Tonight at the Bunbury Speedway, it was hometown hero Kye Blight (Kye Blight Racing/ BAR31 Team) who drew first blood, racing away to win the opening round of the 2024 Wild West Shootout from Warren Oldfield (Oldfield Racing) and Joe Chalmers (Team BCM Motorsport:).
Twenty four cars would start the night, with heat wins shared by Warren Oldfield, Jason Oldfield (Oldfield Racing), David Nylander (Nylander Motorsport), Ken Macpherson (KMM – Ken Macpherson Motorsport), Chalmers and Blight, while Blight would also claim victory in the top six pole shootout.
Twenty three of the original starters would make their way onto the track for the feature event, only Matt Nylander (Nylander Motorsport) unable to make the call after his mechanical woes continued, while Abbey Pickering (All About Racing) would then pull infield during the formation laps, leaving twenty two starters to take the green.
Blight was immediately away, running high while Warren Oldfield ran the low line in second, followed by Ken Macpherson and Tasmanian visitor Brad Smith (Brad Smith Devil Motorsports 6T) who quickly moved from the third row into fourth.
With two laps complete Anthony King and Rod Musarra spun together in turn two to bring out the yellows
Blight led away the restart from Warren with Macpherson third and Jason Oldfield grabbing fourth from Smith.
Lap five saw Jason draw alongside Macpherson for second, Macpherson just holding it by 0.066 seconds across the line and then able to race back away in response, while just behind them was Jamie Oldfield, running into fifth place after starting ninth.
The yellows would then come out again with five complete, Jay Cardy (Cardy Racing Components) spinning to a stop at the end of the main straight.
Again Blight would lead away, this time Warren sticking right with him. Jason would run clear in third while Macpherson came under pressure from Jamie Oldfield, Jamie diving underneath him in turn three to take fourth on lap seven.
Yellow flags would fly once more with eight complete as contact between King and Peter Walker in turn four saw Walker stranded, Blight away on the restart with the whole field bunched up behind him and a number of cars making moves: Jason trying to pass Warren for second, Brad Smith applying the pressure to Jamie Oldfield for fifth with the reinstated Cardy right behind them and plenty of battles even further back.
Smith got by Oldfield on lap twelve but by this point Blight was well out in front when the yellows came out yet again with thirteen complete, David Nylander spinning at the exit of turn two.
Brad Smith got the run on the next start, diving underneath Jason Oldfield into third and then moving to the outside of Warren, and grabbing second on lap fifteen.
Jamie Oldfield would move high and follow him through, grabbing fourth on the same lap from Jason, and then continuing on to take third from Warren a lap later.
Behind them, Joe Chalmers was now in sixth after starting twelfth when the yellows came on again, this time for Victorian Champion Peter Nicola (NRT – Nicola Racing Team) who was slowing on the main straight.
Smith stuck with Blight as the race went green again, while behind them Jamie, Warren and Jason continued to fight for position.
With twelve to go Smith pulled out of line and slowed, the yellows coming on as Nathan Richards hit the back of the Smith car as he exited the track, Michael Holmes (Michael Holmes Racing) also having spun in turn four.
Fifteen cars restarted, with Jamie now applying the pressure to Blight for the lead, Jamie bumping through turns three and four and losing two spots, with Warren and Chalmers both passing him.
A lap later Jamie went wide again in turn four with Jason Oldfield also passing him, Jamie ultimately retiring infield.
Meanwhile up front, Blight was nearly two seconds ahead with ten laps remaining before the yellows came out yet again, this time for Cardy who found himself sideways in turn one, with Daniel Ameduri (Red dog racing) left with nowhere to go.
Blight and Oldfield resumed the battle at the front on the restart, the duo side by side for a number of laps before Blight was able to pull away once again.
With five laps to go there was just eleven cars remaining, but it was all about Blight, leading at every restart and holding that lead as the laps wound down.
The top four had cleared out from the remainder of the field, Blight, Warren Oldfield, Chalmers and Jason Oldfield evenly spread out and from here the order would remain unchanged, Blight making it two wins from two starts so far this season and in the process getting his Wild West Showdown campaign off to a flying start.
