National Championship winning engine builder A1 Engines took on the second round of the Australian Kart Championships at the Newcastle Kart Club over the weekend. With many different weather conditions, the three driver team of current Cadet 12 Australian Champion Harry Arnett, current KA4 Junior championship leader Kobi Williams and former state champion Fraser Carr were all in for a tough challenge over the weekend.
Due to heavy rain on Friday night and Saturday morning racing was delayed by two hours and qualifying was canceled and starting positions for the opening heats were determined by the driver’s position in timed practice. Defending champion Harry Arnett was caught out by this not throwing new tires at their kart and starting from position eight after running top two the majority of the day. Fraser Carr who didn’t make the oversubscribed final in round 1 showed good improvement making the top twenty in position twenty. Kobi Williams was another driver to get caught out by this starting from position seven in the heats after being top five majority of the day.
In the opening heats of the split oversubscribed Cadet 12 Arnett and Carr had mixed results. Arnett dropped back to ninth in his opening split heat with Carr starting tenth and finishing right behind his A1 Engines stablemate in tenth. In heat 2 Arnett had a much better run making his way into the top three for the first time in the weekend coming home in third spot while Carr, unfortunately, dropped back outside the top ten in position fourteen with work to do. Williams had a consistent opening heat in the rain where he started in position seven and finished in position seven but was setting times as fast as the top three drivers. In heat 2 Williams was also able to make his way into the top three by coming home in position three on the fightback.
advertisement
Heat 3 and 4 were again both mixed results for the three A1 Engines pilots. Arnett and Carr both struck trouble in heat 3 with both drivers finishing outside the top twenty in position twenty-one and twenty-three with Arnett setting the fastest lap on his charge back through the field. Arnett recovered for a second place finish in heat four getting his championship assault back on track and some good points towards the final with Carr getting back inside the top fifteen finishing in position fourteen. In heat 3 Williams struck trouble on the opening lap and went to the back of the field. Williams put in a superb fightback to make his way back into the top ten by race finish in a great recovery. Williams again fought back in heat four striking no trouble and coming home with a top-five finish in fifth.
In the final both Arnett starting out of position ten and Carr out of position seventeen were able to move forward in the final. Arnett stormed his way into the top five and was in a battle for the final podium spot when just missing out coming home in fourth by two-hundredths of a second. Carr Manage to fight his way into the top fifteen in position fifteen in a good improving weekend for the former state champion. Williams was in a ferocious battle for the win in KA4 Junior after leading out of the opening corner. After many challenges and lead changes, Williams was able to hang on in a thriller and take out the round win in KA4 Junior.
Team member Shaun Williams was rapped with the weekend results. “Qualifying really hurt all three of the boys but they all fought back and respond really well. Kobi finished every race which is important to his points and that was a fantastic drive in the final. Harry fought back in the final after starting at the back end of the ten and Fraser after not making the final at the first round has come home in the top fifteen”. A1 Engines will be at the next round of the championship looking to continue their Australian Championship hunt at Monarto
advertisement