Jesse James Samuels has tonight put in a near perfect performance with two heat wins and a second place to lead the overnight points in the WA Chip 2026 SSA Junior Sedan WA Title at Tyrepower Manjimup Speedway.
Samuels has 100 points to lead former National Champion Harrison Beres who is five points behind with two wins and a third.
Behind them is a bunch of five drivers all tied: Noah Bain, Luke Bailey, Jake Leaman, Jesse Jamon and Archie Root all with 87 points and split only by lap times after some exciting opening night heat racing.
The opening heat of the night was an all the way win to Brax Root who defeated Brock Barrett with Joel Bowman third. Heat two saw Mackenzie Silver race from fourth to take the win ahead of Koby Rickerby and Jesse Hamon.
Heat three saw three different leaders but ultimately it was Max Lang, after starting from position eight, who crossed the line ahead of Noah Bain and James Peacock, while heat four was an all the way win to Baxter Trouchet over Jake Synnott and Riley Bain.
Jake Bradley made the most of his pole position start in heat five to defeat Jesse James Samuels and Luke Bailey, while heat six went the way of Harrison Beres after he took the lead as the white flag flew from Caleb Henry, while Cody Colmer was third.
Jake Leaman took the lead at the halfway point of heat seven, going on to defeat Jayden Stads and Archie Root while in the final heat of the opening round Brad Marshall led all the way, defeating Lawson Clarke and Lucas Stevens.
Round two kicked off with Cody Colmer utilising a mid-race restart to take the win from Luke Bailey and Travis Leaman while in heat ten Jesse Hamon also survived a restart to defeat Mason Whitehead and Charlie Scott.
Jesse James Samuels grabbed his first heat win in the eleventh heat ahead of Archie Root and Bailey Chandler, Jamie Comley won heat twelve from James Peacock and Blake Beach while Harrison Beres became the first dual winner of the night when he grabbed heat thirteen from Kaden Harrison and Jake Leaman.
Brax Hardy was the victor in heat fourteen, crossing the line in second, but Noah Bain, who crossed the line first, was relegated, seeing Hardy the winner over defending WA Champion Oscar Amato and Bain.
Victorian Maddy Beach did a great job to survive a tough race start and go on to claim the win while Jake Synnott and Jake Bradley crossed the line behind her while the final heat of the second round went to an excited Kasey Clarke, defeating Sam Mills and Layla Batchelor.
The final round of the opening night kicked off with newly minted Australian Champion Lachie Burke taking the win from Brad Marshall and Cody Colmer, while Noah Bain led all the way to claim heat eighteen from Jesse Hamon and Tyler Bowman.
Heat nineteen saw Max Lang leading until the biggest stoppage of the night when Jayden Stads clouted the turn two wall. Before the race could restart Lang was forced infield with a flat right rear tyre which left Brock Barrett to race away on the restart and take the win from Bailey Chandler and Baxter Trouchet.
Oscar Amato led six of the eight laps in the twentieth heat until he was passed in the dying stages by Luke Bailey while Charlie Scott was third, while Archie Root continued his upward trend to claim the twenty first heat ahead of Jacob Lathwell and Lachlan Hickey.
Heat twenty two went to Australia #4 Zac Favero over Jake Leaman and Harrison Beres in an exciting race while the penultimate heat went to Jesse James Samuels, becoming the second driver to win two heats when he defeated Brax Root and Lincoln Hoath.
The final heat of night one saw Kaden Harrison lead the first six laps until Lawson Clarke snuck by to take the win over Harrison and Sam Mills.
Racing kicks off again tomorrow night with the Grand Parade at 5pm before racing kicks off at 5.30pm, drivers to contest one more round of heats prior to the all important finals.
Overall Points After Night One
1. W31 Jesse James Samuels 100
2. WA18 Harrison Beres 95
3. W76 Noah Bain 87
4. W15 Luke Bailey 87
5. W70 Jake Leaman 87
6. W5 Jesse Hamon 87
7. WA23 Archie Root 87
8. W3 Cody Colmer 82
9. N10 Lawson Clarke 81
10. V58 Brad Marshall 77
11. W9 Brock Barrett 74
12. WA2 Kaden Harrison 73
13. N32 Jake Synnott 73
14. W34 Baxter Trouchet 72
15. W75 Jamie Comley 70
16. V14 Jake Bradley 69
17. WA1 Oscar Amato 69
18. W56 Sam Mills 68
19. WA21 Brax Root 67
20. A1 Lachie Burke 66
21. WA88 Mackenzie Silver 66
22. V33 James Peacock 64
23. V88 Maddy Beach 62
24. W23 Brax Hardy 61
25. Q10 Bailey Chandler 61
26. N15 Kasey Clarke 59
27. W2 Max Lang 58
28. WA17 Zac Favero 57
29. W011 Charlie Scott 56
30. W96 Caleb Henry 50
31. W17 Koby Rickerby 49
32. W52 Joel Bowman 46
33. W82 Mason Whitehead 46
34. W11 Jayden Stads 45
35. W646 Lachlan Hickey 44
36. W666 Sophie Goodwin 44
37. W25 Jacob Lathwell 42
38. W27 Jake Johnson 42
39. W29 Lincoln Hoath 41
40. W21 Travis McGaffin 38
41. WB49 Levi Jenkins 38
42. W58 Blake McGaffin 38
43. W71 Travis Leaman 37
44. V18 Blake Beach 37
45. WB5 Lucas Stevens 36
46. W51 Tyler Bowman 33
47. W47 Emily Bates 33
48. W57 Riley Bain 33
49. W22 Noah Eyre 33
50. WA20 Layla Batchelor 32
51. N37 Travis Dhu 32
52. W28 Charlie Grebert 31
53. W66 Riley Udecz 31
54. NT1 Benji Gordon 30
55. WA49 Seth Townsend 30
56. NT96 Rhys King 29
57. W39 Lincoln Humphrys 28
58. W6 Brinley McGaffin Jnr 26
59. W37 Teale Cutts 24
60. W8 Chloe Coxall 24
61. W32 Khalen Cutts 23
62. W38 Tia Amato 22
63. W4 Koru McBrydie 22
64. W18 Xavier Crowe 21
65. WA11 Max Macalpine 20
66. WA3 Blake Pianto 19
67. WA22 William Glasby 19
68. WB23 Adam Reynolds 19
69. NT95 Rhys King 19
70. WA4 Ellie Watt 17
71. W14 Alyssa Whittington 17
72. W20 Wyatt Van Der Mey 16
73. WA28 Indi Kulker 16
74. WA5 Josh Birch 16
75. W340 Casey Eather 16
76. W49 Mitchell Barrett 15
77. WB21 Jack Wilson 14
78. W48 Millie Fairbrass 13
79. W88 Zachary Leighton 13
80. W42 Marcus Leighton 13
81. W36 Ava Wilson 11
82. W19 Katie Beadle 8