JASON Kendrick and Cameron Gessner banged the boards for lap after lap in the latter stages of the sprintcar feature race at the Perth Motorplex on Tuesday night.
After stalking the race leader for some time and asking the question on a couple occasions Kendrick made a pass that stuck and set up the win from Gessner and the American pairing of Dominic Scelzi and Brian Brown in the second round of the Wormall Civil USA v WA Sprintcar Speedweek.
The winning margin at the end of the 30-lap race was just 1.240 seconds.
Gessner hardly put a foot wrong in the feature race and led for much of the race but was unable to match Kendrick in the last couple of laps.
Ben Ellement, who was the big mover in the knockout rounds and started in the first couple of rows, struggled with the #44 machine in pits bend in the first lap before spinning the car at the other end of the track seconds later for the first restart.
When the cars raced away David Priolo jumped on the single file restart and was put back by the stewards on the next restart.
Trent Pigdon, who was subbing in the Troy Lawson #83 spun in turn four on lap nine, grouping up the field again.
Mitchell Wormall, who started from midpack, was one of the big movers and had got himself up to third at one stage, enjoying a good battle with Scelzi who eventually won the battle and Wormall posted a DNF on lap 21 after hitting the fence.
Kendrick first closed the gap on Gessner on lap 17 but had to wait his time to produce the winning move.
David Priolo, who was second in Bunbury the night before, was fifth and followed over the line by Kye Scroop, Taylor Milling, Brad Maiolo, Pigdon, James Inglis, Ellement, Danny Porter, Lee Redmond and Jamie Landrigan.
It was a good result for Scroop who played his Joker and doubled his points for the sixth-place finish.
Priolo started the night by winning Victory 1 Performance Quick Time while heat race wins went to Brad Maiolo, Kendrick, Ellement and Priolo.
The third round of the USA v WA Series will be held at Quit Bunbury Speedway on Friday night, before the mini-series final is held at the Perth Motorplex next Sunday night, January 1.
Qualifying: David Priolo 14.195, Jason Kendrick 14.202, Bradley Maiolo 14.216, Cameron Gessner 14.479, Danny Porter 14.517, Brian Brown 14.540, James Inglis 14.546, Trent Pigdon 14.614, Lee Redmond 14.619, Kye Scroop 14.631, Taylor Milling 14.653, Dominic Scelzi 14.655, Scott Chatwin 14.703, Mitchell Wormall 14.710, Ben Ellement 14.801 and Jamie Landrigan 14.927.
Heat 1: 1st Brad Maiolo, 2nd David Priolo, 3rd Danny Porter, 4th James Inglis, 5th Ben Ellement, 6th Taylor Milling, 7th Scott Chatwin. DNF: Lee Redmond.
Heat 3: 1st David Priolo, 2nd Dominic Sclezi, 3rd Cameron Gessner, 4th Danny Porter, 5th Trent Pigdon, 6th Jamie Landrigan. DNF: Lee Redmond and Scott Chatwin.
Heat 4: 1st Ben Ellement, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Mitchell Wormall, 4th Brian Brown, 5th James Inglis, 6th Taylor Milling. DNF: Bradley Maiolo, Kye Scroop.
Feature: 1ST Jason Kendrick, 2nd Cameron Gessner, 3rd Dominic Scelzi, 4th Brian Brown, 5th David Priolo, 6th Kye Scroop, 7th Taylor Milling, 8th Bradley Maiolo, 9th Trent Pigdon, 10th James Inglis, 11th Ben Ellement, 12th Danny Porter, 13th Lee Redmond, 14th Jamie Landrigan. DNF: Mitchell Wormall. DNS: Scott Chatwin.
