Mount Gambier Super2 driver Kai Allen has retained top spot on the championship standings, despite an eventful weekend of racing in Western Australia.


Allen qualified in second position at Barbagallo Raceway on Saturday, just missing the pole to teammate Cooper Murray, before leading the race from start to finish and taking the win.


However Sunday’s racing did not go to plan, with the young driver qualifying 13th after some car issues, before the race was red flagged due to a serious crash, leaving Allen the ninth finisher.


Allen said the weekend started positively, with the car running well on Saturday.


“We were looking at potentially a pole position but I just did not quite piece together the last corner … I think we missed out by just under half a 10th of a second, so it was very tight to my teammate Cooper,” he said.


“It was good to set us up on the front row, which then later on in the race on Saturday we got a good jump from the front row and ended up winning that race which is great.


“It was good to bag a few points.


“It was a 40 minute race, we led from start to finish which was really good for me to work on the deg of the tyre. So you know, the degradation as a tyre wears, the car becomes quite slippery … the car gets very hot. It’s under quite a lot of load through those big fast corners.


“Later on in the race we got a late race safety car which gave everything a chance to cool down and it was a sort of sprint to the finish, we had seven laps to the end which is really good and I just tried to put a bit of a gap to the guys behind me, which was quite good. And then I ended up winning the race, which is pretty cool.”


Saturday’s win was Allen’s third in a row in Super2, which he said was “very special”.


“It was a good start to our weekend and then yeah, it slowly went downhill from there,” he said.


“On Sunday the car did not feel quite right, I do not know what was going on with the tyres but as I rolled out … there were about four or five cars on their fast lap, so to do the right thing I had to get out of their way which meant by the time I got settled and found a bit of clear track the tyres were way over temperature.


“I just did not get a clear lap unfortunately, which then put me in 13th.”


Allen managed to make his way through the field as the race progressed, however racing was red flagged after an oil spill on the track.


“We had no understanding of the oil and pretty much three guys or four guys in front of me ran off the track and pretty much everyone behind me ran off the track,” he said.


“I was fortunate enough to see that and quickly clear the oil and then dive down to the inside and just stayed on the track. I made up a few positions but unfortunately Mason’s car went up in flames and luckily he jumped out as well. So it was quite a scary race to be honest, there was a lot happening.”


Racing resumed after the track was cleared, however another incident occurred, with the race again red flagged and ultimately called off.


“Young Cameron MacLeod … unfortunately he had a massive, massive accident on Sunday, which luckily it was good to see him walk away,” Allen said.


“I was right next to him as he was barrelling so I could actually hear through my car with my earplugs in and my helmet fan going which is quite loud in the car and I could hear his car hitting the ground and feel the vibrations through my car.


“I was quite sort of stunned and it felt like a video game or a horror movie and to actually feel the force that was going through the car and the ground and knowing that he’s strapped in there holding on for dear life was quite scary.


“I could not imagine what he was feeling in that car as it was just getting thrown down the hill at 240k. It was quite a quite an experience and something that hopefully we do not see very often from now on.


“It was probably one of the first times we have seen for a while Super2 get two red flags.”


While the race was called off, officials allocated points based on positions, with Allen finishing ninth for the race, which was enough for him to retain top spot in the championship.