Maiolo off to a flying start to the season

The AHG Sprintcar Series championship began on Saturday night at Perth Motorplex, with Jamie Maiolo winning the first feature race of the 2015-16 season.

He won the 25-lap Grand Opening Showdown from Jake Beard-Miller and Ben Ellement with a winning margin of 1.839secs.

It was a great result for Maiolo, who thought he won the opening feature race last season, only to see officials re-run the last two laps after a crash between two of the front runners.

Maiolo sat behind early leader Beard-Miller for the first 13 laps before making his move.

"I didn't want to do anything silly too soon, we just waited for the traffic and the opportunity to come," Maiolo said.

"Young Jake drove a hell of a race there at the start and we just stuck with him and waited for the opportunity.

"The car was good and it's a good start to the season, going in with a heap of confidence."

The opening round was not so kind for some of the division's big guns, such as Ryan Farrell and Jason Kendrick, who both failed to finish in the final.

Young gun Kaiden Manders will head into the Magic Man 34 event at the Motorplex on November 7 with plenty of confidence after winning the 15-lap Pool Shop Group Speedcar final from Ryan Condren and Todd Waddell. Manders shot to prominence 12 months ago when he won the Magic Man show and upstaged the best drivers from Australia and a few from America.

A big field of national and international drivers are expected to be in town for the prestigious event.