Smokin' Joe Tames the Ken & Ces Memorial


  21 April 2016

April 2 & 3 at the Dirt Trackers Kart Club in Western Australia was the 22nd running of the prestigious Ken & Ces Memorial meeting dedicated to the founders of Dirt Kart racing in WA Ken & Ces Ditchfield and with 214 karts in the pits for the 2 day event, one driver would stand out about all the rest.

19-year-old West Australian Joe Chalmers competed in 4 classes on the day, KT Mediums, 125 Lights, 100 Opens and the class the event was founded under the 200 Open twin class, sealing victory in 3 classes & 2nd place in his 4th class, a true spectacle on the day.

A unique format was run for the weekend event with hot laps, time trails, a series of 3 heats, followed by a dash format and a 12-lap main event. This event is highly rated on the Australian dirt karting scene with several interstate drivers from SA & NT making an appearance for the weekend.

Joe Chalmers would dominate 3 of his 4 classes throughout the weekend, sealing a pole position start in the KT Mediums, 100 Opens & 200 Opens and his final start was a 4th in the 125 Light final.

With the racetrack in top form for the day there was plenty of dive in all areas of the track from kerb to fence & Smokin Joe used that to his advantage in the KTM, 100 Opens & 125 Light classes, once he secured the lead in the KT Mediums & 100 Opens he simple drove away to secure the wins.

In the 125 Light class he was faced with a much tougher proposition. He missed the start shuffling him back to as far as 8th in the first turn and had to run the sand trap with others to get back on the racing line after the first corner melee, from that point he sat back and picked his way through the field to set out for eventual winner David Carathers from South Australia and Joe crossed the line in second.

The days main event was the final race of the day, the running of the feature for the 200 Opens. Joe Chalmers & Mark Burford also from SA started on the front row and the two cleared out for a fierce battle away from the rest of the field. Around lap 6 Burford suffered mechanical woes and Chalmers pounced into the lead and never looked back, taking the flag and celebrating in style with some of the best after race donuts seen in Dirt Karting for some time.

In an event that will go down in this writers memory as one of the best witnessed, what I saw from this young West Australian was truly something special.

 

 

Home



kartsportnews promo banner