TEKA Round 3: Canberra


press release 18 May 2016

Round 3 of the TEKA championship which was supported by Definitive Drafting, headed off to Canberra’s Circuit Mark Webber for some fun, thrills, highs, lows, close calls, wins, and losses, throughout 5hr 30mins of mayhem…that is endurance kart racing!!

On a beautiful morning, pit & track set up done, ‘Pipey’ the Clerk of Course gives the 100 odd crowd the low down at drivers briefing. With that out the way the challenge was on, work began, the first goal to set up a fast kart in order to become the “Definitive Pole Position winner“. With the gates open teams were let loose onto the high grip Canberra track. A few thrills and spills saw teams doing minor repairs, adjustments and set up changes in the short time constraints.


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A change in the fuel allowances saw teams filling up pre-qualifying without the ability to fill again before the race. Teams had a decision to make, go for gold and use the fuel and laps required to challenge for No.1 spot or circulate the minimum required and park it saving fuel for the race. With fuel strategy potentially playing havoc later, teams, racers, everyone was carefully calculating their times, fuel, and laps as they fought for the pole position prize. Who would suffer the despair of an empty fuel tank?

Congratulations to Paul Marano for taking top spot in only a small number of laps, and winning the pole position cheque!

With qualifying done it was race time, Ultimate Karting #15 and Buildline #9 on the front row with Motorvation #1 making sure they’re up to the task, sitting in behind them. Buildine had the perfect jump taking the early lead before Ultimate and Motorvation warmed up and began to place pressure on the old hacks at the front. A great start for most although a couple of mid pack runners spin causing a battle of survival at turn one for the back runners, the argy barge continued up at the top of the circuit, with kart 3 taking out kart 45 with what appeared to be a rookie error.  The top three karts nose to tail lap after lap, followed closely by one quick B grade kart Uni Filter #33, also bringing with him Hellrazor #13.

As the field opened up the mix of A and B graders saw some great battles between them, with some being conservative on fuel yet fighting for position. Some good trains, and close battles, a few thrills and spills made it interesting. A few caught out with the pace down the hill looped it into turn one, and had the big job of pulling their stone covered kart out of the thick dense kitty litter. Many karts fell victim. Karts 88,3,13,94,48, 33, & 16 who even lost a wheel. Errors in judgement continue, more karts caught out down the hill with 88 forgetting to brake and looping it sliding sideways into the tyre wall, 94 being caught out on the ripple strip, kart #45 make a right old statement with a less than graceful off.


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As fuel strategy was a make or break in this race, all were closely watching their competitors to see when they would make the first move into the pits for a driver change and fuel, some teams decided to give it all and literally push their kart back to the pits. Buildline #9 found themselves running out of fuel at turn 3, with the hands on the fuel pumps and squeezing as tight as possible the kart came to a stop a very frantic push commences from the driver.

With the early battle out front being very close Motorvation #1 now had a bit of breathing room as Ultimate Karting #15 had a tyre deflate which forcing an early pit stop and Buildline #9 running out of fuel. A little further back Kinetic #58 would maintain a consistent pace (although not as fast as they’d like), Allyman #16 doing what they needed to stay in touch after a minor issue early then losing a wheel a little later, and usually competitive Hellrazor #13 not overcoming set up issues peddling their little hearts out.

B Grade saw a few changes Unifilter #33 and CJR #69 battled it out, closely followed by Benders #22. With ghost drivers 90, 3, 48, 7, 45, 48 all battling it out in the rear saw some very close competitive laps between the drivers as trains where formed gaps closed and strategic bumps up the straight to help each other make a pass. Kart 18 had repaired their snapped chassis and were driving the wheels off the thing to catch up (or just for fun). Impressive pace by the Preston Hire boys. 

The punishing Circuit Mark Webber would have its say in proceedings however and for the second race running the Unifilter #33 would be denied the lead due to mechanical dramas. An exhaust malfunction saw the #33 take a brief and unwelcome track exit for a minor repair. Next victim was the Christ Crew #3 with the father, son and Holy Ghost of failures. Chain, axle and throttle problems denied the #3 a strong result. With attrition taking its toll it was down to the CJR #69 and Benders #22 to fight it out for class honours. The final round of pit stops saw the Benders #22 emerge in the class lead and 3rd outright.

It looked like it would be back to back wins for the #22 Benders crew, but in a harsh turn of events the chassis gave up the ghost with just 5 laps to the chequered flag. The #22 attempted to push on, however turning without a front right stub axel and wheel assembly doesn’t work out well. Very quickly a trip to victory lane for the #22 became a DNF, and a trip to the bottle shop.

Regardless of others misfortunes, the CJR #69 crew put in a very solid effort and ran up the front of the class B pack all day. As the saying goes if you want to finish first, first you have to finish, and the #69 proved that statement true combining speed, strategy and reliability to take out the class B win.

Yet again the Kart 90 crew proved they are the masters of consistency. They may not have had the speed but they ran a smart race and kept out of trouble. That delivered the 2nd position, and more importantly the outright championship lead. In yet another cruel blow, after a tough day in which they found themselves tangled in other people’s accidents, Kart 88 fought back to claim 3rd position, only to be denied at the weigh station as they fell 100 grams short of the minimum weight. That ultimately promoted early pace setters Unifilter into the last of the podium positions.


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In A grade all day leaders Motorvation #1 take the win from ‘Comeback Kings’ Ultimate Karting #15 & Buildine #9 who both managed to pass the rest of the field from positions 15 and 17 after issues.

It was a fantastic day of endurance racing, and as much as the TEKA faithful love the rough and tumble of Canberra, we love the warm sun shine of the mid north coast even more. See you all at Coffs Harbour!!

A big thank you to Definitive Drafting for the sponsorship, and Popcorn People for the wonderful Mother’s day hampers for the raffle, and Andrew Le Photography for the awesome images!!

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