South Australian Closed State Titles
| by Michael Yeo | 7 November 2014 |
| Tweet | |
The Dublin Go Kart Club hosted the SA Closed State Titles at the Monarto Karting Complex on the weekend starting Saturday 1st November.
Monarto has had a big year with recently holding the Open State Championship. The same track layout was used for the Closed event, so local karters were keen to emulate the times of those at the Open Championship, with many not disappointing.
The event kicked off with free practice on Friday and by mid morning the pits were filling rapidly. A great testament to the event was the effort karters went to, to win the coveted black state plate. The recent NSW and QLD Closed State Titles attracted large numbers, and with little doubt Victoria’s event later in the year has traditionally always attracted very large fields.
- Full results are on CMS HERE
Big Thank you to The Dublin Go Kart Club, Canteen Staff, all the Officials and to the Monarto Go Kart Facilities for a great event.
Tag Light: Was a good field of 16 and Alex Baker showed early form by poling his FK only a 10th from Troy Woodger and Daniel Wallis. Daniel Price who had real pace at the open states was just off the pace but certainly not out of the hunt. Heat 1 saw Alex launch to a commanding lead only to suffer mechanical failure and dnf leaving placing to Woodger, Wallis and Price. Ben Redjepi's form in this class has been getting stronger and he hovered around that fourth place. Alex Baker recovered to win the next heat to set up a thrilling duel in the finals. This did insue for the opening laps until both Daniels showed their real pace and cleared a gap back to Baker however Daniel Wallis was too good for the entire field driving away in the 16 lap final to claim the Black Plate.
1... 10 Daniel WALLIS
2... 12 Daniel PRICE
3... 7 Alex BAKER
Junior Clubman : This yielded a strong field. Josh Denton, current blue plate holder in the Jmax class in this direction and tasting success in this actual class the previous year in Junior clubman in the other direction, was always going to be hard to beat. However he didn’t have it all his own way through the heats after poling. Local boy Ben Denlaney pushed him the whole way and won heat 1, and eventually finised second in a titantic battle in the final. Third went to Rylie Buik in a great drive.
1... 91 Joshua DENTON
2... 32 Benjamen DELANEY
3... 27 Thomas BUIK
Cadets: The class is the grass roots of karting, with little doubt we will see many a champions come through in the years to come. Kai Allen poled with Blake Prudie in second and Bronson Bolt in third. Other than a fourth in the first heat, Kai showed his class to come through for the Black plate, second was Adam Jr Slattery and third Tyler Craig. Other mentionable efforts were Blake Prudie who showed great pace all weekend and Broson Bolt.
1... 26 Kai ALLEN
2... 99 Adam Jr SLATTERY
3... 58 Tyler CRAIG
Restricted Light: This class was well subscribed with 16 drivers all up. Michael Yeo returned to karting after a short absence and showed he had lost nothing in the way of speed approaching the half century mark of age. Michael drove faultlessly all weekend and you could have presumed his kart resembled that of a slot car on track it looked so effortless. With pole to Micheal, second to Hayden Felici and third to Steven Campbell, the scene was set. Micheal was not headed for a lap the whole weekend with a great drive, from Jim Gorman who was thereabouts for the minor placings in all the heats. Come finals, Jim and Hayden had a great battle for second with Jim eventually securing second spot. Steven Campbell, Keaton Szach and Clint Smith had great drives.
1... 72 Michael YEO
2... 40 James GORMAN
3... 61 Haydn FELICI.
Open Performance: This class saw the gear box karts hit the big track and put on a teaser and what a show. With times in 42 sec bracket, the sound of these machines as they used all the avaliable gears and track brought the crowd to the fence to watch. John Mangos, Frankie Maiolo and Dave Jnr Brewer in their Zanardi Karts gave the circuit the big thumbs up after the weekend. Everyone agreed it would be fantastic to see a full field take to the Monarto track in the future.
1... 44 Jonathon MANGOS
2... 94 Frankie MAIOLO
3... 36 David Jr BREWER
Junior Max: This fast and furious group of youngsters was set for some very close racing and it didnt disappoint. Morgan Feast polled by 3/10ths ahead of Josh Denton and Max Vidau. The heats were exciting with the minor positions changing several times. By the final, Feast and Denton had streeted the field and in the end Morgan had put some distance on Josh to claim the title followed by a hard charging Bethany Simpson.
1... 3 Morgan FEAST
2... 91 Joshua DENTON
3... 49 Bethany SIMPSON
Restricted Heavy: This class was well supported with 10 drivers trying to chase down the elusive David Rinaldi who has dominated this class all year. After qualifying on pole and winning every heat by a healthy margin, David had a clean sweep in the final to record his first state plate. Hayden Slattery and Nathan Harris battled for the remaining steps on the podium through the heats but an old master showed his hand... Dave Brewer Snr steered his machine to 3rd in the final.
1... 26 David RINALDI
2... 32 Nathan HARRIS
3... 22 David Snr BREWER
Clubman 0ver 40: Although only having 5 in the class this was a very tight battle on track with times in the thousants of sec separating the field. Sparky Marquis was expected to take pole but a man who has been gathering pace and working very hard all year was up to the mark - Craig Henderson put the Omega on pole. Craig, Sparky and Stephen Blee couldn't be separated through out the heats and prefinal. The stage was set for a classic Ova 40s final. All was going well in this tight tussle until Craig's nose cone came off and this left Sparky and Blee to cruize to the line, followed by Jim Gorman.
1... 76 Sparky MARQUIS
2... 58 Stephen BLEE
3... 40 James GORMAN
Clubman Super Heavy: Another class with few numbers but Andrew Cash was out to add the black plate to the blue plate he has for this class. However, a very quick John Dankowski took the pole and all the heats which these two contested very closely. In the final Andrew drove as hard as he could to get the job done but Dankowski flawlessly drove to take the title leaving the rest of the field to a clear track. John Ellis claimed the 3rd place on the podium with a lesuirely drive in the final.
1... 8 John DANKOWSKI
2... 38 Andrew CASH
3... 2 John ELLIS
Rookies: Domenic Camanitti was in a class of his own in quali to street the field and start the weekend off very nicely and leaving the rest to wonder if they would catch him in the heats. While Domenic was the pioneer, the rest were hard at it for the minor placings. Mikey Jones, Amber Miller, Harry Hutchings and Matthew Nietz were trading more places than the stock exchange, which made the outcome so hard to pick. Harry had found some pace and now was in a fight with Camanitti. The Final was intense as Dom had lost his advantage and these drivers were all together for the first time. Midway through the deul Domenic`s kart seem to give up the ghost. This left Harry, Amber, Mikey and Matthew to go at it. At one stage Mikey Jones was back in 4th and a bit off the leader, but some how managed to negotiate his way past Amber and Matthew to take second. This was close to the Race of the Day.
1... 15 Harry HUTCHINS
2... 41 Michael JONES
3... 62 Amber MILLER
4... 39 Matthew NIETZ
5... 31 Aiden SLATTERY
Junior National Heavy: Tyler Morrison, the stand out driver here, was closely followed by Rylie Buik all weekend who drove hard-n-fast to keep Morrison on his toes. But Tyler held his nerve to hold off Buik. The girls were out to play and Jade Morrison and Bethany Simpson put on a fantastic display of racing. Kirby Hillyer found some speed and was in the hunt for the minor placings but in the final it was Rylie Buik in a Morrison sandwhich.
1... 1 Tyler MORRISON
2... 28 Rylie BUIK
3... 40 Jade MORRISON
Clubman Heavy: Not a well entered class and had its fair share of dramas with karts not getting off the grid but by the final the karts were all good and Hayden Slattery took it up to Sparkey Marquis, but just couldnt keep with the wine maker. Josh Fielding showed early pace but also lacked the speed needed to fight for the Black Plate.
1... 76 Sparky MARQUIS
2... 38 Hayden SLATTERY
3... 33 Josh FIELDING
Junior National Light: This was the stand out class of the weekend. There was a hair between the first 6 places in quaily, Jacob Dowson leading the way and Jordan Kervers keeping him under pressure. The positions of the first 7 changed so many times during the 16 lap final. It was an enthrawling race between Dowson and Kervers who had been trading the lead early in the race. Dowson was then relegated to 5th via a 3-kart wide corner, but to Dowson's credit, he fought his way back to rejoin the battle with Kervers which went right to the last corner. Jackson Rees, Jordan Piannezzola, Cooper Hay and Thomas Buik were all racing extremely hard and close which made this class so good to watch and round out what was a fantastic weekend of racing at the Monarto Karting Complex.
1... 93 Jacob DOWSON
2... 21 Jordan KERVERS
3... 54 Jordan PIANEZZOLA
4... 88 Cooper HAY
5... 27 Thomas BUIK