20/01/2026
Bunbury Speedway
Nash Wins WA Title
The 360-LS Sprintcars headed down to Bunbury Speedway for the CJE PLANT HIRE WA State Title round 4 of the WEST COAST Stabilisers SAWA Sprintcar Series on Saturday 17th January 2026. Aaron Chircop would return to defend his title, but he would need to take on the in-form Ryan Farrell in addition to some other drivers who had nominated to give it a crack, including Michael Keen, Trent Pigdon, Cody Nash, AJ Nash and Tom Callaghan. They would be joined by the other regular drivers in the form of Jeremy Warren, Corey Hunter, Luke Mewett and Dustin Filgate. The event would also see the return of Joel Ettridge and Declan Minchin, with Kyle Francis jumping into the seat of the Gavin Noy car.
With Bunbury Speedway undergoing a track transformation recently, the drivers were keen to get out there and see what the new surface was like.
With some clouds in the sky in the late afternoon qualifying got under way, with Michael Keen going Quick Time in the Cowara Motorsport #41 ahead of Trent Pigdon and Aaron Chircop – they were the only drivers to dip into the 13’s. It was a great welcome back for Michael who had been out of the car over the Christmas/ New Year period.
Heat 1 would see Keen start on pole with Chircop alongside on the front row, with Farrell and AJ Nash behind them – and that is exactly how they finished – with Keen continuing to set the pace and going on to claim the first heat race of the night.
Trent Pigdon started Heat 2 from pole with Cody Nash next to him, but it would be Cody that would go on to take out the heat race win ahead of Trent and Corey Hunter.
The next round of heat races would see the field inverted, with Heat 3 featuring Dustin Filgate and Declan Minchin on the front row, whilst Pigdon would start from the rear. This was one of the heat races of the night, with Minchin doing a great job out front leading many laps whilst Pigdon was carving his way through the field. Pigdon battled hard with Filgate for a while before the two came together in turn 2 which put Dustin into the wall. Pigdon then went on to win the heat race ahead of Minchin and Callaghan.
Luke Mewett and Joel Ettridge shared the front row of the final heat race for the night, and this is a track that Joel always seems to enjoy, with Ettridge taking the win ahead of Mewett and Cody Nash. Meanwhile, Farrell finished P4 and was having an unusually quiet night – the crowd was waiting to see what he could do in the feature.
Trent Pigdon would start the feature from P1 with Michael Keen next to him. Cody Nash and Aaron Chircop would occupy row 2, with Ryan Farrell and Kyle Francis behind them in row 3. Francis had done a great job to this point to qualify on row 3 given that he hasn’t been behind the wheel for quite some time and was driving a different car.
The feature race got off to a false start with Corey Hunter who had started from P8 spinning through the first turn and having to go to the rear. The subsequent re-start would see Pigdon start strong, but Keen was not letting him get away and stayed with him lap after lap with Cody Nash and Chircop in pursuit.
With the leaders running up high for much of the early race they would be forced to change lines as they came up on lap traffic and whilst much of the focus was on the Pigdon – Keen battle, it was Cody Nash who would pass both of them in the one corner on the bottom, with the move proving to be a race winner. Despite some nervous moments as Cody continued to make his way through traffic, he would go on to claim an emotional feature race win ahead of Michael Keen and Trent Pigdon.
Cody Nash is the 360-LS Sprintcar WA State Title winner!
Tom Callaghan drove well to move up 5 positions and finish just off the podium in P4, with Ryan Farrell finishing P5, whilst Chirky brought it home in P6.
It was a thrilling feature race and the track provided for some great racing throughout the whole event. Congratulations to all of the drivers and thank you to Bunbury Speedway for hosting a great event.
Submitted By: Morgan Melvin