BRAD Maiolo claimed his first victory of the season when he won the fourth round of the AHG Sprintcar Series at Quit Bunbury Speedway on Saturday night.

And in doing so it was Maiolo’s first sprintcar feature race win at his home track – something that has eluded him up until now.

He won the 30-lapper from Jason Kendrick and Daniel Harding – with all three drivers having to work their way to the front as the race unfolded.

It was a solid night for Maiolo who claimed the Victory 1 Performance Quick Time Award at the start of the night with a 13.587 second lap to edge out big brother Jamie’s 13.596, Jason Kendrick’s 13.896 and Jason Pryde’s 13.973 – the only four drivers to dip into the 13-second zone.

Maiolo then took a win in his first heat and posted a fifth in his next qualifying round, setting up a start from P8.

The feature race was not even a lap old when Scott Chatwin went wide in pits bend and flipped hard after the right rear tyre tagged the fence when he got caught off the racing line.

Jamie Oldfield, who started on the front row with Michael Keen – both campaigning 360ci-powered cars - was the early leader but had the field come back to him when AJ Nash spun around with three laps in the book for the first restart.

After the race got going again Brad Maiolo bolted into second and on lap seven he went around the outside of Oldfield for the lead.

Just after 10 laps were completed Nash spun again with Maiolo leading away Oldfield, Keen, Mewett and Scroop.

Kendrick and Harding were still lurking further back in the pack but were starting to gain some serious momentum.

Jamie Maiolo headed infield on the unlucky lap 13 and one circulation later he was also joined as an infield spectator by Nash.

By midrace distance it was Brad Maiolo from Scroop and Oldfield with Kendrick and Harding rounding out the top five.

Kendrick then started to make the moves, with Harding running in close quarters.

He passed Maiolo for the lead with seven laps remaining but it was to no avail as Mitchell Wormall went over in the turns 1-2, seeing the red lights come on.

After the restart Kendrick was not able to get the heat into his tyres and by this stage Maiolo knew where the quick part of the track was and raced hard to the finish line and the win.

Kendrick took second after starting from P12, with Harding coming from P11.

Scroop banked some solid points after taking fourth with Oldfield holding on for fifth from Darren Mewett, Robert Mould, Keen and Pryde.

Corey Hunter hasn’t enjoyed a good start to the season, recently suffering major engine damage at the Perth Motorplex – and on this occasion, with a different car and motor package, he crashed hard on the back straight in the first heat and took no further part in the night’s action.

Pryde backed up a solid time trial result with a win in the second heat while Mould and Mewett then claimed well-deserved heat race wins.

The series takes a break next week before round 5 is held at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday, December 9 – it will also be the WA Sprintcar Championship and a solid field is expected to nominate.

Results
Qualifying: Brad Maiolo 13.587, Jamie Maiolo 13.596, Jason Kendrick 13.896, Jason Pryde 13.973, Kye Scroop 14.032, Mitchell Wormall 14.147, Daniel Harding 14.232, AJ Nash 14.267, Jamie Oldfield 14.360, Scott Chatwin 14.513, Mitchell Keen 14.525, Darren Mewett 14.565, Corey Hunter 14.725, Robert Mould 14.898 and Vince Rosenthal 16.314.

Heat 1: 1st Brad Maiolo, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Daniel Harding, 4th Kye Scroop, 5th Jamie Oldfield, 6th Michael Keen, 7th Vince Rosenthal. DNF: Corey Hunter.

Heat 2: 1st Jason Pryde, 2nd Jamie Maiolo, 3rd Mitchell Wormall, 4th AJ Nash, 5th Darren Mewett, 6th Scott Chatwin, 7th Robert Mould.

Heat 3: 1st Robert Mould, 2nd Daniel Harding, 3rd Michael Keen, 4th Jamie Maiolo, 5th Mitchell Wormall, 6th Jason Kendrick, 7th Scott Chatwin. DNF: Vince Rosenthal.

Heat 4: 1st Darren Mewett, 2nd AJ Nash, 3rd Jamie Oldfield, 4th Jason Pryde, 5th Brad Maiolo. DNF: Kye Scroop.

Feature: 1st Brad Maiolo, 2nd Jason Kendrick, 3rd Daniel Harding, 4th Kye Scroop, 5th Jamie Oldfield, 6th Darren Mewett, 7th Robert Mould, 8th Michael Keen, 9th Jason Pryde. DNF: Mitchell Wormall (23 laps), AJ Nash (14 laps), Jamie Maiolo (13 laps), Scott Chatwin (0 laps).