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What a Win for Waz!

Last night at the Perth Motorplex Warren Oldfield (Oldfield Racing) raced his way to what could well be the biggest win of his already illustrious career, outlasting all comers to claim the first ever 100 lap Late Model Nationals feature.

It was a history making night for the Late Model division, with American Jody Knowles leading through the opening turn, though he was certainly under pressure with fellow countryman Shane Clanton on his inside and fellow front row starter Jamie Oldfield (Oldfield Racing) on his outside as they went three wide.

Clanton was able to dive through and get clear in the lead while Knowles came under pressure from Brad Blake to move into second as Jamie faded through the field, with Rod Musarra (Team Rocket) also getting by Knowles for the third position.

Jamie Oldfield became the first retiree of the race after seven laps, and shortly after brother Warren Oldfield, who started from position seven, moved past Musarra for second, with the first caution coming on momentarily for a spinning Daniel Cassidy (CTM Recruitment Racing).

The race resumed with Clanton leading Oldfield and Blake, but Rod Musarra blew past a pile of cars, including Blake, to get into third.

With twenty five complete lapped traffic really began to play its part, allowing Oldfield to close on Clanton and begin looking for a way through. At the same time Musarra, Blake and Beau Oldfield (Oldfield Racing) were fighting hard, going four wide with lapped traffic.

Lap thirty saw Warren underneath and alongside Clanton, but a lapped car put paid to that maneuver, which would be the story for the next stanza of the race.
Rob Hamilton became the second retiree of the race with thirty-four laps complete, but shortly after the lights came on for Damian Hudson (Hudson Racing Team) who made heavy contact with the front straight wall, ending his race also.

Clanton led the race away but there was heavy contact further back as Brad Blake found himself in the turn two wall, seeing the lights out once again. His race would be over while as the race restarted Luke Halliday (Halliday Racing) would also head infield, leaving nineteen cars still on track.

Oldfield took his opportunity to take the lead on the restart and he would maintain that as the race ticked over the halfway mark, ahead of Clanton, Musarra, Beau Oldfield and Ben Nicastri (Ben Nicastri Racing) who would round out the top five as the halfway pitstop was called.

The field would get back underway for the last half of the race, Oldfield holding strong over Clanton and Musarra while Beau Oldfield had a nightmare restart and dropped a heap of positions, seeing Todd Bayley (Todd Bayley Racing) and Nicastri raced into the top five.

Nicastri then got by Bayley for fourth, but up front Clanton was able to get back by Oldfield on the front straight with forty-two laps remaining.

This would remain the order for the next ten or so laps until Musarra closed the gap on Oldfield and took over second with thirty-three to go. Oldfield fought right on back to take the position again the very next lap, but by this point Clanton was over two seconds ahead.

The gap didn’t faze Warren whatsoever, and over the next ten laps Warren would peg away the gap, the effort all for naught though as the yellow lights came on for Joe Chalmers (Team BCM Motorsport:) just after he was lapped, with twenty-three laps remaining.

With fifteen to go the race got underway once again, Clanton got away, while Musarra got underneath Oldfield for second once more.

Again Oldfield got back by Musarra, but Nicastri came from nowhere and as Oldfield got back by Musarra, Nicastri got by both of them for second.

With seven to go Nicastri ran up against the wall and chased down Clanton who was on the low line, getting around him with five laps to go in an epic move.

Oldfield was right behind them and dove under Clanton with four to go, then setting out after Nicastri in what was shaping up to be an epic finish to the 100 lapper.

With two to go Oldfield was right on Nicastri’s tail, racing through heavy traffic while Bayley was now applying the pressure to Clanton for third.

The lead cars were side by side across the line with one lap remaining, Nicastri high and Warren diving down low in turn one, Warren coming out of turn two with the lead. Nicastri was not going to die wondering and fought back down the back straight, and again coming out of turn four he put the nose under Warren but it simply wasn’t enough, Warren Oldfield claiming the win by just 0.172 seconds after 100 epic laps.

Nicastri was a gallant second while Clanton held on for third after Todd Bayley collected the wall on the final lap, leaving Rod Musarra and Beau Oldfield to round out the top five finishers, with eight cars finishing on the lead lap and seventeen of the twenty-four starters taking the chequered flag.

A huge congratulations to all the Late Model drivers for a brilliant nine days of racing, with full Speedweek points to be announced later today.

Release by DTN Media.

Pics Courtesy DTN/JSP and Cochrane Photography.

Official Results

B Main, 8 laps: 1. N2 Daniel Cassidy, 2. 39 Chris Barrow, 3. 81 Peter Walker, 4. Q81 Rob Hamilton, 5. 28 Matt Sangston, 6. 74 Nathan Richards, 7. 25 Ryan Huxtable. DNF: Nic Marshall (5). DNS: Jay Bassanelli, Ben Ludlow. Total Time: 2.28.099. Winning Margin: 2.335. Fastest Lap: 17.699 Daniel Cassidy.

Feature, 100 laps: 1. 15 Warren Oldfield, 2. N99 Ben Nicastri, 3. U55 Shane Clanton, 4. 21 Rod Musarra, 5. 11 Beau Oldfield, 6. 50 Veronica McCann, 7. U14 Jeff Roth, 8. 91 Michael Holmes, 9. 77 Jorj Park (99), 10. 54 Joe Chalmers (99), 11. 81 Peter Walker (98), 12. Q8 Alex Sweeney (97), 13. N2 Daniel Cassidy (97), 14. 52 Jay Cardy (97), 15. 90 David Boyes (96), 16. 04 Greg Horan (95), 17. 39 Chris Barrow (94). DNF: N19 Todd Bayley (99), U66 Jody Knowles (91), 94 Luke Halliday (44), 0 Brad Blake (40), 80 Damian Hudson (35), Q81 Rob Hamilton (34), 51 Jamie Oldfield (7). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.172. Fastest Lap: 16.230 Warren Oldfield.

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