Mitchell Baker takes 13th at State titles as bad luck strikes local stars

The Speedway sedans State titles took place over three nights of hard action at the Manjimup Speedway but it was tough going for local drivers.

After a full day of practice on Thursday racing proper began on Friday night with 20 heat races to determine A and B main starting positions.

The heats opened with former WA champion Kye Blight winning the first heat race, holding off Geraldton’s Mitchell Baker and Mitchell Killeen.

His brother Ashley took third in his first heat and won heat nine, defeating Hamish Macalpine and local star Shane Whild after a last-lap pass on Macalpine.

Morawa’s Peter Katona Jnr had a win stolen from him on the last lap of heat 10 as Jake Blight passed him on the last lap.

This saw Ashley finish night one in 10th place with Mitchell in 20th with Katona in 18th.

In the final round of heats, none would finish inside the top five meaning they would need top three finishes in the B main events to qualify through to the feature.

But Katona would not make the start line of his B main while Ashley Baker would not see the finish of his.

After starting on pole disaster struck on the first lap as on the exit of turn two Ashley Baker’s steering wheel fell off due to a faulty quick-release coupler and this shot the car hard right into the wall ending his night.

Mitchell Baker had no troubles with a solid drive up from fourth to take the win by more than five seconds and start the feature in 18th.

Kye Blight became a two-time champion as he raced his way from position eight on the grid to take the lead on lap 11 from early pace setter Rod Musarra, then pulled away to record a comfortable win over Jason Batchelor and brother Jake Blight.

Baker ran a clean race as carnage unfolded around him with just 14 of the 22 cars seeing the chequered flag with Baker taking 13th place.