Queensland Superkart Series, Round 3
| from Timothy Weier | 13 July 2016 |
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Round 3 of the QLD Superkart Series supported by Motorsportzone rolled into beautiful sunny Lakeside Raceway for 2 days of action packed racing on the weekend.
After 2 rounds, competitors were looking to make amends for some early round bad luck, while others were looking to extend their lead in the championship.
Above: Tim Weier in his 250 National Anderson
pic - Matthew Paul photography
With the 250’s and 125’s split into two different groups, it made for safer fun racing. A small field of 250’s were present with 3 Internationals (twin cylinder) and 5 Nationals (single cylinder). Jason Smith in his Anderson powered DEA 250 International lead the way in qualifying from Tim Weier in his Anderson powered Gas Gas 250 National followed by Lachlan Crisp (Stockman Gas Gas) and his brother Gareth Crisp (ADE Gas Gas). Jason showed a clean pair of heels in the first 3 races from Tim Weier, who was setting new PB’s all weekend with Lachlan and Gareth sharing 3rd and 4th throughout the first 3 races.
The last race Sunday stopped Jason’s perfect run after he sheared a wheel stud off, leaving Tim and Gareth to duke it out for the race win with both drivers pushing hard on tyres that were past their best. Gareth had a last ditch attempt up the inside into eastern loop on the last lap setting up a drag race to the line, which Tim won by 0.03.
A healthy field of 125 Gearbox and Non-gearbox Rotax MAX and Somoe 85cc gearbox were ready to duke it out for top honours. Leading the way in the 125cc Gearbox Class was veteran Phil Silcock (Avoig Honda) and hot on his heels were Grant Yarrow (Cougar Honda) and Lindsay Jameison (Stockman Honda) with Doug Amiss (Stockman Yamaha) and John Bothamely looking to buy into the action as well.
Phil showed the others that speed and reliability are the key to success with 3 out of 4 wins after Lindsay Jameison found some extra speed to take the win in race 3. Grant Yarrow tried his hand at the lead before striking engine issues and a wheel deciding to part company on his Honda powered Cougar. Doug Amiss overcame his reliability issues from earlier in the year to finish every heat and net 2nd place overall as the others struck reliability issues. 3rd was Darryl Bertram having his first run in 125 gearbox.
The Rotax MAX Light class was on for young and old with Carmelo Boneventura, Michael Gagie and Peter Nuske all trying to claim the top prize. These 3 guys were nose to tail all weekend with multiple lead changes every lap and Michael, who has just come over from sprint karting, learning the importance of drafting in superkarting.
To quote Michael’s father Richard “The 4th race of Rotax Light yesterday is a case in point. After 12 laps (37 km) there was only 0.2 seconds between the top 3! That is exciting! The best part for me was seeing the drivers get out at the end & shake & hug each other with the widest grins you would ever see. That is what karting should be about.”
Above: Carmelo Bonaventura (21) in the 125 MAX category
pic - Matthew Paul photography
Rotax Heavy was light on with only 1 competitor, Nicholas Marshall, but that didn’t stop him mixing it in with the lighter guys and having some good racing over the weekend.
85cc Gearbox was another small field of only 3 entrants of Stewart Bell, Scott Jamieson and Cameron Moxley. Scott and Stewart were separated by nothing all weekend with Cameron showing improved speed to be nipping at their heels if anything went wrong. Scott proved too good particularly after Stewart suffered a cut tyre in one heat. The final results were Scott taking the win from Cameron and Stewart.
The next round is at Queensland Raceway on the 13th and 14th of August. Come on along and join in the fun of Superkarting in QLD.
- For more details see the club website www.qldsuperrkart.org
