Victorian Country Series, Round 1


by Brad Anderson

21 February 2014
 
  • Full results on the AKA CMS HERE

Round 1 of the 2014 Austrans Victorian Country Series got underway last weekend at the South West Kart Club, Cobden. The weather was warm and the numbers were high with 181 entries being received.

There were many prizes handed out to competitors in the early entry draw on Sunday morning. These prizes will continue over the series, proving that it is always worth making sure that your entry is in by the Wednesday night.

The racing format was once again the popular final only counts for the days results. But with all heat and final points counting towards the end of the series, the drivers had to be both aggressive and calculated.

Local racer Kyle Rethus enjoyed victory in TaG 125 Light (above) and Clubman Light
Above: Local racer Kyle Rethus enjoyed victory in TaG 125 Light (above) and Clubman Light
pic - Brad Anderson

The first class was Junior Max where over the course of the day Liam Ford, Aaron Cameron, Braydon Flood and Thomas Prascevic all looked as though they would be in contention. By the time the final came around it was Prascevic who took the win ahead of Cameron and Ford.

The Clubman Over 40s looked as though it would be very close on paper but it ended in domination from Glenn Henley aboard the new Omega kart. Henley won all 3 races on the day with Leon Forrest in second and Ron Taylor coming home in third.

A strong 20 kart field of Rookies faced the starter with a close fought battle during the final between Courtney Prince, Jack Hutchins and Jay Coul. As the trio swapped places it was Hutchins who came out on top followed by Prince and Coul.

A new class to the series was TAG 125 Over 40s. It was Brendan Myors who led from start to finish in the final, leading home Mick Angwin for second. Mark Newman worked his way through the field after a heat DNF to finish in third.

Dylan Hollis continued his good start to the year in Junior Clubman. He took a clean sweep of all 3 races for the day to bag maximum points for his series campaign. Mitchell Mackay was to finish second on his home circuit followed by Jacob Prestipino in third.

Another maximum series point’s haul went to Chris Thomas in Clubman Heavy. Chris looked at ease on the circuit as he guided his kart to an easy win ahead of Justin Bonacci in second. On the last lap of the final Michael Geist made a pass that put him into third for the day.

The TAG 125 Light class was full of very quick runners who were out to try and stop Kyle Rethus from taking the win. It was to no avail with the local champ taking a start to finish win from Luke Bergens and Jonathon Mangos in second and third.

TAG Restricted Super Heavy was another new class to the series. It was great to see a Super Heavy class return to the series. It was to be Billy Askew who would take a clean sweep for the day ahead of Frank Ferraro in second and Mark Tune in third.

A strong field of Junior National Light took to the circuit in a very close fought battle all day. Not much separated the front runners in the final with Dylan Hollis taking the win on the last lap from Aaron Cameron. Jacob Prestipino came home in third.

The pace setter for the weekend in TAG 125 Heavy was Corey McCullagh. He was to take the win from Scott King in the final. Third place went to Chris Rodda who moved up from the restricted class to open.


Above: Andrew Hayes running in TaG 125 Heavy
pic - Brad Anderson

In Clubman Light it was once again the Kyle Rethus show. Just as in TAG, Rethus took a clean sweep with an uninterrupted run in the final. Second place went to Jordan Nicolaou with Bradley Marsh-Stepney coming home in third place.

Junior National Heavy was a close fought battle all throughout the day. The mixed results meaning no one knew exactly who would take the win. In the end it was Nicholas Carrol in first, with Bryce Wollard and Tom Owen in second and third.

Just as in the previous class, TAG Restricted Heavy had a mixture of heat results which made picking a winner fairly difficult. The final however was a precession with Taylor Gore first, Barry Clough second and Craig Widgery third.

The largest field for the day was the Cadets. With a field of 25, the heat results were always going to be mixed. The final came down to a battle for the win between Hugh Barter and Kai Allen. It was Allen who would come out on top with Barter a close second. Third place went to Emerson Harvey.

Tim McCarthy took an untroubled win in TAG Restricted Light. McCarthy cleared out in the early laps to take the win from Jake Hose (who recovered from 2 heat DNFs) and Sam Rofe in third place.

The second round of the series moves to Warrnambool on April the 13th.

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