Bunbury’s Michael Keen enjoyed some strong early season form last Saturday night, which rewarded him with a podium place in the WA 360 Sprintcar Title at Manjimup Speedway, coming home in third place.
Getting his 2017/18 season 360 Sprintcar campaign underway a fortnight ago with the fourth AHG Series round at his home track, Keen started on the outside of the front row for the feature race, before going on to an eventual eighth-place finish against a majority field of 410 Sprintcars.
Determined to put in a strong performance in the WA 360 Sprintcar Title in attempt to regain the crown, after winning the 2015-16 running of the event, Keen did just that in the 25-lap feature race, starting out of position four and immediately making his way into third place off what was a complete restart.
He then managed to retain the position through to the fall of the chequered flag.
“I’m pleased to have come away with a podium result in the WA title, and huge thanks must go to my team for making it all possible,” the 21-year-old said.
“I was pretty happy with my speed all night, but I had some ground to make up on the front runners in the feature race, which we were unable to do but to still achieve a minor podium finish is a satisfying outcome.”
Earlier in the night, Keen hit the ground running from the outset, winning his opening heat race before placing fifth in heat-race two, putting him out of fourth for the Pole Dash, where he remained, securing his starting position for the WA title-deciding feature race.
Keen will now take a few weeks off before returning to the track on December 30 for the second USA vs WA Sprintcar Speedweek round at Bunbury Speedway.
To find out more about Keen and the Keens Race Team, visit their Facebook page.
