Queensland Superkart Awards


from Tim Weier 29 November 2016

The 2016 Superkart Series, proudly sponsored for another year by Motorsportzone.com.au, has been run and won with the Trophy Presentation Gala held at the beautiful Mt Coot-tha restaurant on Saturday night the 26th of November.

There was over $1000 of raffle prizes to be won, thanks to generous donations from Zahl 1 Karting, Lowes Morayfield and from Nutzz with several people taking home more than one prize.  Nutzz also donated to each person there on the night a bottle of their Nuttzz Macadamia Liqueur and Caramel flavoured Macadamia Liqueur. This a new product and to find out more about it, go to www.nutzz.com


Above: Some of the awards & prizes

Rotax 125cc

The 125cc Rotax Light class was hotly contested all year with 2015 Class runner up Carmelo Bonaventure hoping to go one better, but veteran Peter Nuske wasn’t going to let him have it all his own way . These two were never separated by more than a few karts lengths all season and when Michael Gagie joined them after the first two rounds, he got straight on to the pace and mixed it up with them, creating some brilliant racing and  they drafted 3 wide to the line on many occasions. Peter Nuske took the top spot from Carmelo Bonaventure with new comer Michael Gagie rounding out the podium in third place.  Peter Nuske also took our Club Champion.

The 125cc Rotax Heavy class was a little light (pardon the pun) for competitors this year but that didn’t stop them mixing it up with the Lighter guys.  Nicholas Marshall was the top dog in this class from Richard Murtagh and Brandon Stillwell, a ring in from South Australia, in  third.

85cc Gearbox

A class that is slowly recovering here in QLD and looks set to get even bigger and better in 2017, had only 3 entrants this year, so it was only a matter of deciding which order they were going to finish in.  This didn’t stop them going at it hammer and tong through every round though, with Scott Jamieson proving that a mixture of speed and reliability are key to securing a championship, upstaging his Lindra Properties teammate Stewart Bell who has dominated this class in recent years.  Stewart suffered some reliability issues late in the season and returning member Cameron Moxley overtook him for 2nd place.

125cc Gearbox

Always one of the most hotly contested classes and this year the 125cc class was no different with Veteran Phil Silcock jumping into an early lead and looked strong for the first three rounds, until some uncharacteristic reliability issues at Round 4 saw his title rivals reduced the considerable lead he had gained in the early rounds.   With the dates of the last two Superkarts Australia National rounds and the last two local rounds clashing Phil was left to wait and see if his rivals could make the most of his absence while he competed out of State.   After a slow start to the season new comer to the class Sam McFerran took advantage of this and at the last round passed and cement his place at the top of the class for 2016 with Lindsay Jamieson just falling short of taking 2nd place away from Phil.

250cc National

This was always going to be the class to watch in 2016 with the Crisp brothers, Gareth and Lachlan, looking to be more competitive after adopted some new power plants and Tim Weier looking to make it three Class Championships in a row.  Weier took the early lead in the first round while Gareth and Lachlan got to grip with the new horse power offered by the GAS GAS.  Engine dramas at Round Two  saw Weier not even taking to the track in this round and slipped back into  second spot while Lachlan enjoyed a fault free weekend to take the lead when Gareth also suffered engine drama’s that weekend.  Winning the next two rounds saw Weier take the points lead back before also going MIA to chase the National Championship, (where despite a lot of mechanical issues he finish 2nd in the National Championships).  This allowed Lachlan and Gareth to both jump him in the points and break his run of Class Championships with Lachlan getting his hands on the Class Championship trophy.   This year saw these three often being separated by only tenths of a second and at times were two or even three wide going into corners as they fought for the lead.  So lookout in 2017, Weier will be back and with none of the National Championship rounds clashing with the local rounds it should be a good close battle for the Title all year.

250 International

The 250 Internationals are always spectacular to watch particularly when the heavy hitters like Russel Jameison or Jason Smith come out to play.  Leading the way early Smith looked in dominant form while veteran Michael Nicholas kept his cool and racked up points.  New comer to the class Taylor Bertram, after stepping up from 250 Nat the previous year was getting faster every session as he adapted to the RS Honda Powered F1 kart.  Taking advantage of the absence of others due to other commitments, (Russel, Jason and Michael being away at the National Titles where Russel picked up 2nd place overall),  Taylor finished the year off to take out top spot in the premier class with Jason Smith hanging onto second from Michael Nicholas.


Above: pre-dinner drinks

Other Special Awards:

  • Encouragement Award: Chris Nolan and Grant Mackay
  • Best Presented Team: Phil and Pam Silcock
  • Best Presented Kart: MotorsportZone – Yarrow Race Team
  • Most Improved: Cameron Moxley
  • Rookie of the Year: John Bothamley and Michael Gagie
  • Outstanding Acheivement: Lachlan Crisp
  • Outstanding Club Member: Tim Weier
  • Overall Series Champion: Peter Nuske
  • Hard Luck Award: Jason Shaw


Above: class points and placings for 2016

With 2016 over and done with it is time to look forward to 2017 with some more big things planned including the 40th Anniversary of the QLD Road Race Kart Club, now known as the QLD Superkart Club Inc.

Watch this space for more details!

 

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