Payet is Best at Bunbury!

Last night the Speedcars made their triumphant return to the Make Smoking History Bunbury Speedway and once again it was Tom Payet who showed his class, winning the twenty lap feature race.

The show was also the final night of the 2021/22 Country Series and with points on the line in each and every event, racing was hotly contested throughout the night.

Payet would win the opening heat, with Tom Callaghan claiming victory in the second and Keenan Fleming the third, setting up a Payet and Fleming front row for the feature.

Fleming, who was leading the points coming into the nights event and then extended his lead after the heat races, simply had to finish to lock away the country series win after second placed Dan Golding was unable to take his place in the feature race field, while Beau Doyle would have to fight for every position for the chance to grab second overall.

As the race went green it was Payet who grabbed the initial lead until Fleming rocketed around the outside coming out of turn two to take the lead.

Immediately Payet would fight back, retaking the lead into turn three and would lead the opening lap.

Callaghan would settle into third ahead of Glen Mears and Doyle, with Gary Mann charging through from position ten to sixth in the opening laps.

The top five began to pull away, with Payet extending his lead as the laps wound down, finally moving into traffic by the beginning of the ninth circulation.

Unfortunately the yellow lights would come on shortly after with Cory Smith spinning to a stop.

Under the yellow lights Tom Callaghan would head infield, joined shortly after by Lee Austen as the field came around to take the green once again, leaving ten cars on track.

Payet would lead away again from Fleming and Mears, with Mears coming under intense pressure from Doyle over the remaining laps.

Beau Rogers would retire infield on lap twelve, but apart from that there were no more position changes for the race, seeing Payet the victor ahead of Fleming and Mears.

With the results tallied, Fleming had also done enough to claim the win in the Country Series, while Doyle had done enough to nab second place overall by just four points over Golding in what was a great series overall.

The next show for the Speedcars will be back at the Perth Motorplex next weekend, Saturday the 12th of February for the John Fenton tribute event!

Release by DTN Media.

Pics Courtesy Cochrane Photography and WASDA Media.

Contingency Awards

Thermal Dynamics Engine Heaters Pole Award – Tom Payet

DTN Hard Charger Award – Gary Mann

Melvis QuickTime Award – Tom Payet

Official Results

Heat One, 8 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Glen Mears, 3. Keenan Fleming, 4. Dan Golding, 5. Beau Doyle, 6. Patrick Watson, 7. Andrew Charles, 8. Gary Mann. DNF: Matt Watkins (5). Total Time: 2.16.098. Winning Margin: 2.317. Fastest Lap: 16.514 Tom Payet.

Heat Two, 8 laps: 1. Tom Callaghan, 2. Tom Payet, 3. Ross Heywood, 4. Dan Golding, 5. Glen Mears, 6. Cory Smith, 7. Beau Rogers, 8. Gary Mann, 9. Lee Austen. DNS: Matt Watkins. Total Time: 2.21.699. Winning Margin: 0.993. Fastest Lap: 17.068 Tom Callaghan.

Heat Three, 8 laps: 1. Keenan Fleming, 2. Beau Doyle, 3. Tom Callaghan, 4. Cory Smith, 5. Andrew Charles, 6. Ross Heywood, 7. Patrick Watson, 8. Beau Rogers. DNS: Lee Austen. Total Time: 2.15.070. Winning Margin: 3.337. Fastest Lap: 16.646 Keenan Fleming.

Feature, 20 laps: 1. Tom Payet, 2. Keenan Fleming, 3. Glen Mears, 4. Beau Doyle, 5. Gary Mann, 6. Ross Heywood, 7. Andrew Charles, 8. Patrick Watson (19), 9. Cory Smith (19). DNF: Beau Rogers (12), Lee Austen (, Tom Callaghan (. DNS: Dan Golding, Matt Watkins. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 2.578. Fastest Lap: 16.933 Tom Payet.