Just like he did last year, Callum Williamson won the opening round of the 2020-21 Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night.
In front of a very healthy crowd for the annual Shannons Powerpalooza that also featured a drag racing and burnout show, Williamson won the 30-lap feature race after starting from pole, from Jason Kendrick, who came from 10th, and Kaiden Manders, who started P7.
The 27-year-old hardly put a foot wrong in the Williamson Motorsport W3, being the second quickest in the Victory 1 Performance qualifying session with his 13.450 second flying lap only being bettered by Daniel Harding who circulated in 13.422 seconds in the W41.
He then won his heat race, setting up a front row start with two-time series champion Brad Maiolo.
Williamson will once again loom as one of the favourites for the series championship after he finished third overall last year behind three-time champion Kendrick and Mitchell Wormall.
After taking the win he advised he would not be part of the field for round two of the series that will be the time-honoured Scardifields Smash Repairs King of Wings on Saturday, November 14.
Williamson admitted that during the COVID-19 lockdown and not knowing what the speedway season would look like, he and his fiance planned their wedding for that day, but smirked, saying he would be keeping an eye on the results after the ceremony.
The feature race had not even formed up when Harding and Trevor Reynolds both headed to the infield with issues.
Williamson, Kris Coyle (who started P3) and Ryan Lancaster (from P5) were the early bolters at the start of the final, while Dayne Kingshott, in his first race with Krikke Motorsport, and Maiolo were locked in a good battle for fourth.
Kendrick was up to sixth after only a few laps were in the book and was looking ominous, while Williamson was into heavy lapped traffic by lap four.
Manders was racy in his first major race back for the J&S Drilling team after a year away from sprintcar racing last season, pulling a big wheelie on the main straight on lap six as Kendrick was up to fifth by lap eight
The field regrouped on lap nine when Maiolo spun around, seeing Williamson lead away from Coyle, Lancaster, Manders, Kendrick and Kingshott.
Kendrick showed his hand as they went into turn one, diving down low and pulling up into third, but the move, which involved contact with Lancaster was negated as James Inglis, Tom Callaghan and Andrew Priolo were involved in a midpack moment, putting the first two out and Priolo to the rear.
Next time around Kendrick went to fourth while Todd Davis performed a 360 in the 63 but was able to resume, albeit after losing some ground.
Williamson was again into heavy traffic and building up a good buffer with all eyes on Lancaster who got by Coyle on lap 13 and Kendrick also joined in the action as Ben Butcher spun around in pits bend, forcing another restart.
Shortly after Jaydee Dack lost control of the 67 on the main straight and Coyle had nowhere to go and collected the spinning car, ending his night and a podium placing, while Lancaster and Kendrick were lucky to squeeze through a gap.
Taylor Milling, who started from P14, and had dropped as low as 17th at one point, was on a mission and disposed of Kingshott for fifth at midrace distance.
By lap 19 Williamson was again back in heavy lapped traffic and able to maintain good car speed and distance to any challengers.
Manders snuck into third on lap 21 and a few laps later, Lancaster, who by this stage was holding down fifth, rode a wheel and hit the fence, ending what was up until that point was a great drive in the 20 - another case of back luck for the talented Dingo De Motorsport pilot.
On the restart, Kendrick, who was by now up to second, had nothing for Williamson who drove a faultless feature race and took the win by 0.926 of a second.
Milling finished fourth from Kingshott, Priolo (who charged from the back), Maiolo (who also raced back through the pack, Jason Pryde (who started P6), AJ Nash (who started 8th and finished 9th), Butcher (who started 13th and finished 10th), Cameron McKenzie (from 19th to 11th), Trevor Jolly (from 15 to 12), Todd Davis (from 25th to 13th), Matthew Cross (18 to 14), George Eaton (from 22 to 15) and Jack Williamson (from 24 to 16th.
There was drama even before qualifying was underway with contact between Jamie Oldfield, Dack and Coyle, with Oldfield unable to resume in qualifying while the others managed to set a qualifying lap.
Round two of the series will return to the Perth Motorplex in two weeks.
RESULTS
Qualifying: Daniel Harding 13.422, Callum Williamson 13.450, Brad Maiolo 13.464, Andrew Priolo 13.470, Kris Coyle 13.491, Jason Kendrick 1e.546, Kaiden Manders 13.573, AJ Nash 13.644, Dayne Kinghsott 13.675, Ryan Lancaster 13.700, James Inglis 13.713, Ben Butcher 13.741, Taylor Milling 13.746, Jason Pryde 13.826, Todd Davi 13.965, Cameron McKenzie 14.282, Tom Callaghan 14.405, Matthew Cross 14.438, Trevor Reynolds 14.454, Jack Williamson 14.523, George Eaton 14.608, Trevor Jolly 14.705, Jaydee Dack 15.150. Daniel Hartigan and Jamie Oldfield NTT.
Heat 1: 1st Brad Maiolo, 2nd Ryan Lancaster, 3rd AJ Nash, 4th James Inglis, 5th Ben Butcher, 6th Andrew Priolo, 7th Cameron McKenzie, 8th Jack Williamson. DNF Todd Davis
Heat 2: 1st Callum Williamson, 2nd Dayne Kingshott, 3rd Kaiden Manders, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th Taylor Milling, 6th Matthew Cross, 7th George Eaton, DNF Trevor Reynolds.
Heat 3: 1st Kris Coyle, 2nd Jason Pryde, 3rd Jaydee Dack, 4th Tom Callaghan, 5th Trevor Jolly. DNF Danielf Harding. DNS: Jamie Oldfield and Daniel Hartigan.
A Main: 1st Callum Williamson, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Kaiden Manders, 4th Taylor Milling, 5th Dayne Kingshott, 6th Andrew Priolo, 7th Bradley Maiolo, 8th Jason Pryde, 9th AJ Nash, 10th Ben Butcher, 11th Cameron McKenzie, 12th Trevor Jolly, 13th Todd Davis, 14th Matthew Cross, 15th George Eaton, 16th Jack Williamson. DNF: Ryan Lancaster, Kris Coyle, Jaydee Dack, James Inglis, Tom Callaghan. DNS: Trevor Reynolds, Daniel Harding.