Walsh takes points lead

Infants Friend's Ash Walsh has eclipsed Paul Dumbrell for the points lead in the Dunlop Series after the final race in Perth.

But it wasn't the way the young gun wanted to acquire the lead with Dumbrell not starting the race, having to fly back to Melbourne on urgent business.

Walsh now holds a 104-point lead heading into the next event in Townsville.

Two second place finishes was enough to give Walsh the round win, over hometown hero Dean Fiore - running in the Dunlop Series for two rounds - and Andrew Heimgartner, who won the final race, which had a reverse top 10.

"I did not find out that PD (Paul Dumbrell) was not running and had prior business commitments - I was as surprised as everyone else," Walsh said.

"It is not the way I wanted to take the Dunlop Series lead as we have had some really good battles on track and that is what you want to win. It has given me the points lead so I'll take it.

"As far as today's race goes, it was a good battle with Dean and I was able to get by him in turn seven.

"The tyre degradation was much worse today than yesterday so to come through from ninth to second was fantastic. We have some good form now, but there are still things all the team needs to work on.

"The Championship has a long way to go but we are heading in the right direction."

For Heimgartner, the race two victory was his second win in the Dunlop Series. But having achieved the feat in 38-lap race, compared to the eight-lapper he won at Queensland Raceway, gives him a lot more credibility, in his opinion.

"The last one I won was eight laps or something, and everyone was giving me shit about it, saying if it was any longer I would've got overtaken," the Finance Ezi/MWM driversaid.

"I knew at the start I had to press on pretty hard because these guys would be charging for me, but I managed to maintain a gap."

Fiore's main aim for entering the Dunlop Series is to stay 'race fit' for the Pirtek Enduro Cup, where he pairs with Michael Caruso in the Nissan Altima, but he was happy with second overall and pleased to race back at home in Perth, where he joked he was conceived at 'the bowl' (turn six).

"If anything was going to bring me unstuck it was a locked wheel, and it did!" Fiore, who had backing from Titan Ford/East Coast Traffic for the weekend, said.

"I've just been having troubles with the brakes on the car. I haven't driven this thing an awful lot and it's a lot softer than what I'm used to... But full credit to Ash, he didn't make a mistake, I did, and he got the round win."

While Cam Waters was in the mix challenging for a podium, a mechanical issue believed to be a gearbox drama, meant he had to pull to the sidelines mid-race.

Paul Morris, Todd Hazelwood, Andrew Jones, Chris Pither, Aaren Russell, Ant Pedersen and Morgan Haber completed the top 10.

It was an impressive drive from Jones, who made 16 positions and Haber, who gained 13.

Click here for the full results.