High Limit Racing: Larson chokes, McFadden doubles up in Perth
The second round in the High Limit International action at Perth Motorplex saw NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Larson choke and lose the lead to James McFadden, who went on to win for the 2nd night in a row.
Sunday’s second preliminary program ended just the way Saturday’s opener did with James McFadden taking his Team Brady Racing team to victory lane at the Kwinana Beach, Western Australia oval.
This time, the Alice Springs, Northern Territory native capitalized on the ultimate choke of NASCAR Champion Kyle Larson to assume the lead and never look back.
With a sweep of the prelims in his pocket, J-Mac and his Brady boys have established themselves as the clear favorite ahead of Monday’s $100,000-to-win finale – the richest payday in Australian Sprint Car history.
Larson was leading the race with 22 laps to go, but McFadden was bearing down on him to contend for the lead. In a desperate attempt to maintain his advantage, Larson tried an ambitious move to make a pass over the lapped cars going into the corner off the front stretch. Although he made a good entry by hugging the inside lane, his sprint car just snapped on the corner exit.
The Elk Grove, California native saw his chances at his first-career Australian win slip away as he was forced to the tail in his Jason Pryde Motorsports #1K.
From there, McFadden survived a multitude of cautions to nab his second-straight victory and officially secure high point man honors in the High Limit International event. He’s locked-in to the Dash of Monday’s finale along with Brad Sweet, Cole Macedo, and Callum Williamson, making it two Americans and two Australians.
Macedo added another notch to his impressive debut weekend at Perth, taking Trent Pigdon’s #7 to a runner-up result in Saturday’s show. Closing out the podium was another out-of-stater with South Australia’s Matt Egel earning a third-place effort in his #S52 ride.
Rounding out the top-10 was Brad Sweet, Jock Goodyer, Brock Zearfoss, Kaiden Manders, Cory Eliason, Kyle Larson, and Giovanni Scelzi.
THE ALL-IN NOTEBOOK (12/29/24)
Perth Motorplex (Kwinana Beach, WAU)
QuickTime Award – Brad Sweet
Heat One Winner – Tim King
Heat Two Winner – Callum Williamson
Heat Three Winner – Matt Egel
Heat Four Winner – Cole Macedo
Dash Winner – Kyle Larson
B-Main Winner – AJ Nash
Hard Charger – Cory Eliason +15, 23rd-to-8th
Lap Leaders – Larson 1-8; McFadden 9-30.
High Limit International A Feature 1 (30 Laps):
1. 23-James McFadden[2]
2. U7-Cole Macedo[6]
3. S52-Matt Egel[4]
4. U49-Brad Sweet[5]
5. T22-Jock Goodyer[11]
6. 95-Brock Zearfoss[19]
7. 60-Kaiden Manders[10]
8. U17-Cory Eliason[23]
9. 1K-Kyle Larson[1]
10. U71-Giovanni Scelzi[12]
11. Q66-Ryan Newton[16]
12. 3-Callum Williamson[8]
13. 26-Kerry Madsen[20]
14. 24-Jack Williamson[17]
15. 77-Brad Maiolo[15]
16. 9-AJ Nash[21]
17. 45-Aaron Chircop[9]
18. 51-Tim King[7]
19. U21-Justin Whittall[3]
20. 2-Dayne Kingshott[13]
21. 25-Taylor Milling[14]
22. Q65-Luke Oldfield[18]
23. 11-Jason Kendrick[24]
24. (DNS) 8-Andrew Priolo
UP NEXT: The inaugural High Limit International event concludes tomorrow, Monday, December 30 with a $100,000-to-win finale set to become the highest-payday in Australian Sprint Car history. For fans worldwide, you can watch every lap live on FloRacing.