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Whyalla Kart Club Series, Round 3

by Jeremy Head

8 April 2014

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April 5th saw Whyalla Kart Club hold round 3 of its championship year. With so many other sports returning for the winter season this weekend, it was great to see a solid number of drivers take to the track with several traveling from Adelaide and Roxby Downs. 

It was also a weekend of records with the Junior National Combined record being broken in both directions.  This shows what young talent there is coming through the ranks of karting. Several of the senior drivers also beat their personal best times over the weekend. 

Again the club trialed qualifying for the race meeting and again it set the cat amongst the pigeons with some of the faster drivers starting mid field due to poor qualifying times.

The first class on the track for the weekend was Sportsman SA.  Unfortunately a couple of drivers had to withdraw on the day but this did not stop some great racing. Jeremy Head qualified on pole with a PB only 300ths of a second from the lap record.  In P2 was Karl Lawson followed by Scott Harper. 

This was basically the grid for the rest of the day. Jeremy Head lead each of the 3 heats and the final to take first place for the weekend comfortably.  However the real racing was the fight between Scott and Karl for second and third place. Both drivers fought hard with positions changing regularly throughout the race.  This is what Sportsman SA is about close racing on a fairly even playing field.  Scott managed to hold Karl out for second overall on the day with Karl taking a solid third place.

The Rookies class is a growing class at the club and our local Rookie hero had it all to himself on the weekend.  This can be hard at times driving on your own and trying not to get caught up in another classes battles.  Corey Datson does this on a regular occurrence and does it well. 

The next class to go was the Cadet Class.  There were 8 kids under the age of 12 in this class and to make it even more interesting there were 4 boys and 4 girls racing.  If you haven’t seen these kids race you have to come and have a look.  The kids race close to each other and treat each other with respect on the track.  It is really an honor to watch them drive.

This class also saw Whyalla regular Troy Fortanier return to Whyalla for the first time this year. He did bring some competition with him in the form of his little sister Jessica. Roxby Downs driver Charlotte Oliver had her first kart race anywhere over the weekend and did herself proud.  Other visitor to Cadets was Stirling Angus.  Great to have these guys come and visit to give our locals kids someone different to race against.

The racing was tightly fought at the front all weekend by Troy, Stirling and Whyalla local Cooper Jones. With a tight tussle for placing and I think he borrowed some “Jandels” from V8 driver Scott McLaughlin, Troy Fortanier managed to keep Cooper and Stirling at bay.  Final results Troy Fortanier, Cooper Jones and Stirling Angus.

Above: Brayden Stewart and Cooper Jones

The 125 Restricted/Clubman Light class was fought out between two drivers in Chris Reid and Aiden Sossa.  Both these drivers fought hard against each other for the weekend however it was Chris Reid who managed to pull off the win for the day.  Aiden came in solid second place with Adrian Simmonds in third place.

On the track at the same time as the lights were the 125 Restricted/Clubman Heavy class.  Brian Sampson did his usual trick of putting his head down and getting the job done.  This however was not as easy as always due to Allan Watt pushing him hard all weekend.  In the final both drivers had to fight for position for the entire 15 laps.  This is hard work at less than a centimeter from the ground at nearly 100 KPH.  Brian managed to hold Allan off to take first for the weekend, Allan in a solid second and all the while James Marsland was slowly making ground in his first year of karting to take third place.

Last class on the track was the Junior National Combined Class. This was where the action was.  With lap records falling unofficially in practice and the backing it up in the race.  The class also saw new driver Rame Lawson take to the track for the first time.  Rame did himself proud by maintaining good solid track position and was not far off race pace.  A couple of more race meetings and some practice he will be up there.

The day however belonged to Whyalla regular Bethany Simpson and travelling from Roxby Downs Joel Oliver. Both these drivers fought back and forth for the day and positions.  This made for some interesting racing.  Joel smashed the lap record in the counter clockwise direction by over 0.8 of as second.  This he thought had it made.  With the change in direction to clockwise Bethany destroys half a second from that lap record.  Way to go guys (and girl). Joel managed to hold Bethany off to take first place for the day with Bethany taking second and Rame third. 

Next race meeting will be the 10th of May.  Come out and support the club.  If you have a kart sitting in your shed, contact the club and look at bringing it out to race.  The more the merrier!

• Full results on CMS HERE

 

 

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