Drama unfolds in speedway showdown

Collie’s Ethan Genev won Augusta Margaret River Speedway’s South West street stock showdown over the weekend.

The event also doubled as round 3 of the Collie Tyre & Exhaust South West sedan series for street stocks.

Genev won the split direction feature in a very dramatic series of events.

Round 1 winner Mathew Amato was deemed to be the cause of a restart just before the change of direction spinning Genev, the leader of the race, which would send Amato to the back of the pack.

Current series points leader Peter Herbert retired from the main event with mechanical issues, as did Bunbury’s Wayne Thompson, who sits third in the points standings.

Club president Alex Williams finished in second place after starting from position 11 on the grid to maintain fifth place in the points standings coming into the fourth and final round at Quit Collie Speedway on January 20.

Damien Amato finished in third place ahead of Manjimup’s David Fall.

Formula 500s also made a long-awaited return to the South West, giving State champion Thomas Davies his first outing of the season.

Unfortunately it was just not meant to be — starting off the front row in the feature race, Davies became caught up with Cody Turacchio on the opening lap, sending Turacchio into the concrete wall very hard and putting both out for the rest of the night.

Brent Lockwood and Ryan Higgs also tangled in the same corner, ending their nights also.

Troy Johnson was the eventual winner from Matt Higgs and Aaron Fullgrabe.

This now secures Johnson’s fifth feature win in the West Coast series and he is soaring ahead of the competition in the points tally.

Junior Formula 500s also made their debut at Margaret River, with Taj Reeve winning the night from Bailey Leslie and Jake Sawyer.

Production sedans and junior sedans were also racing. Manjimup’s Drew Ogle took the honours in productions, while Bunbury’s Aiden Doak won new star juniors and Brodie Dunn won top stars.

The next meeting features the GWN7 Modified Sedan Country Series round 6 and the annual Production Sedan feature event on February 25.