Please visit http://www.racetec.com.au

	:: PRESS RELEASE ::
	:: West Coast Formula 500 Series Gold Round 3 Thursday, 4 February 2010 WA F500 Inc Saturday 30th January saw Kalgoorlie International Speedway play host to round 3 of the Formula 500’s WA Inc West Coast series in front of a massive crowd. With the hype surrounding the WA state title still fresh in everyone’s mind all drivers were eager to put on a great show for the spectators. This round started with a meet the drivers display on the main street of town with 6-8 drivers and their cars on hand to converse with the locals and let everyone know we were in town. Most drivers made the 600km trek from Perth to the gold mining capital of Australia on Friday night so they could be a part of the display. After enduring 40+ degree heat in the afternoon it was race time and right from the word go all drivers meant business. Heat wins went the way of Steven Ellement (2), Matt Watkins (2), David Sinagra and the always dangerous Gavin Casey. The hard luck award would have to go to “Wild” Bill Richards who while leading a heat race decided to try and join the crowd through the concrete wall in the middle of turn 1 and 2. “Curly” as he affectionately known had only just pieced his Racetec together after slamming the fence at Northam two weeks ago. The only high point for his weekend would have been the drive up in his brand new Falcon ute which has replaced the infamous One Tonne Holden seen right across Australia for the past 30 years. Another driver to hit a low point was rookie driver Sam Borlini who suffered an engine failure after smashing a hole in the sump putting an end to his night prematurely. When the dust settled Steven Ellement had topped the points starting from position one and from the outside it was the WA#28 David Sinagra who had driven the backside off his HRC R6 to join Ellement on the front row. Sinagra got the hop on the green but his lead was short lived as Ellement moved forward and grabbed the lead. Sinagra settled into second spot while the battle for third was heating up between Matt Watkins and Jeff Hedington. The yellows came on mid race when AUS#3 Steven Gay had suspension failure and turned the car on its side in turn 2. Once again Ellement jumped out to the lead with Sinagra in hot pursuit. Lapped traffic was becoming a factor and cars were ducking and weaving all over the raceway but in the end it was Ellement who came home with the gold ahead of David Sinagra, Matt Watkins, Jeff Hedington and Shane Andersson. All in all an excellent meeting at a fantastic venue. All drivers enjoyed themselves immensely and Formula 500’s WA Inc showed exactly how to present a great division. Steven Ellement has now extended his lead in the series and makes it 3 wins out of 3 rounds and is the third series in a row this has happened with the past two winners Brad Warwick and Shane Andersson also winning the first three rounds in the last two seasons. Can he make it 4 when the Formula 500’s head back to Northam Motorsport Park in two weeks time.