Callum Williamson closes the gap as sprintcar championship set to go down to the wire

Geraldton sprintcar champion Callum Willamson has kept his hopes of a hat-trick of titles alive with his third podium of the season, taking third place at the Sprintcar Gold Cup at the Perth Motorplex.

Coming into the night 52 points behind leader James Inglis, Williamson had no more room for error with four races left.

But Williamson put together arguably his best race weekend of the season, never dropping outside of the top four all weekend.

In an intense qualifier where the top six were separated by under two-tenths of a second, Williamson slotted in fourth before finishing second in his heat to put him on the second row in the B dash.

Another strong drive vaulted him into second and a fourth-place start in the 30-lap feature.

The field had not even completely crossed the start/finish line to take the green when Ken Sartori and Myles Bolger came together on the main straight, taking no further part.

Dayne Kingshott got the jump the next time away from James Veal and Andrew Priolo but the action was short-lived when Matthew Cross drew a caution after stopping in turn one.

This turned out to be the last stoppage of the race, which was contested at a frantic pace.

Four laps into the feature race and Kingshott was already into lapped traffic with Williamson up to third after passing Priolo.

With six laps in the book Veal had a better opportunity in lapped traffic than Kingshott and hit the lead and from there was never challenged.

Lapped traffic would continue to prove problematic not allowing the leaders to streak away but while Kingshott and Williamson had closed the gap slightly Veal took the win by 2.086 seconds

Championship leader Inglis had a torrid race starting in 16th and finishing a lap down in 13th and outside the points.

Heading into the latest round, Inglis had a 24-point buffer over Kendrick and a 52-point gap to Williamson.

Now the margin to Kendrick is just six points, with Williamson only 32 points off the pace.

Three rounds are remaining to determine this season’s champion and receive the $23,000 end-of-season payout.

This kicks off at Bunbury Speedway next Friday, April 7 and continues at the Perth Motorplex Saturday, April 8, with the series grand final at the Perth Motorplex on Saturday, April 22.