From speedcarworld.com.au:
The “Magic Man 34” at the Perth Motorplex Speedway Saturday was won by American Davey Ray. Ray dominated the non-stop speedcar feature race and picked up a $12,000cheque for his race win; he had a smile on his face as wide as Daytona Beach.
Ray led from the pole and was never challenged in the spectacular race, winning from Nathan Smee and Scott Glazebrook.
Nathan Smee put in a gallant effort to challenge Ray at one stage for the lead. “I probably missed my opportunity in lapped traffic, but Davey is a good racer, we tried had but that’s all we had. A restart would have been nice, but it was a pleasure to come over for the Figs race.”
Glazebrook was happy to finish third, while Neville Lane was looking for something up high early on and ran side by side Smee for a couple of laps before losing ground after Keith Giles moved into fourth.
With 26 laps remaining Ray and Brown were into lapped traffic. With 17 to go Ray got a momentary break over Brown in traffic. With 14 laps remaining Ray passed Dene McAllan who won the event last year but struggled this time around after a crash in one of the heats. Smee closed in on Ray with 11 laps to go while in traffic but as the laps counted down Ray then pulled away for the convincing win.
Ray was quick to remind everyone what the race was really about – the memory of former champion Michael Figliomeni. “It feels good…but I just want everyone to keep in mind this race is for him.”
So what is it that makes this combination good enough to win? The engine is ‘home made’, using 2 x 1400cc 4 cylinder, in line, stock standard Kawasaki motor cycle cylinder blocks, cylinder heads, cam shafts, pistons and con rods on a ‘home made’ crankcase and crankshaft to form a 2.8 litre V8…. It sounds bizarre…but it works…and it works well.
And when it’s in ‘full flight’, throttle wide open, powering ¾ track high sideways thru the turns… it looks and sounds just awesome… and with a huge Wow factor ! It sits like it’s glued to the track with Davey Ray in full control… brings back memories of those ‘Two-Gun’ Bob Tattersall days…. Pure ‘Methanol Heaven”!
Qualifying times: Davye Ray 16.273, Mark Brown 16.935, Nathan Smee 17.102, Dene McAllan 17.116, Neville Lance 17.686, Steve Doyle 17.778, Scott Glazebrook 17.894, Vaughan Manders 18.233, Rick Geneve 18.262, Paul Robinson 18.268, Jason Roser 18.368, Glen Mears 18.385, Tom Watson 18.466, Keith Giles 18.509, Dayne Kingshott 18.997, Perry Farcich 19.138, Shaun North 20.939.
Heat 1: 1st Tom Watson, 2nd Neville Lance, 3rd Rick Geneve, 4th Davey Ray, 5th Nathan Smee, 6th Jason Roser, 7th Scott Glazebrook, 8th Shaun North. DNF: Dayne Kingshott.
Heat 2: 1st Keith Giles, 2nd Mark Brown, 3rd Steve Doyle, 4th Dene McAllan, 5th Paul Robinson, 6th Vaughan Manders, 7th Glen Mears, 8th Perry Farcich.
Heat 3: 1st Keith Giles, 2nd Nathan Smee, 3rd Mark Brown, 4th Paul Robinson, 5th Scott Glazebrook, 6th Vaughan Manders, 7th Shaun North. DNF: Steve Doyle, Dayne Kingshott.
Heat 4: 1st Davey Ray, 2nd Tom Watson, 3rd Rick Geneve, 4th Neville Lance. DNF: Perry Farcich, Vaughan Manders, Dene McAllan.
Feature race: 1st Davey Ray, 2nd Nathan Smee, 3rd Scott Glazebrook, 4th Mark Brown, 5th Rick Geneve, 6th Steve Doyle, 7th Paul Robinson, 8th Vaughan Manders, 9th Dayne Kingshott. DNF: Jason Roser, Keith Giles, Shaun North, Dene McAllan, Neville Lane, Tom Watson, Perry Farcich.
http://www.speedcarworld.com.au/defa...lease&Id=33240
