SEQLD Junior MAX Series, Round 2
| by Rick Fabri & Geoff Salmon | 13 May 2013 |
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Another great turn out of Jmax competitors, 22 in all for round 2 of the SEQLD Jmax Series, held at Ipswich Kart Club on the 11th May 2013. The word is certainly getting around; we had teams from NSW competing!
Again racing was excellent, fast and close with some first-class battles among the field. More importantly, the driving was safe with no major accidents and all drivers and karts went home without injury and damage except for a broken chain here and there and a few scuffs on side pods.
From the feedback I received, everyone involved had a great day, except for heat 1 when all the karts were lined up on the grid when a heavy down pour of rain came through. It certainly livened up the day with a scramble on the grid when teams had to change to wet tyres.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank IKD, Pacific Kartsports and Geoff Salmon from SportsVoice for their continuing support of the series and great the prizes they put on offer and Mark Wicks from Kartsportnews for advertising the series.
I would also like to thank Ipswich Kart Club and the AKA officials for their tireless work and support of the Jmax series, without them we would definitely not have been racing. The biggest thanks goes to all the Jmax teams that participated, 22 racing drivers lining up on the grid was a fantastic result.
Congratulations to the winners of round 2:
1st – Nicholas Andrews (Kart - Exprit)
2nd – Mitchell Griffin (Kart - Exprit)
3rd – Aaron Seton (Kart - Exprit)
And Daniel Milne (Kart- CRG) for winning the cash and prize from SportsVoice for the “Hard Charger” award for his brilliant drive in the final coming from 20th to finish 8th
Please find attached for your perusal, full results of round 2 results and series points score.
As all ways, if you have any suggestions, please contact me either by phone or email. Once again thanks to all who came and supported round 2. I will see you all at round 3, 8th June 2013, at the Ipswich Kart Club.
Thanks,
Rick Fabri
Mobile: 0407 966 433
Work: 0419 769 684
Email: rick.fabri@engineersnow.com.au
Race Report: Geoff Salmon - Sportsvoice
Inaugural 2013 SEQ JMAX Titles
Round 2 – Ipswich Kart Club 11th May 2013
The 11th May 2013 started off with the outlook towards rain early, it did not deter 239 drivers presenting themselves to the nomination windows to compete in the fourth round of the Ipswich Kart Club Championship, of these, twenty two drivers entered also for the second round of the SEQ JMAX Series, coordinated by Rick Fabri, who when informed of the numbers was very pleased indeed with the attendance for the event he had worked so hard to promote. The format for the JMax Series was to continue as it had been first presented at Warwick earlier in the year, which produced an attendance of sixteen drivers to kick the Series off. Qualifying was first up, and the predicted rain, which arrived just as the Cadets had moved onto the circuit for their qualifying session of five minutes, did cause some concern to the drivers who had arrived without wet weather tyres, the JMax class second on the programme came out all equipped with the required wet weather tyres to give them the best chance of a pole position for the Heat of racing which was to follow.
Qualifying.
The two drivers most fancied for pole position, Nicholas Andrews (#7) and Mitch Griffin (#83) did not disappoint, both of these young men receiving the opportunity to test drive a Formula Ford later in the year sponsored by Anglo Australian Motorsport, after performances at the Young Guns Titles the previous weekend at Lismore. Nicholas Andrews recording a time of 49.945 the only driver to record a lap less than 50 seconds, on his sixth lap, stole the pole position from Mitch Griffin (#83) who recorded a time of 50.296 on the fifth lap of his qualifying, the second row would be comprised of Aaron Seton (#2) with a 50.412 time, on his fifth lap and William Brown (#3) at time of 50.442 on his sixth lap, the third row of the grid saw Mitch Maddren (#92) a 50.552 on lap six and Daniel Milne (#77) a 50.595 on lap five, next Michael Fabri (#14) after an almost complete rebuild during the week after contact in the final of the JMAX event at Lismore the previous week, was to go on and record a time of 50.615 to secure P7 for the first heat, beside him Brock Lannoy (#5) with a time of 50.616 on his fourth lap, P9 to Blake Brooks (#18) with a time of 50.635 on his sixth lap, and rounding out the top ten was Russell Whittaker (#87) with a 50.721 on lap seven. With only point eight of a second separating the first ten on the grid, it was going to be a very competitive heat of racing over twelve laps.
The format for the JMax was one heat of twelve laps then a prefinal of fifteen and the final only to count over a distance of twenty laps.
The One Heat
At the completion of the first lap Nicholas Andrews (#7) had stormed away into the lead, being chased by Mitch Griffin (#83) and Aaron Seton (#2) in third a great start from P7 by Michael Fabri (#14)to move up to fourth, fifth early was Russell Whittaker (#87) also a bullet start from the fifth row of the grid, who was to move past Aaron Seton (#2) on the second lap into third, then past Mitch Griffin (#83) on the following lap into second, Russell Whittaker (#87) and Mitch Griffin (#83) were to continue their struggle for position up until lap eight then Mitch Griffin (#83) finally passed Russell Whittaker (#87) and went on to finish in second, behind an all the way win by Nicholas Andrews(#7). Further back Michael Fabri (#14) who dropped back to sixth on lap two was to drive forward into fourth place, past both Mitch Maddren (#92) on lap six into fifth then Aaron Seton (#2) on lap seven into fourth and going on to secure that position through til the end of the heat, Mitch Madden (#92) after a great duel between himself and Aaron Seton (#2) all the way up to lap ten, before scoring a hard fought fifth, sixth to Tristan Ellery (#15) eighth on the first lap, moving to seventh on lap two past Daniel Milne (#77) who was to drop back to fifteenth before recorded a D.N.F. on lap three, then dropping back to eighth on lap nine passed by Jack AH Quay (#88) but retrieving that position on the following lap before another move forward on lap eleven, past Aaron Seton (#2). Seventh place in the heat going to Aaron Seton (#2), Jack AH Quay (#88) only new to the class this year and placed eleventh on the first lap proceeded to pass Hunter McElrea (#98) on lap two then moved forward to ninth past Mathew Byrne (#71) into eighth and held that position through until lap nine before passing Tristan Ellery (#15), this pass to last just one lap before being relegated back to eighth, ninth to Matthew Byrne (#71) and the top ten being filled by Hunter McElrea (#98)
The Pre final.
Nicholas Andrews (#7) was showing he is the one to beat by another all the way win, but due to a starting infringement was designated as finishing fifth, promoting Mitch Griffin (#83) up to first winning by a margin of 3.770 seconds over Aaron Seton (#2) now second a further 1.565 seconds behind, Aaron Seton (#2) running fourth for the first two laps before moving past Mitch Maddren (#92) up to third, Mitch Maddren (#92) running the remaining laps out to finish fourth (now third), Russell Whitaker (#87) finished fifth(now fourth) with an all the way sixth to Daniel Plant (#12) seventh to William Brown (#3) running in eleventh for the first two laps then tenth for the following two laps after passing Daniel Milne (#77) with Milne getting the position back on the following lap before recording a D.N.F. on lap twelve. James Litzow (#58) starting to feel more comfortable with a run from sixteenth on lap one through to finally moving up to eighth on lap thirteen, Brock Lannoy (#5) with a D.N.F. on the thirteenth lap and Jackson Gray (#99) having a mishap on lap four which recorded him a D.N.F, Matthew Byrne (#71) after being eighth on the completion of the first lap then fell back to eleventh on lap eight, before he finally clawed his way up to finish ninth, Michael Fabri (#14), after passing Tyler DiLegge (#35) on lap thirteen to run the final two laps and finish in tenth, the fastest recorded time for the prefinal going to Nicholas Andrews (#7) with a 49.950 on lap seven.
The Final.
The start of the final was a wonderful spectacle, twenty two JMax drivers over twenty laps and all racing for the win and maximum points. With Nicholas Andrews starting on the third row of the grid, Mitch Griffin (#83) took control at the front of the pack, Nicholas Andrews (#7) fourth at the completion of the first lap moving forward chasing down Mitch Griffin (#83), Aaron Seton running second for the first two laps before being passed by Nicholas Andrews (#7) now up to second, the spectators and pits crews all watching and wondering if Mitch Griffin (#83) would have the kart setup to outdistance Nicholas Andrews (#7) and he certainly did, up to the thirteenth lap, when Nickolas Andrews (#7) took charge of this great field, to move up to the top spot, further back Aaron Seton (#2) drove consistently to finish on the podium, William Brown (#3) having a struggle early with Russell Whittaker (#87) before taking the pass on lap seven to finish in fourth, Russell Whittaker (#87) finishing fifth, Mitch Maddren (#92) third early dropping back to fourth on lap three after a pass from Russell Whittaker (#87) and then a further pass by William Brown (#3) on lap four, relegating him back to sixth for the remainder of the final, Michael Fabri (#14) eighth for the first two laps passing Daniel Plant (#12) on the third lap to run out sixth overall, Daniel Milne (#77) starting from the rear of the grid, placing seventeen at the end of lap one, moving up to fourteenth after the demise of Jack Smith (#43) D.N.F. on lap three, continued his march forward past James Litzow (#58) into thirteenth, then a pass on the following lap up to eleventh past Tristan Ellery (#15) and another pass finally up to tenth and held that position for several laps before executing a great pass on Hunter McElrea (#987) up to ninth, again, maintaining that position for seven laps before passing Daniel Plant on the penultimate lap to finish eighth. This drive earned Daniel the Hard Charger Award sponsored by Geoff Salmon - Sportsvoice, $100 plus a commemorative cap for the effort.
The overall winners were first Nicholas Andrews (#7) by 2.770 seconds over Mitch Griffin (#83) a further 1.845 seconds to Aaron Seton (#2) in third.
An excellent day and all twenty two drivers can feel well satisfied after completing a total of 47 laps of racing on the day.
We must thank the sponsors for their outstanding support, Ian Black from International Karting Distributors, Dale Verrall of Pacific Kart Sports and Geoff Salmon from Sportsvoice whom without their support this Series would not be possible, and of course Rick Fabri for his tireless efforts in the coordination of this fabulous event.Well, that’s the story of the second round of the Inaugural South East Queensland J Max Series for 2013, we’ll go onto the third round on the 8th June still at the Ipswich Kart Club, before swinging up to Warwick for a two day meeting on the 10th and 11th August. We will see you all there for some more fabulous JMAX racing then.
This report can also read on http://www.sportsvoice.com.au/index19.html
Bye for now.
Geoff Salmon Sportsvoice.
