SEG - Sprintcar Entrants Group

Tatnell Is Crowned King Of Kwinana
Posted Sunday, 21 February 2010 by Darren ODea

Brooke Tatnell led from start to finish to win the 28th Nanovich Sprintcar King of Wings from Kerry Madsen and American Jason Johnson at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night.

Tatnell was able to stay out of trouble and show his track craft in the busy lapped traffic to claim the 30-lapper � 15 years since he last won this race.

But the big mover was Madsen who started from 11th and stole second from Johnson in the dying stages of the highly-entertaining race.

Tatnell said some people believe tribute races don�t mean much but he said they definitely did.

�The King of Wings was always a special race to win, but since they made it the Nanovich King of Wings it�s not just another race.

�You are racing with your heart on your sleeve.�

Tatnell said he had a great team that had propelled him to some big wins this season.

�We all believe in each other and that�s why we have such a formidable team.�

Madsen impressed everyone with his sensational drive.

�I drive my arse off man�I had a pretty good race car there � the car was awesome.

�I was just really proud to start 12th (actually 11th) and get up to second.�

Johnson said he enjoyed the race but came up a bit short.

�It was a great race, I just couldn�t quite get to Brooke like we wanted to.�

Tatnell got the jump at the start but only enjoyed it for just over a lap when Todd Waddell spun in turn one and went to the rear of the field on the restart.

Mark Wells spun around in turn one and got out of harm�s way when he was collected by Carl Dowling which put them, along with Troy Lawson out of the contest.

Tatnell was into lapped traffic after just seven laps and using different lines to get through the field.

Johnson showed his nose inside Max Dumesny for second while at the same time there was a great scrap between Ryan Farrell and Steven Lines.

A couple of laps later Dumesny reclaimed second but it was counted for little with 14 laps to go after he pulled infield with a smoking engine.

Madsen was picking off the racers one by one including Ryan Farrell when he executed a big slide in pits bend with nine laps to go and continued his hard charge ahead, then picking off Lines and ultimately Johnson

Tatnell set up his night after he won the A Dash from Farrell, Jamie Maiolo, Coyle and Bradford while Madsen was a non finisher after the front-end collapsed.

�We didn�t come here for no reason, we are obviously here for a win,� Tatnell said

�We are definitely here for a King of the Wings win.�

Dumesny was very fast on his way to winning the B Dash with some low 13-second laps as he won from Johnson and Swindell.

�The track is coming up awesome and the car is going fantastic,� Dumesny said.

�It�s good to be back up the front end of the field.�

Farr won the Midpack Madness from Wells and Mann.

Dowling won the B Main from Kendrick and Troy Lawson.

Kerry Madsen won the first heat of the night from Lines, Jamie Maiolo and Coyle with all four qualifying for the dashes.

�We are in a great position, so we will see what we can do,� Madsen said after the win.

�It�s going to be a fun night�I am looking forward to it.

He admitted to losing the brakes in the latter stages but was glad he didn�t have to lose them.

�It just sucks when you come in for the interview and you can�t stop I guess.�

Dumesny won the next bout from Farrell, Ben Ellement and Ian Madsen who snuck under Farr in a brave move to make the transfer into the dashes.

This relegated Farr to the Midpack Madness round for the 12-18th placed cars.

�The track is going to come in and go away pretty quickly later on,� Dumesny said.

He said other drivers were handling the slick track conditions well.

�I am going to have to step up to the plate to keep up with them.�

Johnson won the final heat from Tatnell, Bradford and Swindell to be the last four into the dashes.

The winner said they had been chasing the chassis set-up for a while but felt like they had made some big gains in recent weeks.

�It seems to be pretty good right now,� Johnson said.

His Haynes team said they had been tinkering with the shocks and suspension adjustments over night looking for a bit more speed.

�These guys are outrunning us and we don�t like it.�

RESULTS
Heat 4: 1st Kerry Madsen, 2nd Steven Lines, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Kris Coyle, 5th Waddell, 6th Ricky Maiolo, 7th Ky Scroop, 8th Troy Lawson, 9th Carl Dowling. DNF: Bradley Maiolo.

Heat 5: 1st Max Dumesny, 2nd Ryan Farrell, 3rd Ben Ellement, 4th Ian Madsen, 5th Robbie Farr, 6th Allan Nash, 7th David Priolo, 8th Steven Ford, 9th Jason Kendrick, 10th Sheldon Brady.

Heat 6: 1st Jason Johnson, 2nd Brooke Tatnell, 3rd Shaun Bradford, 4th Sammy Swindell, 5th Mark Wells, 6th Bryan Mann, 7th Ken Sartori, 8th Wayne Russell, 9th Ben Dickson.

A Dash: 1st Brooke Tatnell, 2nd Ryan Farrell, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Kris Coyle, 5th Shaun Bradford. DNF: Kerry Madsen.

B Dash: 1st Max Dumesny, 2nd Jason Johnson, 3rd Sammy Swindell, 4th Steven Lines, 5th Ben Ellement, 6th Ian Madsen.

Midpack Madness: 1st Robbie Farr, 2nd Mark Wells, 3rd Bryan Mann, 4th Todd Waddell, 5th Ricky Maiolo.

B Main: 1st Carl Dowling, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Troy Lawson, 4th Kye Scroop, 5th David Priolo, 6th Steven Ford, 7th Ben Dickson, 8th Wayne Russell, 9th Sheldon Brady. DNF: Ken Sartori.

A Main: 1st Brooke Tatnell, 2nd Kerry Madsen, 3rd Jason Johnson, 4th Steven Lines, 5th Ryan Farrell, 6th Sammy Swindell, 7th Ian Madsen, 8th Jamie Maiolo, 9th Robert Farr, 10th Bryan Mann, 11th Ben Ellement, 12th Shaun Bradford, 13th Ricky Maiolo, 14th Jason Kendrick, 15th David Priolo, 16th Steven Ford, 17th Kye Scroop, 18th Todd Waddell. DNF: Kris Coyle, Max Dumesny, Mark Wells, Carl Dowling, Troy Lawson and Ben Dickson.

PHOTO - Peter Roebuck