Kerry Madsen started his tenure with Bunbury-based team Krikke Motorsport on the right note, taking out the WA Sprintcar Championship on December 8 at Perth Motorplex.
After jetting in from the United States the day before, the ‘Madman’ quickly showed he was going to be the one to beat in the feature race.
The current Australian Champion won the 30-lap feature race from Jason Kendrick and Brad Maiolo, with the margin at the end of the non-stop race being 10.8 seconds.
This was Madsen’s second WA title win, the first being in the 2010/11 season.
Madsen placed third in qualifying and then took second and third in the heat races, gaining enough points to qualify for the Gold Shootout he won from Kendrick, Chace Karpenko, and Brad Maiolo.
Kendrick got the jump on Madsen at the start and led for the first five laps until Madsen hit the front and was never challenged.
Kendrick struggled mid race, dropping to third on lap 12 and then fourth on lap 25, before some late-race moves saw him take second.
Brad Maiolo came out of fourth and traded places with third-placed Karpenko early on.
He then settled into fourth until a handful of laps remaining, making a late surge to the podium.
Karpenko, who got as high as second on lap 12, held on for fourth.
Jamie Maiolo started from sixth but got up to fifth early on before dropping as low as seventh with a few laps remaining.
He pushed his way back to sixth before the chequered flag.
Andrew Priolo, who started from fifth, only lasted four laps before heading infield.
Kendrick set the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time award at the start of the show with a 13.377-second lap.
Jamie Maiolo still leads the series on 1016 points from brother Brad Maiolo on 994, Jason Pryde 928, Mitchell Wormall 846 and Kendrick on 844.
Teams will now have a break ahead of round six of the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series at the Perth Motorplex on Boxing Day.
The event will also mark the first night of the USA v WA Sprintcar Speedweek, featuring Americans Harli White, Mark Dobmeier and Parker Price-Miller.
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