Queensland Superkart Series, Round 4

from Timothy Weier

The Queensland Superkart Series was back at Queensland Raceway on July 7 & 8 to kick off the back half of the 2018 Championship, with this round critical for those hoping to mount a challenge for the overall Club Champion.

Qualifying got underway in mixed conditions as an earlier storm had the track still damp and patchy in places.

The 250s rolling up to the start (pic – QSC/ASPA)

250 International

Representing the 250 Twins this weekend was #79 Steve Cloake in his VM powered Stockman Chassis, #68 Michael Nichols in his Yamaha powered Stockman Chassis and #50 Brian Wild in his Yamaha powered PVP. Taking pole for the class and 6th overall was Steve Cloake with a 1:21.79 with #68, Michael Nichols only 0.2seconds behind him. #50 Brian Wild had wheel nut issues and was unable to set a competitive qualifying time.

Steve, with track conditions improving and some changes to his Kart after qualifying, dropped nearly 3 seconds a lap off his qualifying pace finishing 3rd overall. Brian would bounce back in race 1 and chase Michael all the way to the flag finishing only 2.3 seconds behind him. Race 2 saw Brian come out punching and for most of the race it was a 4-way scrap between him, Michael and 2 of the 250 Nationals. He came home 2nd overall and 1st in class. Steve was handed a 30 second penalty for a jump start dropping him to 7th overall.




Race 3 saw another race long scrap between Brian and Michael with Steve chasing them all the way ready to pick up the pieces if anything happened to the lead pair. In the end Brain would come home for the class win just ahead of the Michael.

Race 4 saw Steve get out to an early lead before having to retire half way through due to shortness of breath. Brian and Michael again were only ever separated by a kart length or two for the whole race with Brian again hanging on for the class win setting up a showdown in the final race with only 74 points separating them.

Race 5 would see Brian struggling with some gearbox issues and had to limp home with Steve taking the win from Michael.

The Final results: 1st Michael Nicholas (1250 points), 2nd Brian Wild (1194), 3rd Steve Cloake (876).

250 International podium (pic – QSC)

250 National

The 250 National Class was well represented with 6 entries; #8 Dan Lewis, #10 Lachlan Crisp, #27 Johnny la Spina, #66 Matthew Mew, #88 Gareth Crisp and #89 Tim Weier. The #89 from Weier Family Racing took pole with Lewis Pluming #8 0.6s behind him and #10 Lachlan Crisp from Team AGL rounding out the top three 1.3 seconds off the pace.

Race 1 saw Tim get away on the initial jump, but engine issues (which would ultimately see him out for the rest of the weekend) saw him slide back to 3rd behind Dan Lewis and Gareth Crisp before Gareth spun at turn 4 and Tim with nowhere to go, collected him. Once the mess was cleaned up and the race resumed, Dan Lewis went on to take the win from Lachlan Crisp and Johnny La Spina 4th overall. Despite the damage to his Kart and his engine issues, Tim was able to finish the heat at a reduced pace but Gareth was unable to continue.

Johnny La Spina ahead of Gareth Crisp (pic – QSC/ASPA)

Race 2 saw Dan jump to the lead before an exhaust issue would see him DNF allowing Lachlan to take the win from his brother Gareth (running with no nose cone for the rest of the weekend) and Johnny.

Race 3 on Sunday saw Johnny make a ripper of a start from 4th to lead them onto the back straight first time around, Lachlan and Dan had to work their way through the 250 International guys after a poor start by Lachlan and Dan’s DNF from Saturday. Mid way through and Dan passes Johnny into turn 4 before knocking the Carby off with his arm on the run to turn 6 and having to pull off to the side of the track. Lachlan had to work hard to catch and pass Johnny for the win and managing to extend a small gap by the end, Gareth would also DNF after a radiator hose came off.

Race 4 and Lachlan was back in control taking the win from Johnny and Dan in 3rd, who was struggling with an intermittent miss. It was tight at the top heading into the last race between Lachlan and Johnny with both having the opportunity to get the overall win for the weekend going into the last race of the weekend.

Race 5 got underway and Lachlan got to the lead, but Johnny was hot on his heels and it was setting up to be a epic fight for the win until one of Lachlan’s radiators split dumping coolant onto the track, that would see Johnny go on to not only claim his first race win and the round win, but also win Outright for the weekend. A well-deserved result for all the hard work his dad Leo puts in behind the scenes.

Final results: 1st Johnny La Spina (1499), 2nd Lachlan Crisp (1388), 3rd Dan Lewis (865), 4th Gareth Crisp (634), 5th Tim Weier (202), 6th Matthew Mew (161).

250 National podium (pic – QSC)

125 National

The 125 Class Championship was split wide open after Rocket Rod Tait, who has dominated the last 2 rounds was MIA after suffering a foot injury in the lead up to this round. Taking Pole would be the #6 of Jon Bothamely with a 1:22.5 from #23 Phil Silcock 1.6 seconds behind and 3rd in class was #34 Darryl Bertram 0.9 seconds further back. #56 Doug Amiss had some teething issues and would could only manage a lap of 1:33.5 #7 Alex Hussey had an engine seize that saw him spin off into the gravel at turn 1.

Race 1 Jon got off to an early lead with Phil trying to hang onto the back on him and Darryl chasing hard in 3rd. After the mid race caution Jon managed to stretch the gap to Phil after he was slowed up at the restart by the damaged #89 kart, Darryl Bertram would bring the Australian American Racing F1 Chassis home in 3rd.

Race 2 saw Jon #6 Kart on fire literally as the rear muffler exploded and caught on fire, this allowed the Phil to comfortably go on to take the class victory from Darryl.



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Race 3 got underway with the #6 repaired overnight and charging through back to the lead on lap 3 before another muffler exploded and again caught fire sending the #6 back into the pits for the fire extinguisher. After Jon’s fiery exit Phil would reel off consistent laps to take the chequered flag 11 seconds ahead of Darryl.

Race 4 would see the #6 miss out due to the short turn around time but #7 Alex Hussey was back after some donor parts to repair the RS Honda. Phil would make the most of his TM powered Avoig chassis to take the win with Darryl only 6 seconds behind and getting faster every heat and Alex Hussey bringing the # 7 home in third.

Race 5 and the #6 is back again and almost a repeat of race 4 charging through the pack when the muffler catches on fire forcing him back to the pits. Phil would again put in a consistent performance to take his 4th class win of the weekend from Darryl and Alex.

Final Result: 1st Phil Silcock (1694), 2nd Darryl Bertram (1437), 3rd Alex Hussey (458), 4th Jon Bothamely (348).

125 National podium (pic – QSC)

85cc Gearbox

The class of 2018 having a solid rebirth thanks to Drene Jamieson and Ashley Zahl (who tragically passed only weeks before the meeting and will be missed by us all, not only as a person but for his input and impact on our sport as well. RIP Ashley) getting more bums on track.

Qualifying would see Championship Leader #93 Keith Taylor draw first blood taking pole position with a 1:29.9 from our Junior driver #37 Bayley Douglas 1:31.5 with #26 Drene Jamieson 3rd and #73 Scott Jamieson back in 4th 4 seconds off the pace.

Race 1 saw Scott make the jump from the 2nd row to lead the first lap from Keith and Drene. Scott would manage to hang onto the lead while dicing with Nick in the Non-Gearbox Aero class finishing 3 seconds in front of Keith with Drene a further 20 seconds back. Race 2 and Keith would get the jump to lead Scott over the line, Scott made a trip though pitlane for an unknown problem before retiring half way through the race. Keith made the most of his opportunity to wrap up his first race win for the weekend. Bayley brought it home in 2nd from Drene.

5 Raymond Ralph, 73 Scott Jamieson, 93 Keith Taylor and 15 Nick Marshall head into turn six (pic – QSC/ASPA)

Race 3 and Scott was back and jumping back into the lead with Bayley and Keith hard on his tail before Keith suffered a seize heading into turn 4 with Nick Marshall taking avoiding action onto the grass. Scott would go on to claim a second class win for the weekend with Bayley second and Drene third.

Race 4 and the crowd were treated to a thrilling race as Scott, Bayley and Nick ran nose to tail for the first half of the race before Scott slowly edged away to claim another victory from Bayley.

Race 5 and the Scott continued his form to break the draft of Bayley early on and hold a steady gap until Bayley was forced to retire with an engine issue. Drene would come home 2nd and Keith in 3rd after bolting a spare engine onto his Gladiator chassis.

Final Result: 1st Scott Jamieson (1392), 2nd Drene Jamieson (1157), 3rd Bayley Douglas (906), 4th Keith Taylor (879), 5th Lindsay Jamieson (229).

85cc Gearbox podium (pic – QSC)

125 TaG Aero

This Class is designed to allow TaG (Touch and Go) to race together while allowing aerodynamic body work. Leading the way as per usual was #16 Peter Nuske taking pole with a 1:27.3 from #15 Nick Marshall’s 1:29.5, #33 David Dyson was 3rd with a 1:32.9 and the club’s newest member Leighton Cook putting in a qualifying time of 1.33.6, in his recently purchased Peter Nuske old kart and running #1 due to number clashes, (but after seeing his performance on the weekend it won’t be long before he earns a number 1).

Race 1 saw Peter out in front and mixing it with the slower 125 GB karts and Raymond Ralph in his DD2 Rotax, Nick got involved with the 85cc karts and had a thrilling battle while Leighton would get the better of David to claim 3rd knocking 1.5 seconds off his qualifying time.

Race 2 would see a similar to script to Race 1 with Peter slowly getting away from Nick and Leighton getting ever faster and hanging onto Nick’s draft for the first few laps.

Leighton Cook (1) and Drene Jamieson (26) (pic – QSC/ASPA)

Race 3 and Peter was flying making it up to 8th overall with a best lap of 1:27.5 Nick came home in 2nd with Leighton keeping him honest all race long and only 1.8 seconds behind at the flag.

Race 4 and can anyone touch the #16? Pete showed us why he is the defending class and series champion never making a mistake or missing an apex. Nick again had to work hard to shake Leighton off his back for 2nd eventually beating Leighton to the flag by 8 seconds and David Dyson home in 4th.

Race 5 and Pete did what he does best putting in ultra-consistent laps to pull away from his competition. He did have Nick and Leighton to contend with early on before getting away when they had the 85’s of Drene and Scott Jameison to contend with.

Final result: 1st Peter Nuske (1630), 2nd Nick Marshall (1410), 3rd Leighton Cook (553), 4th David Dyson (506).

125 TaG Aero podium (pic – QSC)

125 TaG Non-Aero

This class allows all TaG engines to race using standard CIK bodywork keeping costs down for competitors. Raymond Ralph was the sole competitor this weekend in his DD2 Rotax but that didn’t stop him having fun mixing it with the Aero karts and 125 & 85cc karts. Unfortunately, Ray copped a stone through the radiator in race 2 Saturday and decided not to risk the engine on Sunday.

Result: 1st Raymond Ralph (502)

The Championship takes a break now before we head back to Queensland Raceway on the 15-16th of September for Round 5.

If you have a kart in the shed or currently racing at the sprint tracks and want to experience Road Race karting, get in touch via our Facebook Page #QSC2018 or our website: www.qldsuperkart.org and come experience the thrill of Superkarting.

Johnny La Spina (pic – QSC/ASPA)

 



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