Max Lang, Jake Hoath toast victories in bumper junior, street stock Shinju Stampede races at Broome Speedway

A masterful defensive move in a busy field has helped Max Lang win the junior new stars race at Broome Speedway’s Shinju Stampede, while Derby’s Jake Hoath survived a brutal finish to win the street stocks. As they have done all year, the Kimberley’s strong cohort of juniors stole the show in an action-packed feature race. Young gun Jamikah Darcy held the lead for the first half of the new stars race as Lang, Mia Dunne and Ayden Mills jostled for minor placings in a field which started with 12 drivers. With Lang focused on Darcy up front, Mills made a darting run down the back straight to surprise Lang and climb to second place, only for Lang to jump both drivers to hit the lead late in the race. Mills made a strong attempt to pass on the first turn of the final lap once the pair had cleared traffic, only to be thwarted by a race-winning defensive manoeuvre from Lang. Darcy finished third. At the other end of the night there were more than a few mouths watering at the prospect of some big crashes as a packed field of 23 street stock racers took to the field for the final feature race of the night. But, in a rare feat for stock drivers, the first half of the race was mostly incident-free as Justin Brumfield and Carnarvon’s Damon Lyall duked it out for the lead. With so many cars on the field it was only a matter of time before the antics began though — Derby’s Clinton Waldron’s night came to an end when he lost one side of his car in a big crash on the back straight. Brumfield and Lyall’s duel was getting more intense by the lap too. Lyall had taken the lead but Brumfield was in hot pursuit, with several aggressive inside lines blocked until eventually he snuck his nose in front on the fourth turn, forcing Lyall into the wall. Unbeknownst to the two drivers, Derby’s Jake Hoath had been snaking his way through the field to sit ominously in third place. Lyall was relegated to the back of the pack on the restart and Brumfield pulled out of the race, meaning a new leading pack of Hoath, James Pigram and Mark Murray resumed the race. A few more collisions whittled the field down to nine drivers, with Hoath claiming line honours. Donny Davis won the junior top stars race by a considerable margin ahead of Hunter Downs. Laura McCarthy held of a strong challenge from Megan Henderson and Courtney Perry to claim the ladies’ race. Stephen Pearce comfortably won the productions class, Dale Edwards cruised to victory in the modifieds and Tom Oliver won the super sedans. Graham Wright provided the comic relief for the night when, having won the senior go karts, he lost the chequered flag while enthusiastically waving it from his kart. Michelle Rainey-Barton won the junior karts and Steven Kirk the junior quarter midgets.