Tom Callaghan, 3. Keenan Fleming, 4. Nick Rowe, 5. James Inglis, 6. Dan Golding, 7. Glen Mears, 8. Beau Doyle, 9. Gary Mann (18). DNF: Ross Heywood (15), Jacob Potts (9), Alfonso Guadagnino (9). DQ: Cory Smith. DNS: Patrick Watson. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 2.987. Fastest Lap: 16.926 Tom Payet.