The 2015/16 SAWA season officially came to a close this past weekend as the annual awards night was held once again at the City West Reception Centre in West Perth.

In front of a full room, MC Karl Langdon once again had the crowd in stitches, including Vice President Garry Miller who was great to see in attendance, before the awards ceremony officially got underway.
Tim Van Ginneken and Michael Keen were the first two drivers to be acknowledged for their efforts in winning the 410ci and 360ci WA State titles respectively.

Carl Dowling and Jason Kendrick were joint winners of the fastest lap award, with both setting a 12.932 second lap, Dowling on the 9th of April and Kendrick on the 30th of April, both at the Perth Motorplex.

Jamie Maiolo received the Open Feature Race Champion award having scored 1041 points, then shared the Most Feature Race Firsts award with Steven Lines, both drivers having scored three wins.

Aldo De Paoli won the 360 Sprintcar Feature Race Champion Trophy, having scored 560 points, while Michael Keen and David Hall shared the most 360 Feature Race wins with two apiece.

Jason Kendrick was adjudged to be the Open Sprintcar driver with the most potential, narrowly beating out Lee Nash, while Kaiden Manders won the 360 version of the award after some impressive performances throughout the year.

Daniel Harding claimed the Most Improved Driver Award while the Encouragement Awards went to James Inglis (Opens) and Daniel Salter (360’s).

Mitchell Wormall was a popular winner of the Rookie of the Year trophy after an impressive debut season in Open Sprintcars, while the King of Crash was given to Jamie Landrigan after his massive impact with the wall at Bunbury on the 16th of April.

Shaun Bradford then received the Hard Luck Award, while Michael Keen was acknowledged as the recipient of the Achievement Award. He received this trophy as in just his first year of SAWA 360 Sprintcars, he won the State Title and the Power Series, not to mention two A Mains, coming second in club points and second in the feature race points. Michael also set the inaugural 30 laps 360 Sprintcar track record at the Perth Motorplex in a time that is faster than the Open Sprintcars (set by Donny Schatz in 2001). All this, not to mention he won the 360 Sprintcar Bunbury Speedway Track Championship and the Limited Sprintcar Association State Title!

LJM Racing, featuring Brad and Jamie Maiolo were next presented with the Best Presented Car Award, with Jamie thanking Glenn Miller who works tirelessly to make sure the cars are spotless, while Kendrick Racing was adjudged to be the best presented crew, narrowly defeating Wormall Motorsports.

The best performance in the open division, including the Bonza Bradford Memorial Trophy saw Jamie Maiolo win on 2099 points ahead of Brad Maiolo on 1885 and Jason Kendrick on 1850, with Aldo De Paoli claiming the 360 version on 1215 points ahead of Michael Keen on 1076 and Ben Van Ryt on 1042.

The final awards for the night were the Series trophies, with Michael Keen officially awarded the 360 Sprintcar Power Series first place trophy on 1155 points ahead of Aldo De Paoli on 1137 and Ben an Ryt on 927, while Keen also took out the Dynamite Dan’s Bunbury Track Championship on 532 points ahead of Rod Snellin on 512 and Terry Cutts on 508.

This bought the awards night and indeed the 2015/16 season to a close. Thankyou to all those who attended, as well as all the drivers, crews, families, sponsors and officials for their contributions to what was a great year.

We look forward to seeing you all again next season!

Release by DTN Media.