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Ipswich Club Championship - Round 2


by Geoff Salmon, Sportsvoice 14 March 2016
 

IPSWICH KART CLUB - 20TH FEBRUARY 2016
Round 2 Club Championship

Graham Acreman Memorial IKC  TaG Light and the IKC TaG Heavy Titles, Sponsored by KAOS KARTING

A beautiful day welcomed 145 drivers with spanner men and families to the second round of racing at Ipswich Kart Club for 2016, the weather was a little overcast but we did not receive any precipitation throughout the day. Class numbers in general were good with the drivers and spanner men coming to terms with the new nomenclature and engine specifications as per the 2016 Australian Karting Manual. Cadet 9 (Comer Engines only) were not included in the program of events set for the day and the feature event being the Graham Acreman Memorial IKC TaG Light Title along with the IKC TaG Heavy Title for 2016.

The Club had representation on the day from ten different Clubs spread along the coast and west of Queensland plus NSW, Emerald, Gold Coast, Warwick, Toowoomba, Mackay, Lismore, Rockhampton, Coffs Harbour, Gladstone and Cooloola all had made the journey to compete, as well as a large contingency of Ipswich Kart Club regulars.

Cadet 9 Qualifying.
Twelve drivers moved out onto the racing surface, the track scrubbed clean after a downpour the previous evening, after the 6 minute session was completed the grid for the Heat was as follows: Pole Dominic Attard (#89) 57.132; P2 Lachlan Platten (#56) 57.216; P3 Harrison Lynne (#74) 57.274; P4 Beau Bromhead (#71P) 58.079; P5 Jacob Murphy (#76) 58.105; P6 Joel Watson (#77P) 58.357; P7 Carter Mobbs (#16) 59.074; P8 Jacob Scott (#24) 59.174; P9 Kody Watson (#88P) 59.201; P10 Kobi Stubbs (#4P) 59.244; P11 Alice Buckley (#50) 59.861 and Maddison Feather not recording a time.

Cadet 9 Heat (8 Laps)
Carter Mobbs drove outstandingly to come from P7 to take the win in the Heat, Harrison Lynne leading for the first three laps before Dominic Attar took over the lead on lap four, holding the position for just two laps before CarterMobbs took control and led the field home, the margin back to Dominic Attar in second 1.535 seconds, Harrison Lynne finish a further 1.189 seconds away in third, the fastest lap recorded by Carter Mobbs with a time of 56.268 seconds on his final lap of the Heat.

Cadet 9 Prefinal (10 Laps)
The prefinal got under way and after the required 8 laps were completed the positions stood as follows; first going to Carter Mobbs with a margin of 10.313 seconds over second placed Harrison Lynne and just .015 of a second away in third Dominic Attar, the fastest lap going to Carter Mobbs with a time of 56.408 seconds again on his final lap.

Cadet 9 Final (13 Laps)

Carter Mobbs was unstoppable and again took the win setting a new lap track record for the class with a time of 56.140 seconds recorded on his fifth lap, the margin over second placed Dominic Attar 14.085 seconds, Harrison Lynne 4.663 seconds away in third.

Cadet 12 Qualifying

Another excellent field of Cadet 12 (18) moved out to do battle as to who would secure the coveted Pole position and thus the fastest qualifying time, after the 6 minute session was completed the grid for the Heat was as follows; Pole Oscar Comley (#88) 54.719; ( a new lap record for this class) P2 Chris Christensen (#53) 54.749; P3 Ethan Feather (#26) 54.767; P4 Marcus Watson (#7) 54.789; P5 Tristan Griffin (#83) 54.901; P6 Oscar Targett (#22) 54.985; P7 Kai Walker (#35) 55.154; P8 Brady Mitchell (#27) 55.187; P9 Jack Hotter (#33) 55.263 and P10 Rusty Ross (#58) 55.329 seconds.

Cadet 12 Heat (8 laps)
Oscar Comley dominated the Heat leading from start to finish, Ethan Feather following suit but in second the margin 1.781 seconds, Chris Christensen running home in third just half a second back, fourth Marcus Watson after a great dice just 0.095 of a second separating these two and fifth to Tristan Griffin, the fastest lap recorded by Oscar Comley with a time of 54.875 seconds on his fifth lap of the journey.

Cadet 12 Prefinal (10 laps)
Oscar Comley was untroubled to win the Prefinal of Cadet 12 and took the win with a margin of 1.041 seconds over second placed Etan Feather third home came Tristan Griffin and fourth went to Chris Christensen, the fastest lap was recorded by Oscar Targett (6th) with a time of 54.775 seconds recorded on his penultimate lap.

Cadet 12 Final (13 laps)
Oscar Comley led the first seven laps before Oscar Targett coming from the second row of the grid at the start moved into the lead and went on to secure the win, Comley fighting back to regain the lead on lap ten before again being relegated back to second by Targett, Ethan Feather dropped one position to finish third, fourth going to Rusty Ross picking up one position throughout the 13 laps of the final, like-wise with Tristan Griffin who finished in fifth, the fastest lap going to Oscar Comley with a time of 54.850 on his seventh lap of the journey.

KA 3 Junior (equivalent Clubman) and Junior Max Qualifying.

These two classes ran together for the day, showing dramatically the advantage the KA3 Juniors had over the Junior Max entries, with a difference of 1.508 seconds between the fastest KA3 and fastest Junior Max in qualifying, so, after the required 6 minute session was concluded the grid for the Heat stood as follows; Pole: Jace Matthews (#74) 50.535 seconds (KA3); P2 Skaife Ward (#36)  (KA3) 51.091; P3 Samuel Poulsen (#7) (KA 3) 51.135; P4 Broc Feeney(#93)( JMax) 51.467; P5 Blayke Wagner (#2) (KA 3)51.582; P6  Jac Preston (#43)( JMax) 51.633; the numbers for KA3 not improving from the first round of racing,  When we look at the figures over the last two years the Ipswich Kart Club has averaged 21 Junior National Light and 20 Junior Max entries, second meeting for 2016, KA3 with 4 entries and JMax with  7 (reason: possibly a practice day at Warwick for the Rotax Pro Tour seeing a large number of JMAX drivers setting up for this event). Almost begs the question doesn’t it? And let’s not forget the tyres and weights either.

KA 3 Junior and Junior Max Heat (10 laps)
OK, now that we have all the politics put to one side let’s get back to the racing side of this report, the Heat proved that the KA3 drivers certainly appeared to have the advantage over JMax drivers, KA3 drivers  finishing in the first four places before the first JMax driver in fifth,  but the overall lap times were to tell the story, fastest lap going to Jace Matthews (KA3)with a time of 50.127 seconds on his eighth lap of the journey (new track lap record) Broc Feeney with the fastest lap recorded for J Max  51.437 seconds. Best time for a J Max in round one being a time of 52.175 seconds, (difference on this occasion .738 of a second)

KA 3 Junior and Junior Max Prefinal (12 laps)
Jace Matthews (KA3) was having a field day and led throughout the prefinal to finish 6.639 seconds to the better of second placed Skaife Ward (KA3) third to Samuel Poulsen (KA3) and fourth Blayke Wagner (KA3), Broc Feeney again the best of the J Max with a time of 51.793 seconds in his eighth lap, Eryn Osborne up again from Lismore running home in fifth. The fastest lap for the prefinal was recorded by (KA3 engine ) Jace Matthews  with a time of 50.353 seconds on his ninth lap, best time in prefinal for round one in January a 51.292 seconds.

KA 3 Junior and Junior Max Final (15 laps)
This meeting Jace Matthews was the standout performance of the day, this young man went on to win the Final from second placed Skaife Ward the margin 8.049 seconds both these drivers equipped with the KA3 engines, Samuel Poulsen coming home third and the first J Max again Broc Feeney with a best time of 52.043 seconds in his eighth lap, although Eryn Osborne is certainly getting a grip on this class with an excellent performance again fifth, the best lap of the Final going to Jace Matthews with a time of 50.535 seconds on his thirteenth lap of the scheduled fifteen laps, It certainly will be interesting to watch the progress of both these classes as we get further into the year, firstly as far as numbers are concerned and the time differences between the two classes.

Junior Max Results
After the fields were separated the final results for JMax were as follows; first place going to Broc Feeney, second going to Eryn Osborne (a win and a second over two meetings – well done) and third Bayley Commerford (#71).

KA3 Junior Results
The four youngsters running this new class for the second time this year (at Ipswich) finished as follows: first Jace Matthews, second Skaife Ward, third Samuel Poulsen and fourth Blayke Wagner again it will be interesting to follow this class as the racing year continues and watch the possible enlargement of the class. The rumour I heard was in relation to the Club running Junior Performance (my apologies for the incorrect information)

KA4 Junior Light (equivalent National) Qualifying:
Another good showing for this class a field of 23 drivers ventured out onto a track for their 6 minute qualifying session and the Pole for the second running of KA4 Junior Light ( at Ipswich)went to Broc Feeney (#93) with a time of 51.620, ( new track lap record) just showing the difficulty the drivers had with the first meeting of the year with the wet conditions ( best time then being a 59.061); P2 Thomas Cooper (#55) 51.646; P3 Declan Matthews (#5)52.036; P4 Jacinta Hoey (#97) 52.197; P5 Jai Brown (22) 52.203; P6 Harrison Stock (#20) 52.225; P7 Seth Mathie (#42) 52.330; P8 Saxon Moyes (#75) 52.463; P9 Blayke Wagner(#2) 52.470 and  P10 Joshua Laurance (#12) with a time of 52.555 seconds.

KA4 Junior Light Heat (10 laps)
Thomas Cooper won the Heat  from Broc Feeney the margin just .105 of a second finishing in second, third going to Declan Matthews with Jacinta Hoey in fourth and Jai Brown finishing fifth fastest lap going to Broc Feeney with a time of 51.893 on his fifth lap.

KA4 Junior Light Prefinal (12 laps)
The first three were to have a royal battle throughout the prefinal, with Feeney, then Cooper and then Matthews all occupying the top spot at one stage or another, when the flag fell the positions stood with Broc Feeney taking the outright win, second going to Thomas Cooper and third to Declan Matthews, a truly enjoyable race for all to watch, the fastest lap going to Broc Feeney with a time of 51.908 seconds in his third lap.

KA4 Junior Light Final (15 laps)
The battle between these three youngsters continued into the Final, Matthews leading the first eight laps before Feeney snatched the lead but just for a lap before Matthews led again in the next lap, Feeney fought back and was to reclaim the lead on the following lap, meanwhile Cooper wanted to be part of the final decision and was pressing Matthews hard from third, lap eleven saw the chance he was looking for and he dived up to secure second, but it was not over yet whilst taking a run on Feeney for the lead, the three karts running in very close formation, Cooper dropped back to third when Matthews took advantage and slipped into second, the three were to finish in that order Broc Feeney from Declan Matthews with Thomas Cooper coming home in third, the fastest lap of the Final going to Cooper with a time of 51.783 seconds on his eighth lap of the journey. Indeed a very entertaining display of three young drivers totally enjoying a day of racing at Ipswich Kart Club.

The Grahame Acreman MemorialTaG 125 Light and KA3 Senior (Clubman equivalent) Combined Qualifying.
Unfortunately the Club had no alternative but to place the four KA3 Senior drivers in with the feature class of the day, but it did not take away from the excitement of the fourth running of the Graham Acreman Memorial TaG 125 Title for 2016 sponsored by our good friends Kaos Karting, a very talented field of 18 drivers had turned out for this once a year Title, after the 6 minute session for pole was concluded the grid for the Heat looked as follows: Pole: Scott Sorensen (#22) 49.840 ( best time in 2015 a 49.856 by Brendan Nelson); P2 Adam Mercer (#41) 49.882; P3 Marc Tulloch (#88) 49.970; P4 Luke Van Herwaarde (#38) 50.168, P5 Luke Collett (#68) 50.218; P6 Troy Morrissey (#47) 50.229; P7 Graham Prajbisz (#30) 50.342;  P8 Brenton Simonds (#21) 50.459; P9 Daniel Burley (#46) 50.459 and P10 Adam Nicoletti (#77) with a time of 50.515, Daley Martin (#48) the best of the Senior KA3 Drivers with a time of 51.767 seconds.

TaG 125 Light and KA3 Senior Combined Heat (12 laps)
Adam Mercer and Scott Sorensen were to keep in close touch throughout the day, the Heat being no exception, the margin between these two drivers never being more than half a second over the twelve laps, Scott Sorensen obviously just as keen to put the Memorial Trophy in his cabinet as was Adam Mercer, a good drive from Luke Van Herwaarde to finish third with Luke Collett fourth and Graham Prajbisz running home in fifth, the fastest lap going to Mercer with a time of 50.231 seconds on his fifth lap.

TaG 125 Light and KA3 Senior Combined Prefinal (15 laps)
Again both Mercer and Sorensen were to play the feature rolls in this the prefinal and again the margin never over half a second throughout the 15 laps of the journey, the margin down to .196 of a second on the penultimate lap, Luke Van Herwaarde also very understanding that it was a FINAL only counts at the end of the day running third and conserving every part of himself and his machinery for the 18 laps still to come, fourth also with this understanding Luke Collett, great job by Troy Morrissey to finish sixth after a D.N.F. in the Heat, fastest lap going to Marc Tulloch (11th) with a time of 50.295 seconds in his twelfth lap.

TaG 125 Light and KA3 Senior Combined Final (18 laps)
Adam Mercer was determined to take the win in this the fourth running of the Graham Acreman Memorial Title for 2016, but, not without a very concerted effort by Scott Sorensen to snatch the Title for himself, Luke Van Herwaarde showed he was in the running when he jumped into second for the first three laps before Scott Sorensen decided Van Herwaade, who, had dropped back to almost a second behind Mercer, needed to stay in touch with Mercer early to give him a chance in the later stages of the race, Sorensen moving into second on lap four, Troy Morrissey followed Sorensen and moved into third, Van Herwaarde dropping back to fourth, Luke Collett into fifth and Graham Prajbisz now sixth, Kyle Zink seventh with Daniel Burley moving into eighth, Adam Nicoletti to ninth with Franc Aspinall making up the top ten, lap five and we watched Brenton Simonds ( the winner of the IKC TaG Heavy Title in 2015) move forward replacing Aspinall for tenth, the margin between Mercer and Sorensen .927 of a second, the next three laps saw Sorensen pull back to just .670 of a second behind Mercers on lap twelve Sorensen had narrowed the lead to .401 of a second with Morrissey now 2.124 seconds away in third, it was a two horse race so to speak, the question, was Sorensen just staying in touch with Mercer for a driving run on the last lap? lap thirteen Sorensen now only .223 of a second and closing, similar margin on lap fourteen, lap fifteen sees Mercer pull two tenths on Sorensen, Morrissey 2.538 seconds away in third, Van Herwaarde a further half a second back in fourth with Luke Collett just .311 of a second away in fifth, lap sixteen sees the two leaders recording lap times of 50.461 (Mercer) and 50.469 (Sorensen), just 9 one thousands of a second the difference, but the margin was .312 of a second favouring Mercer, with one lap remaining the lap times came down to 50.400 (Mercer) to 50.401 (Sorensen) margin .313 in Mercers’ favour, unless Scott Sorensen had been holding back for the first seventeen laps and was looking to make a blistering finish on the last lap it appeared as though Adam Mercer was going to take the Title for 2016, Troy Morrissey out of the equation 2.996 seconds back in third, Sorensen closed the margin down to .183 of a second but, Adam Mercer crossed the line to take the Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy ( provisionally) still with Post-Race-Technical-Inspection to come before the decision was final, the fastest lap going to Scott Sorensen with a time of 50.287 seconds recorded on his eleventh lap of the journey, the view of Adams’ partner IKC Secretary Jo McKay pacing around and around in circles within the starting tower showed the tension that had all present on the edge of their seats throughout the final lap, Elsa Acreman present to wave the chequered flag as she has done every year since the first Graham Acreman Memorial Title four years ago. Wonderful racing, wonderful event and the Club looks forward to the fifth Graham Acreman Memorial Title when Adam Mercer will defend the Title so magnificently won against a top field of drivers on the 20th February 2016, great entertainment, great finish with Scott Sorensen second, Troy Morrissey finishing third with Luke Van Herwaarde fourth and Luke Collett running home in fifth. We thank the Nelson family and Kaos Karting for their sponsorship and support of this event.

KA3 Senior Results.
Four drivers were present for the second running of this class (at Ipswich) and the final result was to see the winner of the previous round make it two from two, Daley Martin recording the win from Jack O’Sullivan with Tom Nankavill coming home in third, fourth going to Keegan Baker.

TaG 125 Heavy Qualifying.
A field of seventeen drivers including V8 Supercar driver Chaz Mostert moved out onto the circuit to  determine who would have the chance to start from pole for the running of the Ipswich Kart Club TaG Heavy Title for 2016, after the 6 minute session was put to bed the grid for the Heat stood as follows: Pole: Joshua Amundsen(#25) 50.901 seconds; P2 Ashley Lester (#76) 50.920; P3 Stephen Wilkinson (#6) 51.126; P4 Chaz Mostert (#15) 51.143; P5 Kris Usher (#38) 51.182; P6 Marcello Surace (#14) 51.229; P7 Neil Faulkner (#92) 51.414; P8 Steven Vidler (#4) 51.429; P9 Denis Butler (#17) 51.501 and P10 Daniel Creed (#9) with a time of 51.662 seconds, all was in readiness for the start of the IKC TaG Heavy Title for 2016, Joshua Amundsen making his Dad Craig a very happy man indeed, this event again with the grateful sponsorship of the Nelson Family and Kaos Karting.

TaG 125 Heavy Heat (12 laps)
Joshua Amundsen certainly putting the cat among the Pidgeon’s with a fine win in the Heat over second placed Chaz Mostert. The margin .248 of a second, third going to Lester Ashley, fourth Stephen Wilkinson (up from Restricted in 2015), fifth Daniel Creed (started from seventh), sixth going to Denis Butler (started from eighth), all looked in readiness for some exciting racing in the Prefinal and Final still to come later in the afternoon or early evening, the fastest lap being recorded by Daniel Creed (running home in fifth) with a time of 51.488 seconds on his sixth lap.

TaG 125 Heavy Prefinal (15 laps)
Joshua Amundsen shrugged of all competition in the prefinal and went on to reserve pole position for the final, taking the win with a margin of .514 of a second over Lester Ashley with Daniel Creed increasing his chances for the final by finishing third, fourth Chaz Mostert and fifth Steve Wilkinson, the fastest lap recorded by Kris Usher (finished sixth) with a time of 51.564 seconds in his eleventh lap.

TaG 125 Heavy Final (18 laps)
The final was looking like a monster battle to see which driver could topple a very persistent Joshua Amundsen, Joshua appearing to be untroubled leading the first ten laps before Ashley Lester, who, passed Daniel Creed on lap three and proceeded to slowly drawn to within .140 of a second on lap ten, then sliced past Amundsen to take the lead  and have a margin of .237 of a second at the completion of lap eleven, Marcello Surace  from the third row of the grid at the start moving into third on lap seven, 3.846 seconds behind Lester, passing on the way a wounded Creed, who finally was to take no further part after dropping to thirteenth, (a good showing till that point), Lester meanwhile able to hold back Amundsen for only the next two laps before being relegated back to second on the completion of lap thirteen, I was joined in Commentary by Eddy Mostert, who when asked how different V8 Supercars were to Karting said “ Considerable more intense, but nowhere near as much fun and excitement  as I am experiencing being the spanner man today for his son” and there’s a man who has lived the life with his son in karting from the age of seven and now  into the premier class of Motor Sport in Australia, back to the racing, Lester drove very consistently, drawing in a tenth of a second to Amundsen all the way through until lap seventeen when the margin was reduced to just .181 of a second, but to no avail Joshua Amundsen was crowned the IKC TaG Heavy Title Champion for 2016 taking the win by a margin of .130 over Ashley Lester placed second with Marcello Surace finishing third (great drive from this man), Chaz Mostert finishing in fourth with Kris Usher fifth and Steve Wilkinson sixth, the fastest lap was recorded by Kris Usher with a time of 51.482 seconds on his fourteenth lap of the journey, again excellent racing for the fourth running of the IKC TaG Heavy Title and indeed a worthy winner, I am lead to believe Chaz Mostert will be back to participate whenever the V8 Super cars calendar allows.

TaG 125 Restricted Light and Heavy Combined Qualifying.
A combined field of Restricted Light and Heavy moved onto the racing surface for the all-important 6 minute session, Pole  for the Light class going to Sebastian Blindell  (#36) with a time of 51.230; P2 Cameron Hargraves (#33) 51.254; P3 Tyrone Merwood (#15) 51.487; P4 Ryan Mussell (#46) 51.585;  Restricted Heavy Pole: Lee Sadler (#66) 52.884 seconds.

TaG 125 Restricted Light and Heavy Combined Heat (10 laps)
Sebastian Blindell took the win in the Heat from Tyrone Merwood the margin .234 of a second third home was Cameron Hargraves with Ryan Mussell fourth, first Heavy driver home in seventeenth overall was Ian Everest with a best lap of 52.916 seconds, best lap overall going to Cameron Hargrave (third) with a time of 51.349 on his seventh lap.

TaG 125 Restricted Light and Heavy Combined Prefinal (12 laps)
The prefinal and all present were witness to just how much young Sebastian Blindell has improved over the previous twelve months, he took the win by a margin of .221 of a second over Cameron Hargraves, who also recorded the best lap of 51.413 on his seventh lap, best of the Heavies Andrew Andreou a P Platter with a time of 53.086 seconds on his sixth lap Andrew ran sixteenth overall.

TaG 125 Restricted Light and Heavy Combined Final (15 laps)
Sebastian Blindell was to shine again in the Final taking the win, the margin over second placed Tyrone Merwood .277 of a second third home came Cameron Hargrave with the fastest lap overall being set by Tyrone Merwood with a time of 51.476 seconds on his last lap of the journey, fastest in Heavies going to Lee Sadler with a time of 53.098 seconds in his ninth lap, second in Heavies to Andrew Andreou and third Ian Everest.

Restricted 125 Masters over 40 and Qld Sportsman Super Heavy Qualifying
Richard D’Elia (#36) showed he was the one to beat with a Pole time 53.340 seconds; P2 Steve O’Shea (#33) 53.469; P3 Nigel Oldridge (#13) 54.398 and P4 Michael Fritz (#48) with a time of 54.728; Pole for the Super Heavies going to Trevor Pronk (#64) with a time of 54.766 seconds.

Restricted 125 Masters over 40 and Qld Sportsman Super Heavy Heat (10 laps)
Richard D’Elia continued his good run from last Month taking the win in the Heat from Steve O’Shea with a margin of 2.454 seconds between these two very competitive gentlemen, third home going to Michael Fritz and fourth Nigel Oldridge, fastest lap recorded by Richard D’Elia with a time of 53.043 seconds on his sixth lap.

Restricted 125 Masters over 40 and Qld Sportsman Super Heavy Prefinal (12 laps)
It appeared as though it was a Richard D’Elia coming home party with this man taking the win in the prefinal, although he did not secure the fastest lap, this was recorded by Steve O’Shea with a time of 53.300 on his fourth lap, third going to Nigel Oldridge and fourth sharing the second row for the Final, Michael Fritz, D’Elia with a margin of 2.148 seconds ahead of the field, Trevor Pronk our fastest in qualifying for the Super Heavy led the charge home for the Super Heavies, but did not secure the fastest lap, this going to Brian Peaker with a time of 54.970 seconds on his fourth lap.

Restricted 125 Masters over 40 and Qld Sportsman Super Heavy Final (15 laps)
It certainly was a day of celebration in the D’Elia camp recording his second win for the year over Steve O’Shea, the margin after 15 laps of racing, just .281 of a second, Steve again setting the fastest lap with a time of 53.213 seconds set on his fifth lap, third on the day going to Nigel Oldridge and fourth Michael Fritz.

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