James McFadden celebrates in victory lane at Skagit Speedway. (Petersen Media photo)

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

ALGER, Wash. (June 18, 2026) – James McFadden brought some Australian flavor to the Pacific Northwest Thursday in topping night one of the 54th Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.

Driving the familiar black-and-gold No. 21 for Tarlton Racing, McFadden chased down defending NARC-King of the West Sprint Car Series champion D.J. Netto in traffic and made a pass for the win stick on lap 16 of 30.

Barely a rotation later, Netto slowed with issues that sent him to the work area, and to the rear of the field as a result.

That made Bud Kaeding the chief challenger to McFadden down the stretch, but though Kaeding closed down to within four tenths of a second with two to go, McFadden found the steam to pull away when it counted most.

McFadden took the checkered flag in front by 1.581 seconds for his second win of the season on American soil, following a High Limit Racing victory back in March at Central Arizona Raceway.

“D.J. was setting a really good pace, and got to traffic and started looking around [for grip], and I was decent around the bottom [groove] and was able to sneak by him there,” McFadden explained in victory lane. “This place changes so much through a race that you don’t always know where to be from lap to lap.

“It’s not ideal to [start] at the front of that race [due to the event points system], but we capitalized on it. We just had a good run; need to get faster early in the night … but it’s still gratifying when we win.”

Kaeding crossed second and Daryn Pittman completed the podium in the iconic Kreitz Racing No. 69K.

Fourth and fifth were Brad Sweet and Tanner Holmes, respectively, with Devon Borden, Brent Marks, Justin Sanders, Tanner Thorson, and Rico Abreu closing the top 10.

McFadden’s Thursday prelim win was worth $6,500. Sweet is the event’s high-point earner going into the second round of action Friday night.

The finish:

A Feature (30 laps): 1. 21-James McFadden [1]; 2. 29-Bud Kaeding [4]; 3. 69K-Daryn Pittman [3]; 4. W-Brad Sweet [15]; 5. 13-Tanner Holmes [13]; 6. 8-Devon Borden [5]; 7. 19-Brent Marks [14]; 8. 2X-Justin Sanders [9]; 9. 88-Tanner Thorson [16]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu [11]; 11. 10D-Dominic Gorden [8]; 12. 14-Jett Barnes [10]; 13. 55-Trey Starks [24]; 14. 17W-Shane Golobic [18]; 15. 26R-Levi Hillier [17]; 16. 26-Justin Peck [23]; 17. X1-Chance Grasty [22]; 18. 2XM-Max Mittry [20]; 19. 21L-Landon Brooks [21]; 20. 88N-D.J. Netto [2]; 21. 0-Tim Kaeding [19]; 22. 1C-Colton Heath [7]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel [6]; 24. 42M-Sye Lynch [12].

Lap Leader(s): D.J. Netto 1-15, James McFadden 16-30.

Hard Charger: W-Brad Sweet (+11)