20/01/2026
Bunbury Speedway
Watson Wins His Maiden!
It was a tough night in the office for a number of competitors over the weekend at Bunbury Speedway for the Asphalt Recyclers Australia Bullring Showdown, but for young Joel Watson it ended with the best possible way as he raced his way to his maiden feature race victory!
Making the night even more special was that his team mate Lachlan Marshall (Marshall Racing) was able to join him for his own maiden podium result, coming home in third behind Jake Robinson.
The night started with Robinson and Keenan Fleming setting quick time in their respective qualifying groups, but it didn’t take long for things to start to unravel, Patrick Watson going upside down on the opening lap of heat one. Chris Dymock would go on to win that race, but in heat two it happened again, Vaughan Manders riding a wheel under yellow lights and flipping multiple times to bring his night to a premature end.
Fleming would win the second heat, then go on to win the Dash event, but it wasn’t before another crash in that race, with Dymock rolling and also ending his night early.
Marshall grabbed his first ever win when he crossed the line in the Mid Pack race, the final event before the twenty lap feature which saw eleven cars taking the green.
Fleming made the most of his pole position start to race into the lead of the main event, with Joel Watson racing into second and Robinson into third. Beau Doyle would settle into fourth and Cory Smith fifth.
Isiah Matich would be the first retiree of the race after four laps, joined by Gary Mann a few laps later, and despite leader Fleming being well ahead Watson began pegging back the gap. Watson got by Fleming and took the lead, with Fleming continuing to slow and ultimately heading infield with a flat tyre.
This handed the lead to Watson who was now well ahead of Robinson and Beau Doyle, with Cory Smith now fourth and Marshall fifth.
As the laps wound down Robinson began to close the six and a half second gap on Watson, while back in the pack Marshall began to apply the pressure to Doyle for the final podium position.
Just as things began to get really interesting the yellow lights came on, with William Douglas spinning in turn two, and Justin Felton spinning in turn four at the same time, seeing eight cars line up for the restart with five laps to go.
Robinson dove to the inside on the restart but couldn’t get by Watson who committed to the highline, but Marshall was able to make the move on Doyle to take over the third place running.
Up front Watson simply raced away once again, going on to win by over two seconds from Jake Robinson with Lachlan Marshall claiming third in what was a great return to the Bunbury Speedway for the Speedcars.
Teams now have time to rest before the next show in February.
Release by DTN Media.
Pics courtesy Peter Roebuck.
Submitted By: Morgan Melvin