Williamson has early finish in Bunbury but remains in contention for top three finish

Geraldton sprintcar star Callum Williamson’s tricky season continued with a DNF in the USA v WA Speedweek series feature in Bunbury at the weekend.

After a season-best fourth at Ellenbrook Speedway last week, Williamson was hoping to maintain his upward trajectory in the Battle of Bunbury.

After qualifying fourth in a strong third group, Williamson had a good heat finishing second behind series leader James Inglis, though he had a disappointing B Dash with only a retirement from Brad Maiolo moving him up from his sixth-place start.

This enabled Williamson to start 10th in the feature race with plenty of work to do in an effort to gain his first podium of the season.

American Corey Eliason took pole and was slated to start alongside Inglis but before the lap was done Inglis spun coming out of the pit bend - collecting American Tyler Courtney and local Brad Maiolo.

This jumped Williamson up to eighth and he was exchanging lap times with David Priolo in seventh before disaster struck on lap eight.

The defending champion lost control in turn two and hit a tractor tyre bringing a premature end to his night and recording his second DNF for the series.

Eliason avoided all the carnage behind him leading from start to finish while Priolo benefitting from few retirements to finish second with Trent Pigdon third.

Williamson and the team described it as a challenging night.

“Not the best night with it ending in a DNF, however we as a team are moving forward and will roll on to the Motorplex this weekend for the Speedweek Grand Final,” he said.

Despite the DNF he remained third in both the Maddington Toyota Sprintcar and Speedway Australia Speedweek series with poor finishes for those around him.

The Speedweek series will end on Saturday with the Speedweek Grand Final at the Perth Motorplex.