Bunbury Speedway commentator Jason Crowe may yet have a job in fortune telling as the 22 car field lined up for the feature race declaring the track, “slick and dusty and I don’t want to say it’s going to be last man standing, but it is going to take a lot of effort to get this one first to the finish line” and that is exactly how it played out as Michael Keen survived the 20 laps take his third win of the season from Nathan Davis Davis and Dominic Rifici.
After last weekend’s tango, Michael Keen and Joel Ettridge would line up on the font row of the feature race, with Jarrin Bielby and Rifici in the second row and Matthew Peaker and Chad Pittard behind them.
The first attempt at a start would have to be re-done as Jarrin Bielby had suspension failure at the front of his car leaving Peaker nowhere to go but getting caught on his left rear tyre. Rookie Amy Waldron withdrew from the race as her machine come to a stop on the back straight under the caution lights.
This time Ettridge would get the better run off turn 4 to start the race and grab the lead from Keen. Unlike last week where he lost ground during the opening laps of the feature race, Pittard got a great start, slipping into third, Nathan Davis fourth, followed by Rifici, Kent Roberts, Matt Davis, Brad Warwick, Mat Borgas, Aaron Chircop, Todd Davis, Greg Clarke, Kye Scroop, Glenn Dickinson, Bailey Nash, Anthony Gaudio, Matthew Laughton, Mike Hanlon, Stephanie Hanlon and Matthew Peaker.
The race wouldn’t stay green for long as Glenn Dickinson had all sorts of trouble bouncing through the air after contact with another car on lap 2. As the race was under yellow, Aaron Chircop also took his Prowest Electrical #45 to the infield.
Ettridge would lead the field away at the restart with Keen following closely. Matt Davis picked off Roberts to move into position 6th. Matt’s brother Nathan would also gain a spot taking third from Pittard. By lap 7 Ettridge had opened a handy margin over Keen leading by 2.071 seconds.
With 9 laps completed Ettridge had caught the back of the field and was looking to build on his advantage. Ettridge got stuck behind Stephanie Hanlon for a lap and went wide on the entry to turn 1 and Keen was now right there. Lapped traffic brought the undoing of Ettridge and Keen last week in Albany, could they get through cleanly this time round?
Ettridge creating the path through the lapped traffic and Keen waiting patiently for his moment 2 car lengths behind. With 6 laps to go it was time for a breather as Stephanie Hanlon spun the McDonalds #71 in pits bend.
Ettridge would lead the field away from Keen, Nathan and Matt Davis, Pittard, Warwick, Rifici, Todd Davis, Nash, Roberts, Gaudio, Borgas, Laughton, Peaker, Scroop, Mike and Stephanie Hanlon.
A lap after the restart, Keen pounced as Ettridge made a mistake exiting turn 2, Keen grabbing the lead down the back straight, but Matthew Peaker would spin in turns 1 and 2, meaning the pass for the lead didn’t count.
The race would re-commence under Ettridge’s signal once again. Brad Warwick was on the move, passing Pittard for 5th and a lap later would pass Matt Davis for 4th in turn 2. Davis’ tyre exploding on the back straight bring the race to a stop once more. Drivers were now hunting for any moisture they could find to cool their tyres as many felt they were on the brink.
Ettridge would lead the field away again as Warwick slowed and went infield. Kent Roberts suffering the same fate as Davis’ with his right rear tyre letting go forcing him to retire.
With 3 laps to go, Ettridge led the field away at the restart from Keen, Nathan Davis, Pittard, Rifici rounding out the top 5. With 2 laps to go Keen pulled along the inside of Ettridge and as they made their way to turn 3. At this point Ettridge’s right rear tyre also burst. Pittard would suffer the same outcome as he made his way into turn 3.
Keen would inherit the race lead for a green-white-checker restart. Davis would apply what pressure he could on his bumper hoping for a way by, but Keen held on to take the win from Davis, Rifici, Todd Davis, Nash, Gaudio, Scroop, Borgas, Laughton and Stephanie Hanlon. Both Hanlon’s also suffering tyres letting go, Mike failing to finish and Stephanie nursing it home in 10th.
Earlier in the night we kicked things off with 6 heat races with wins going the way of Greg Clarke, Dylan Sexton, Keen, Bielby, Rifici and Warwick. Clayton Dickinson and Sexton succumbing to engine failure during the heat races and Peter Shepherdson also withdrew with mechanical problems.
