The 33rd running of the City of Melbourne Titles saw a close to 20% increase in entry numbers over last year – which itself was one of the biggest events of the karting year.
Damp conditions mixed up some qualifying and heat races, but overall there was some great racing to be seen.
TaG Light was the largest field, 49 drivers having to contest a series of heat races to cull the field to the track capacity of 36 for the pre-final.
Last years winner, Brad Jenner, qualified fastest and won all his heats and pre-final to start pole. Heat wins also went to Leigh Nicolaou and David Sera.
While pole-sitter Jenner had another bad start, Deadly Dave fired around the outside to lead the opening laps. However he couldn’t hold the pace as first Wall, then Jenner and Nicolaou made their way through.
TaG 125 Light
1 Bradley Jenner (VIC, FA/Rotax)
2 Leigh Nicolaou (VIC, Arrow/Rotax)
3 Matthew Wall (VIC, JC/X30)
4 David Sera (VIC, Sera X5/X30)
5 Morgan Feast (SA, FA/X30)
KA4 Junior Heavy
1 Nathan Skelton (VIC)
2 Nathan Williams (VIC)
3 Jordyn Sinni (VIC, Kosmic)
4 Jordan Malcolm (VIC, Ricciardo)
5 Max Whiting (WA, Tony Kart)
Nathan Williams qualified fastest and Jordyn Sinni won two heats and the pre-final, but it was Nathan Skelton who got up to win by nearly 5 seconds in the final.
KA3 Senior Light
1 Jack Bell (VIC, Tony Kart)
2 Matthew McLean (VIC, Arrow)
3 James Sera (VIC, FA)
4 Taine Venables (VIC, Kosmic)
5 Tommy Harradine (NSW, Arrow)
The KA3 Senior Light final was a ripper. James Sera jumped to an early lead before Matthew McLean and Jack Bell made their way through. These two raced wheel-to-wheel and swapped the lead several times before Bell cracked a lead of a couple of tenths, taking a narrow and well deserved victory.
KA3 Junior
1 Jordyn Sinni (VIC, Kosmic)
2 Broc Feeney (QLD, Kosmic)
3 Joshua Smith (VIC, Kosmic)
4 Cooper Webster (VIC, Kosmic)
5 Nathan Williams (VIC, OTK)
Broc Feeny was early favourite on Saturday, P1 in qualifying and first in the opening heats. Christian Pancione also had a heat win. Joshua Smith won the pre-final and crossed the line first in the final (with fastest lap) but was relegated to 3rd behind Jordyn Sinni and Feeney.
TaG 125 Heavy
1 Kris Walton (QLD, CompKart)
2 Daniel Richert (VIC)
3 Jason Pringle (VIC, CRG)
4 Adam King (VIC, Corsa)
5 Joseph Pasquale (VIC, Kosmic)
Kris Walton enjoyed a strong run all meeting, a second in heat two the worst result he carded all weekend. That heat win went to local Jason Pringle who was third in the final.
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Cadet 9
1 Lewis Francis (VIC, FA)
2 Rusty Ponting (VIC, FA)
3 Cadel Ambrose (VIC, Mad Croc)
4 Harry Arnett (VIC)
5 Kristian Janev (VIC, Benik)
There were lots of cheers and hugs from the family when Lewis Francis pipped Rusty Ponting and Cadel Ambrose in the run to the flag in Cadet 9. Francis had led most of the final before Ambrose continued his march forward got through with four to go, however a last lap pass put Francis back to P1 ahead of the consistent Ponting.
KA4 Junior Light
1 Kai Allen (VIC)
2 Kobi Williams (VIC, Corsa)
3 Jay Hanson (VIC, Haase)
4 Blake Purdie (SA, Corsa)
5 Corey Herbertson (VIC, Deadly)
KA3 Senior Medium
1 Dean O’Brien (NSW, Arrow)
2 Jackson Callow (TAS, FA)
3 Remo Luciani (VIC, DPE)
4 Daniel Webster (VIC, Kosmic)
5 John Reynolds (VIC, Zanardi)
The final was a magnificent four-way battle between fastest qualifier Daniel Webster, veteran Remo Luciani and interstaters Jackson Callow and Dean O’Brien. Webster headed the field for most of the race, Remo getting past just after half distance. However, pre-final winner O’Brien got through in the final tour to take the win.
KA3 Senior Masters
1 Ian Branson (VIC, Azzurro)
2 David Rinaldi (SA, Kosmic)
3 Phil Smith (VIC, Kosmic)
4 John Pringle (VIC, Intrepid)
5 Rodney Capuano (VIC)
Cadet 12
1 Fletcher Harris (VIC, Haase)
2 Hugo Simpson (VIC, FA)
3 Liam Seats (NZ, Tony Kart)
4 Adrian Haak (NSW, EvoKart)
5 Christian Mansell (NSW, EvoKart)
Fletcher Harris led all the way in the final, having earlier won all the heat races. James Wharton qualified fastest, but a DNF in the pre-final, followed by a lap one spin in the final ruined any chance of a result.
TaG R Medium
1 Billy Westerveld (VIC, Tony Kart)
2 Nikola Schmidt (VIC, Kosmic)
3 Craig Ryan (WA, Tony Kart)
4 Daniel Brown (VIC, OTK)
5 Jackson Griffith (VIC, Arrow)
TaG R Heavy
1 Michael Angwin (VIC)
2 Aldo Distefano (VIC, Tony Kart)
3 Joe Brancati (VIC, Kosmic)
4 Will Jefford (VIC, Tony Kart)
5 Patrick Garner (VIC, FA)
TaG R Light
1 Gerry Westerveld (VIC, Kosmic)
2 Lachlan Hill (VIC, Tony Kart)
3 Craig Munro (VIC)
4 Michael Clemente (VIC, Kosmic)
5 Liam Hunter (VIC, Fullerton)
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