Albany’s Jason Batchelor has taken a dramatic victory in the 2021/2022 Batchelor Industries SSA Modified Sedan WA State Title on Saturday Night at Albany’s Attwell Park Speedway.
Batchelor took the lead from Kyle Sayer on lap thirty nine of the main event to steal a popular victory on home turf.
Twenty four SSA Modified Sedans started the night’s proceedings at Attwell Park Speedway before a healthy school holidays crowd.
Nine qualifying heat races were held during the night with 2015 WA Champion Aydan Trewern & Busselton’s Kyle Sayer qualifying on the front row with ninety five points each.
Twenty one cars faced the green flag with the Holden Commodore of Rowan Burrell unable to fire into life after receiving his medallion for the final.
Trewern & Sayer lead away with Jason Batchelor making a great start to be leading after the first two circulations.
Merv Penn would be the first retirement on lap five as Batchelor lead a high speed freight train of Trewern, Sayer, Sam McAuley and 2020 WA Champion Branden Fraser.
The Ford Falcon of Gaje Price came to a stop on lap thirteen bringing about the first stoppage of the race as Luke Fraser headed infield at the same time.
Batchelor would run wide after taking the green flag handing the lead to Trewern with Sayer, McAuley & Fraser continuing their great scrap for third.
The leaders were soon into lap traffic with Albany’s Laurie Dowsett making the most progress through the field moving from position fourteen into seventh at the midway point of the main event.
Branden Fraser was out of the race on lap twenty six from position six as Trewern continued to lead Batchelor & Sayer.
Lap twenty nine saw a major incident occur as Miranda Ball spun in turn one with Brett Mills taking evasive action rolling the W22 Holden Commodore after collecting the concrete wall.
Mills was uninjured in the incident with long time race leader Aydan Trewern’s race coming to an premature end with a flat right rear tyre being discovered on the W12 during the red light period.
Batchelor would now inherit the lead from Sayer, McAuley & Laurie Dowsett who was now fourth.
Remarkably Batchelor would again lose the race lead after the restart with this time Sayer now taking his turn at the front of the field.
The yellow lights were on again for the slowing Brendan Selleck who retired from race after running as high as seventh place.
Sayer continued to lead as the race came down to the wire before a major multiple car pile up between Bunbury’s Allan Mortimer, Shane Dubberlin & Western Australian Champion Jayke Malcolm with all three cars heavily damaged.
Just ten cars remained for the five lap run to the flag as the crowd began to make plenty of noise around the venue.
Jason Batchelor began to harass the rear bumper of the Holden Commodore of Kyle Sayer with the two level at time for the lead.
Sam McAuley, Laurie Dowsett & 2018 WA Champion Anthony King were three wide at times for third place in a fantastic scrap for the minors.
Jason Batchelor had the Albany crowd on their feet cheering as he made the race winning pass in turn three as the leaders came to the white flag.
The AVEG Holden Commodore negotiated the final lap to win his maiden WA state title in Speedway by 0.288 seconds from Sayer with Sam McAuley in his older model VL Holden Commodore officially third.
Laurie Dowsett advanced from position fourteen to be fourth with Anthony King rounding out the top five in a great finish to a brilliant night of racing.
The winner was very emotional in victory lane as he thanked his many supporters in the crowd for their great encouragement throughout his racing career.
Western Australian Modified Sedan racing will now turn their attention to Round Five of the 2021/2022 KCM Transport WA Modified Sedan Series to be held at the Tyrepower Manjimup Speedway on Saturday 5th February 2022.
Official Results of the 2021/2022 Batchelor Industries SSA Modified Sedan WA State Title
Heat One, Ten Laps- 1. WA1 Jayke Malcolm, 2. W2 Branden Fraser, 3. W12 Aydan Trewern, 4. W3 Brenden Selleck, 5. W4 Miranda Ball, 6. W13 Rowan Burrell. DNF: WA2 Peter Fraser (7). DNS: W6 Paul Stevens. Total Time: 3.11.631. Winning Margin: 1.279. Fastest Lap: 18.910 WA1 Jayke Malcolm.
Heat Two, Ten Laps-1. WA13 Shane Dubberlin, 2. W18 Jason Higgs, 3. W115 Gaje Pruce, 4. W17 Merv Penn, 5. W22 Brett Mills, 6. W19 Josh Stewart, 7. W14 Laurie Dowsett. DNF: W15 Luke Fraser (5). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.605. Fastest Lap: 18.930 W14 Laurie Dowsett.
Heat Three, Ten Laps- 1. W46 Jason Batchelor, 2. W29 Sam McAuley, 3. W95 Kyle Sayer, 4. W74 Allan Mortimer, 5. W48 Brenden Higgs, 6. W114 Daniel Flavel, 7. W96 Jack McAuley. Total Time: 3.11.433. Winning Margin: 0.533. Fastest Lap: 18.834 W46 Jason Batchelor.
Heat Four, Ten Laps- 1. W12 Aydan Trewern, 2. W14 Laurie Dowsett, 3. WA13 Shane Dubberlin, 4. W18 Jason Higgs, 5. W13 Rowan Burrell, 6. W17 Merv Penn. DNS: W6 Paul Stevens, W15 Luke Fraser. Total Time: 3.10.315. Winning Margin: 0.323. Fastest Lap: 18.567 W14 Laurie Dowsett.
Heat Five, Ten Laps-1. W46 Jason Batchelor, 2. W51 Anthony King, 3. W29 Sam McAuley, 4. W74 Allan Mortimer, 5. W48 Brenden Higgs, 6. W115 Gaje Price, 7. W22 Brett Mills, 8. W19 Josh Stewart. Total Time: 3.11.803. Winning Margin: 2.921. Fastest Lap: 18.913 W46 Jason Batchelor.
Heat Six, Ten Laps- 1. W95 Kyle Sayer, 2. W3 Brenden Selleck, 3. W2 Branden Fraser, 4. W4 Miranda Ball, 5. WA1 Jayke Malcolm, 6. W96 Jack McAuley. DNF: W114 Daniel Flavel (9). DNS: WA2 Peter Fraser. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.629. Fastest Lap: 18.921 W95 Kyle Sayer.
Heat Seven, Ten Laps- 1. W12 Aydan Trewern, 2. W3 Brendan Selleck, 3. W18 Jason Higgs, 4. W46 Jason Batchelor, 5. W74 Allan Mortimer, 6. W115 Gaje Pruce, 7. W96 Jack McAuley, 8. W14 Laurie Dowsett. Total Time: 3.12.772. Winning Margin: 2.107. Fastest Lap: 18.784 W14 Laurie Dowsett.
Heat Eight, Ten Laps-1. W95 Kyle Sayer, 2. W29 Sam McAuley, 3. W13 Rowan Burrell, 4. WA13 Shane Dubberlin, 5. W17 Merv Penn, 6. W22 Brett Mills. DNS: WA2 Peter Fraser, W114 Daniel Flavel. Total Time: 3.13.255. Winning Margin: 1.483. Fastest Lap: 18.921 W29 Sam McAuley.
Heat Nine, Ten Laps-1. W15 Luke Fraser, 2. W2 Branden Fraser, 3. W4 Miranda Ball, 4. WA1 Jayke Malcolm, 5. W19 Josh Stewart. DQ: W48 Brenden Higgs, W51 Anthony King. DNS: W6 Paul Stevens. Total Time: 3.14.466. Winning Margin: 0.978. Fastest Lap: 19.117 W15 Luke Fraser.
Final Point Score
1. W12 Aydan Trewern 95
2. W95 Kyle Sayer 95
3. W46 Jason Batchelor 89
4. W29 Sam McAuley 79
5. W2 Branden Fraser 79
6. WA13 Shane Dubberlin 76
7. W3 Brendan Selleck 73
8. W18 Jason Higgs 68
9. WA1 Jayke Malcolm 66
10. W4 Miranda Ball 53
11. W74 Allan Mortimer 47
12. W13 Rowan Burrell 46
13. W115 Gaje Price 43
14. W14 Laurie Dowsett 42
15. W15 Luke Fraser 42
16. W17 Merv Penn 40
17. W51 Anthony King 34
18. W22 Brett Mills 31
19. W19 Josh Stewart 29
20. W48 Brenden Higgs 26
21. W96 Jack McAuley 26
22. W114 Daniel Flavel 18
23. WA2 Peter Fraser 8
24. W6 Paul Stevens 0
A Main, 40 Laps- 1. W46 Jason Batchelor, 2. W95 Kyle Sayer, 3. W29 Sam McAuley, 4. W14 Laurie Dowsett, 5. W51 Anthony King, 6. W18 Jason Higgs, 7. W48 Brenden Higgs, 8. WA2 Peter Fraser, 9. W96 Jack McAuley, 10. W19 Josh Stewart. DNF: W74 Allan Mortimer (35), WA1 Jayke Malcolm (35), WA13 Shane Dubberlin (35), W3 Brenden Selleck (31), W12 Aydan Trewern (29), W4 Miranda Ball (29), W22 Brett Mills (27), W2 Branden Fraser (25), W15 Luke Fraser (13), W115 Gaje Price (12), W17 Merv Penn (3). DNS: W13 Rowan Burrell. Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.288. Fastest Lap: 18.474 W14 Laurie Dowsett.
