INOX City Of Melbourne Titles

After the sun had set and the trophies were taken home, commentators Luke Dickson and Steve Polak reflect on the finals action from the 2008 INOX Lubricants City of Melbourne Titles held last weekend (Aug 16-17) at VACC Park. (Full results on mylaps.com HERE)

Above: Clubman Light drivers wave their INOX caps thanks to event sponsor INOX Lubricants
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

MIDGETS
The mighty Midgets kicked off the finals action with a 14 lap journey of the VACC Park circuit. Reece Sidebottom and Jordan Boys made a terrific start. However this was all undone when the two made contact at pit corner on lap one. This allowed Jake Dixon to drive off into the distance and from here he was never headed to take another well earned victory for 2008. Boys recovered from the contact and chased Dixon all the way to the line finishing only 1.2 seconds behind. Liam McLellan recovered from a DNF in the pre final to complete the day in third place.

1 Jake Dixon
2 Jordan Boys
3 Liam McLellan

Above: Jake Dixon takes the Midgets win
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Danny Carrol (21) and Jordan Boys off the front row for wet heat on Saturday
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

JUNIOR NATIONAL LIGHT
Cameron Waters led the Junior National Light field to turn one and opened a small gap over the early laps. However it was Liam Sager, who came from seventh on the grid and cleverly worked with Andrew Carey to chase down Waters, with the trio dicing for the lead. Matthew Brabham came from 24th position and set fastest lap after fastest lap to reel in the leading trio but simply ran out of laps. Liam Sager held on for the win over Brabham, Carey and Waters in what was a display of exceptional driving from the junior category.

1 Liam Sager
2 Matthew Brabham
3 Andrew Carey

Above: JNL winner Liam Sager
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: JNL podium
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Andrew Carey leads the pack
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

ROTAX OVER 35’s
Local driver Steve Willing fired in the final and got the early jump and continued to stretch the field with some smooth and consistent laps, ultimately winning the final by the length of the main straight. The battle for second was far from over with Frank Falla, Steve Johnson and Bruce Otter putting on a great spectacle and trading places for the entire race. Dallas Walton and Mark Hunt joined the battle as the laps ran down, Hunt’s kart came on late, setting the fastest lap in lap 13 and successfully taking the third step of the podium with Geelong’s Frank Falla coming second.

1 Steve Willing
2 Frank Fella
3 Mark Hunt

Above: Steve Willing takes the chequered flag, Rotax Over 35s
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Bruce Otter takes a tight apex
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

ROTAX LIGHT
A large field of 26 Rotax Light machines took to the circuit for the final with two familiar faces of Australian karting, Matthew Wall and David Sera, sharing the front row. Wall and Sera drove away from the field and traded places until Wall was forced to retire early on in the piece with a mechanical failure. This handed Sera an easy victory and could be a good omen for the upcoming Rotax Nationals. Jordie Lindstrom brought his Tony Kart home in second position ahead of the Intrepid of David Whitmore.

1 David Sera
2 Jordie Lindstrom
3 David Whitmore

Above: Rotax Light at the CoM Titles. An even bigger field is set to do battle at the upcoming Rotax Nationals
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Jack Lindgren finds the Todd Road bump
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

JUNIOR NATIONAL HEAVY
Gary Jacobson, the reigning National Champ, proved why he is just that with another convincing victory in the final. There was another great battle for second too. Tony Marakis made a great start but was shuffled back mid way through the race letting Tyler Cramer, Richard Muscat and Travis Kodric duke it out for the remainder of the race. There were some fantastic passing moves on the final lap which saw Kodric slip from second to fourth, after Cramer and Muscat snuck through with only a few corners remaining.

1 Gary Jacobson
2 Tyler Cramer
3 Richard Muscat

Above: Garry Jacobson
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

LEOPARD LIGHT & HEAVY
With the two classes combined it made it difficult to call the Heavy racing but there was action aplenty in Leopard Light. It began on the first attempted start when Adam Hughes and Chris Fathers made contact resulting in Hughes spinning on to the infield. Luckily for both the race was restarted (or didn’t start, can’t remember) and was much cleaner the second time around. Hughes got the early jump from Fathers and established a small lead, as James Sera and Ryan Sanderson pursued. Sera made the move late to take control of the race from Hughes and Sanderson. In Heavy Mark Cowley was never challenged holding off Daniel Rethus and Kosmic pilot Josh Brooker.

Light:
1 James Sera
2 Adam Hughes
3 Ryan Sanderson

Heavy:
1 Mark Cowley
2 Daniel Rethus
3 Josh Brooker

Above: Craig Stauner grips up ahead of Leopard Heavy winner Mark Cowley
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

SENIOR NATIONAL PRO
Senior National was close all weekend and the final was no exception. Andrew Sammut was involved in the battle for the lead early but was forced wide entering the straight and had to chase from the rear of the field. Up front Rhys Harrod, Dominic Lostitch and Dale Beaton fought all the way to the line with all three taking turns out in front but in the end Harrod was too strong for Lostitch and Beaton.

1 Rhys Harrod
2 Dominic Lostitch
3 Dale Beaton

Above: Jack Cox (49) & Dale Beaton on the front row.
pic - Daniel Hedges 04 2028 1071

CLUBMAN SUPER HEAVY
Monaco pilot Phil Straughen took the early lead from Jason Stania opening a slender lead but with Stania’s CRG coming on late Stania passed Straughen into turn one and controlled the race all the way to the line. Nathan Van Hulst had a relatively quiet drive coming home in third. Fastest qualifier Steve Polak is still smiling with his first Open Meeting pole!!

1 Jason Stania
2 Phil Straughen
3 Nathan van Hulst

ROOKIES
Liam Morey and Adrian Lazzaro have been the boys to beat in the Rookie field in 2008 and in the final both jumped the field and engaged in their own battle. Contact between the two forced Morey to watch the race from the sidelines and Lazzaro dropping back to sixth place just moments before the red flag was brought out after Jayden Wallis had a nasty rollover. On the restart Top Kart pilot Blaine Densley led the field into turn one from Phillip Munnerly and local driver Reece Bloomfield, these three battling it out all the way to the finish line. Bloomfiled held on for his first major open victory from Munnerly and Densley.

1 Reece Bloomfield
2 Phillip Munnerley
3 Blaine Densley

Above: Reece Bloomfield leads the pack
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

Above: Jayden Wallis pulled out the red flag with this effort
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Adrian Lazzarro surfs the kitty litter
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

CLUBMAN HEAVY
In Clubman Heavy Troy Woolston, Jason Pringle and Aaron Rintoul put on a fantastic show with Woolston controlling the race early on. Pringle made his move on Woolston late in the race to take the win from Rintoul and Woolston. Matthew Wall made his way to 5th place after starting 24th after breaking a brake pedal of all things in the pre final!

1 Jason Pringle
2 Aaron Rintoul
3 Troy Woolston

Above: Jason Pringle recovered from burying his machine in the second heat to win Clubman Heavy
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Pringle, Woolston, Rintoul, Lindstrom, Errigo
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

FORMULA 100
Formula 100 had another fantastic showing this weekend with 23 competitors taking part. The usual suspects in Hayden McBride and Daniel Richert were leading the way with Matthew Hayes mixing it in a Maranello chassis. Richert made a fantastic start and let McBride and Hayes battle it out for the opening laps until Hayes spun at the top end of the circuit. McBride reeled in Richert, made the move and held the lead by the most slender of margins. Zeke Edwards brought his Kosmos chassis home for third place just ahead of Aaron Ivermee.

1. Hayden McBride
2 Danile Richert
3 Zeke Edwards

Above: Hayden McBride inside Zeke Edwards
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

Above: Bobby Bourke, 7th in the final and winner of F100 Heavies
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

Above: Dramas for Mark Domaschenz, DNFing the final while running 6th
pic - Daniel Hedges 04 2028 1071

JUNIOR CLUBMAN
Junior Clubman boasted 36 entries and delivered some of the most exciting racing all weekend. Garry Jacobson looked competitive early until his race was ended by a lapped kart, leaving Scott McLaughlin to control the race. McLaughlin was chased all the way to the line by local driver Jack Whynack and Matthew Brabham, but was much too strong holding on for his third straight City of Melbourne Titles win in the Junior Clubman Category.

1 Scott McLaughlin
2 Jack Wynack
3 Matthew Brabham

Above: A wild 15 seconds in the Junior Clubman final saw Garry Jacobson out at the top of the hill and Travis Kodric (above) down the bottom.
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Another CoM JC win for Scott McLaughlin
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

ROTAX HEAVY
Rotax Heavy had the right recipe for an enthralling race with several big names taking part ahead of the upcoming Rotax Nationals. When the lights went green Rick Pringle and Luc Price had a ripper battle and there was plenty of rubbing and banging going on back in the field which unfortunately claimed Intrepid pilot Ashley Pollard. This allowed Price and Pringle to skip away from the rest of the field with Price coming out victorious on this occasion. Brett Davidson had a great battle with Reece Broady to claim the final step on the podium.

1 Luc Price
2 Rick Prignle
3 Brett Davidson

Above: Rotax Heavy 1st place, Luc Price
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

Above: Grant Donley (11) and Brett Davidson ahead of Brock Green (74)
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

CLUBMAN LIGHT
In Clubman light the stage was set for a big battle with James and David Sera, Steven Scoble, Ryan Sanderson, Zeke Edwards and numerous other big names all in with a shot of claiming the coveted City of Melbourne prize. When the lights went green David Sera and Scoble made a terrific start and the battle began with James Sera following closely in third. Coming into the esses Scoble and David Sera locked wheels and pushed wide allowing James Sera to capitalise and inherit the lead. Leading from the front James Sera was never headed and crossed the line 2 seconds ahead of Cousin David with Scoble finishing third. James May made his way to fourth position ahead of Ryan Sanderson who was fast early but could not hold off May in the closing stages.

1 James Sera
2 David Sera
3 Steven Scoble

Above: James Sera capitalised on David Sera and Steven Scoble locking horns mid-way through the Clubman Light final
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

Above: David Sera two-wheels ahead of Steven Scoble
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Scoble in Saturday's wet weather
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: Shane Cook in need of a front-end alignment
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

Above: There's always action in Clubman Light. Dean 'Fozzy' Foster had a wretched meeting, here getting on top of the #73 of Deepal Kandola.
pic - Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072

Above: Robert Vidler tries hitching a ride with Joel Smith
pic - Daniel Hedges 04 2028 1071

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