JASON Kendrick strengthened his chances of claiming back to back championships in the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series when he claimed the round 12 feature race at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday night.

Kendrick, who started from P3, won the 30-lap final from James Inglis and Jamie Maiolo with the margin at completion being 2.992 seconds.

With three rounds of the series remaining he is on 2020 points, 18 better than Jamie Maiolo on 2002 and Brad Maiolo on 1968.

Going into this round the margin between Kendrick and Jamie Maiolo was only 12 points.

Ryan Lancaster, who started on pole, led for the first 10 laps before he dropped back a handful of spots and then failed to finish.

Kendrick took the lead on lap 10 and was never challenged for the rest of the journey, capping off a good night that also saw him set the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time and then take a heat race win.

Kaiden Manders, who started from P4, was in a front-running position before coming to an abrupt half in turns 1-2 on lap 10.

Four laps later the field bunched up when Todd Davis spun, forcing a restart.

By midrace distance Kendrick was leading from Inglis and Jamie Maiolo who had moved his way up from ninth.

There was contact between Jason Pryde and Taylor Milling on lap 16, putting them both out for the rest of the show.

By this stage Ben Van Ryt, who started from P7 in his debut 410ci race, was up to fourth and looking strong.

Unfortunately running the fence too hard saw the #75 limp to the infield in the latter stages of the final with a flat right rear tyre.

Ben Ellement, who started from P14, put in a workmanlike effort to finish in fourth and he was followed over the line by Andrew Priolo (from P6), Mitchell Wormall (from P10) and Kye Scroop (from P12).

Shaun Bradford was out on the last lap after tipping the #79 entry in pits bend.

Apart from Kendrick’s heat race win, other heats were won by Manders, Wormall and Scroop.
The next round of the series will be held at Albany Speedway next Saturday night, coinciding with the start of the WA leg for World Series Sprintcars.

Heat 1: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd Brad Maiolo, 3rd Daniel Harding, 4th Taylor Milling, 5th Ben Ellement, 6th Jason Pryde, 7th Todd Davis, 8th Ryan Lancaster. DNS: James Inglis.

Heat 2: 1st Kaiden Manders, 2nd Andrew Priolo, 3rd AJ Nash, 4th Ben Van Ryt, 5th Jamie Maiolo, 6th Mitchell Wormall, 7th Kye Scroop, 8th Shaun Bradford.

Heat 3: 1st Mitchell Wormall, 2nd Ryan Lancaster, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Andrew Priolo, 5th Daniel Harding, 6th Ben Van Ryt, 7th Bradley Maiolo, 8th Ben Ellement.

Heat 4: 1st Kye Scroop, 2nd AJ Nash, 3rd Kaiden Manders, 4th Jason Kendrick, 5th James Inglis, 6th Shaun Bradford, 7th Todd Davis, 8th Taylor Milling. DNF: Jason Pryde.

Feature: 1st Jason Kendrick, 2nd James Inglis, 3rd Jamie Maiolo, 4th Ben Ellement, 5th Andrew Priolo, 6th Mitchell Wormall, 7th Kye Scroop. DNF: Shaun Bradford, Ben Van Ryt, Jason Pryde, Taylor Milling, Todd Davis, Ryan Lancaster, Brad Maiolo, Kaiden Manders, Daniel Harding. DNS: AJ Nash.

Maddington Toyota Sprintcar Series championship top 20 points: Jason Kendrick 2020, Jamie Maiolo 2002, Bradley Maiolo 1968, Kaiden Manders 1796, Kye Scroop 1622, Tom Payet 1470, Andrew Priolo 1468, Taylor Milling 1254, Chace Karpenko 1112, Ben Ellement 1062, Jason Pryde 1058, Mitchell Wormall 984, Harli White 974, Jamie Oldfield 862, Shaun Bradford 818, AJ Nash 769, James Inglis 768, Darren Mewett 672, Ryan Lanaster 598, Parker Price-Miller 572.