by Geoff Salmon – Sportsvoice
IPSWICH KART CLUB – 3RD JUNE 2017
- GRAHAM ACREMAN MEMORIAL TROPHY 2017
- IKC TAG HEAVY TITLE 2017
Pre-entries on Wednesday evening totalled 112 with an expected increase in numbers by race day proper. Entries from Ipswich, Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Lismore, McKay, Coffs Harbour, North Shore, Cairns, Warwick, and Cooloola Coast Kart Clubs (a total of ten Clubs) made for a truly East Coast flavour for what was expected to be another great day of racing excellence for the fifth running of the Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy along with the IKC Tag Heavy Titles for 2017 sponsored by Wil Yarwood and his Company Project X Racing.
After entries closed on Saturday morning we saw 157 drivers along with spanner men and families setting themselves for the day’s racing, the weather was perfect although chilly (4 degrees at 7 am) with Jon Galos heading up the team of officials for the days’ racing we got under way at approx. 9.30 am with a combined carburation and qualifying session, the track conditions excellent for some fast times in qualifying.
Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 Beginners Qualifying.
As was the Club’s decision we saw a combined class of Cadet 12 and Cadet 9 Beginners move onto the circuit for the opening session, after the 6 minute session was completed we were to see Thomas Pointon (#51) Cadet 12 start from Pole position with a time of 57.384 seconds, Isaac McNeill (#10) Cadet 9 from P2,58.461,P3 Jackson Cooper (#98) 59.559, P4 Charlie White (#80) 1.00.441, P5 Emily Peaker (#22) 1.03.240 and P6 Clayton Wheeler (#71) with a time of 1.04.465 seconds.
Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 Beginners Heat 1
Thomas Pointon raced away and was untroubled to take the win in the first Heat, the margin over second placed Isaac O’Neill a healthy 4.589 seconds with Jackson Cooper in third and Emily Peaker running home in fourth, Charlie White fifth and Clayton Wheeler recording a D.N.F. fastest time by Thomas Pointon with a time of 57.507 seconds on his second lap.
Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 Beginners Heat 2
Young Pointon again raced away to record a convincing win again in the second Heat finishing 18.165 seconds ahead of second placed Jackson Cooper, Charlie White a further 8.845 seconds away in third with Emily Peaker fourth Clayton Wheeler fifth with Isaac McNeill recording a D.N.F. after just three laps, Thomas Pointon bettering his previous best with a time of 57.090 seconds on his sixth lap.
Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 Beginners Heat 3
There was no stopping Thomas Pointon in his determination to record a win on the day, again leading all the way with a margin of 14.162 seconds over second placed Jackson Cooper, third home to Charlie White, fourth again Emily Peaker, fifth Clayton Wheeler and sixth going to Isaac McNeill, best time overall going to Pointon again this time with a 58.078 second lap recorded on his sixth lap of the required eight.
Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 Beginners F inal
Additional laps for the final and the field rolled out for ten laps of racing, Thomas Pointon did not have it all his own way sitting back in second for the first three laps before moving forward and taking control of the Final to win over Jackson Cooper with a margin of 13.884 seconds to spare with Charlie White finishing next on the podium followed by Emily Peaker with Isaac McNeill finishing just six laps before taking no further part in the Final, Clayton Wheeler did not record a time in the Final, best lap going to Thomas Pointon with a time of 58.047 seconds on his penultimate lap of the event.
Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy for Tag Light Qualifying.
With sponsorship from Wil Yarwood and his Company Project X Racing the Feature event of the day got under way with a field of 21 drivers all chaffing at the bit to qualifying as close to the front row as possible, after carburation and the six minute session of qualifying was completed we were to see a front row made up of two of the main Contenders for the win, Pole going to last year’s winner Adam Mercer (#41) a time of 48.096 seconds ( a new lap track record) with Scott Sorensen (#12) beside him on the front row with a time of 48.151 seconds (both under the previous lap record) P3 going to Mitch Wooller (#22) 48.287, P4 Joshua Amundsen (#27) last year’s IKC TaG Heavy Title holder having moved to TaG Light, time of 48.299, P5 Sebastian Blindell (#3) the 2016 Club Champion for 125 Restricted Light with a time of 48.314 seconds, P6 Dallas Oksanen (#17) 48.389, P7 Tomas Gasperak (#2) 48.473, P8 Skaife Ward (#91) 48.537, P9 Luke Collett (#68) 48.540 and P10 going to Kyle Zink with a time of 48.571 seconds, with just .475 of a second separating the top ten drivers we were in for something special.
Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy for Tag Light Heat 1
The first Heat was full of expectation as the drivers moved onto the tarmac for the compulsory two lap warm up before the green lights; Adam Mercer was set to show all that his win last year was not by chance with a run-away win over Scott Sorensen with the margin out to 1.391 of a second, Sorensen not having it all his own way trailing Mitch Wooller for the first five laps of the eight lap encounter before taking the pass on lap six to finish for a start on the front row for Heat two, Wooller finishing a touch under a second away in third, fourth .861 of a second back a young man with great potential Tomas Gasperak; fifth to another young man with equal potential Sebastian Blindell, the first three rows of the grid finishing with Luke Collett up from Coffs Harbour for the event, fastest lap recorded by Adam Mercer with a time of 48.317 seconds on his fifth lap of the required eight.
Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy for Tag Light Heat 2
Adam Mercer was to survive the second Heat with another win this time the margin just .145 of a second over Scott Sorensen, who holding down third for the first two laps moved up past Blindell into second, Sebastian Blindell finishing third after his fifth place in the first Heat ( the pressure was building) fourth going to Dallas Oksanen,
Fifth to Tomas Gasperak and sixth again Luke Collett, fastest lap recorded this time by our second placed Scott Sorensen with a time of 48.284 on his fifth lap.
Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy for Tag Light Heat 3
The start of the Heat was to throw a spanner in the works for a number of drivers with a massive coming together of a large group of the drivers just 100 metres past the starting line at the start of the Heat, the Red Flag bought things to a standstill whilst a number of drivers received attention from Medical Staff, the race was restarted minus seven of the drivers with one other retiring after completing just one lap, Scott Sorensen and Sebastian Blindell who started off the front of the rearranged grid were to battle for the first two laps before Sorensen gained the upper hand and went on to win Heat three by a margin of 2.090 seconds over Blindell with Oksanen running home in third and Collett holding onto fourth from Wooller and McNamara in that order the first young lady to finish being Brieann Moyse, who has only just commences running in this class and showing her capacity to run with the top drivers, the fastest lap recorded in the lap shortened Heat was recorded by Scott Sorensen with a time of 48.242 seconds on his final lap.
Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy for Tag Light Final.
When I said we were in for something special.. it was not an understatement, with a large number of the drivers not taking to the track for the Final, with Adam Mercer starting from fifteenth, it looked impossible that he would get onto the podium, Scott Sorensen led by over a second at the completion of the first lap, getting off the mark and obviously aware that he needed to secure a reasonable start considering the talent baying at his heels, Mercer started off fifteenth and was up into eleventh by the completion of lap one, Sorensen continued to lead and lap two saw him 1.594 seconds ahead of Dallas Oksanen with Sebastian Blindell in close pursuit, Mercer to tenth, Lap 3 Sorensen increases his lead now 2.2 seconds with Mercer now ninth the difference 4.8 seconds, doesn’t look possible, lap 4 Sorensen’s lead now 2.7 seconds over Oksanen, Mercer seventh, lap 5 Sorensen 3.3 seconds lead over Oksanen, Mercer still seventh and the difference 5.8 seconds, lap 6 the lead increased by two tenths of a second, the first of our ladies Brieann Moyse eighth Gasperak ninth and Mercer still seventh behind Mitch Wooller, lap 7 Sorensen continues lead now 4.4 seconds back to Oksanen with Blindell just half a second away in third, Shawn McNamara drops to seventh, Mercer to sixth along with Wooller now fifth, lap 8 and Sorensen not backing off, five seconds now the lead, no change second and third, Luke Collett running in fourth then up into third for a lap before dropping back two spots into fifth, lap nine sees changes, Collett to third, Blindell drops to fourth, Mercer to fifth with Wooller now sixth, lap ten and Sorensen still leads this time by six point six seconds with Oksanen second, third Blindell again, fourth Mercer and fifth Collett, lap eleven Scott Sorensen still metal to the pedal, gap now 7.6 seconds with Mercer fourth behind Blindell with Oksanen still second, lap 12 Sorensen driving brilliantly and holding off Oksanen, Mercer now third Blindell drops to fourth, Collett still fifth, lap thirteen sees Mercer slip past Oksanen into second, gap six seconds, third Oksanen, fourth Blindell and fifth Collett, lap fourteen sees Sorensen still leading from Mercer five point two seconds away, the final lap sees Scott Sorensen after many years of trying take a well-deserved win over last years’ champion Adam Mercer the margin after a hectic fifteen laps of racing three point 487 seconds with third going to Dallas Oksanen (great drive) with Sebastian Blindell in his first drive in the event finishing fourth, fifth to Luke Collett (obviously well worth the drive up from Coffs Harbour, sixth Mitch Wooller and seventh going to Shawn McNamara, eighth place to Tomas Gasperak, ninth to Briann Moyse (finishing in the top ten well done young lady) and tenth to Graham Prajbisz down from Rockhampton for the event, fastest lap overall going to Scott Sorensen with a time of 48.147 seconds recorded on his ninth lap of the journey.
An enjoyable event for 2017you may ask? You bet and we all look forward to an even bigger and better Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy for 2018.
KA3 Junior Qualifying.
After the six minute qualifying session was completed we were to see Thomas Cooper (#55) off Pole with a time of 49.829 seconds,P2 Zayd Tones (#27)50.336; P3 Gabriel Gasperak (#88) 50.351;P4 Aaron Williams (#35) 50.427; P5 Bailey Sagaidak (#26) 50.367 and P6 Aiden Long (#8) 50.790 seconds.
KA3 Junior Final
With some outstanding driving throughout the Heats we were to see Thomas Cooper and Zayd Tones off the front row of the grid for the Final second row made up by Gabriel Gasperak and Bailey Sagaidak with the third row being occupied by Aiden Long and Jarad Boys, Cooper was untroubled to win the Final the margin 1.780 seconds over second placed Gabriel Gasperak, third going to Bailey Sagaidak and fourth to Zayd Tones the best lap recorded by Thomas Cooper with a time of 50.139 seconds on his ninth lap of the required twelve.
Junior Max Qualifying
With just three starters in the class they were combined with the KA3 Junior class and their times in qualifying were Gabriel Gasperak (#88) 50.531; Conner Roberts (#19) 50.854 and Michael Harch (#50) with a time of 50.971 seconds.
Junior Max Final
After three exciting Heats the three drivers concerned finished in the following order Gabriel Gasperak finished outright second in the combined class and first overall in Junior Max, second in the class going to Conner Roberts with a fifth place finish in the combined class and third went to Michael Harch with a tenth place finish in the combined class.
Cadet 9 Qualifying
The competition in this class is really amazing a field of twelve drivers moved onto the racing surface for the six minute session which included one young lady Maddison Feather, the grid for the first Heat was to look like this for the first three rows, Pole Beau Bromhead (#71) 55.789; P2 Lincoln Taylor (#78) 55.835; P3 Luke Trost (#14) 55.883; P4 Joel Watson (#77) 56.027; P5 Maddison Feather (#55) 56.478 and P6 Jordan Ensbey (#22) with a time of 56.527 seconds.
Cadet 9 Final
After three wonderful Heats of entertaining racing were where to see Lincoln Taylor and Luke Trost off the front row with the second row holding Beau Bromhead and Jordan Ensbey, row three held Maddison Feather and Joel Watson, Taylor led all but the last lap, Luke Trost dropped one spot on the last lap and Beau Bromhead gained one position on the last lap, make sense to you? It was a day of excitement and intrigue with it all coming to a conclusion on the last lap, Beau Bromhead finished first, Luke Trost second and Lincoln Taylor third, the fastest lap was recorded by Beau Bromhead with a time of 55.787 seconds recorded on his seventh lap of the journey, the margin between first and second was .131 of a second and between second and third .210 of a second, great racing.
TaG 125 Heavy Title 2017 Qualifying.
Also sponsored by Wil Yarwood and his Company Project X Racing a small but very talented field of seven drivers presented for qualifying and after 6 minutes the grid was to stand as follows; Pole went to Martin Swindells (#13) 49.265; P2 Marcello Surace (#93) 49.267; P3 Ashley Lester (#76) 49.542; P4 Ryan O’Sullivan (#31) 49.640; P5 Callan Sayers (#71) 49.764; P6 Chris Williams (#3) 49.775 and P7 to Lee Sadler (#6) with a time of 51.290 seconds.
TaG 125 Heavy Title 2017 Final
Again after some exciting racing over three Heats of racing we were to see the front row of the grid with Marcello Surace and Ashley Lester of the front row with Martin Swindells and Ryan O’Sullivan of row two and Chris Williams and Callan Sayers off row three with Lee Sadler off the next row, it was a straight forward affair with Surace finishing in front, the margin back to second placed Ryan O’Sullivan just .080 of a second with .231 of a second back to third place Martin Swindells, the fastest lap was recorded by Ryan O’Sullivan with a time of 49.531 seconds recorded on his eleventh lap of the fifteen lap journey.
KA4 Junior Light and Heavy Combined Qualifying
A great field of 23 Light drivers moved onto the track proper along with one Heavy total field of 24 to do their 6 minute qualifying session after the session was concluded we saw Pole go to Luke Pink (#49) with a time of 50.948 seconds, P2 Jack Hotter (#33) 51.028; P3 Oscar Comley (#72) 51.122; P4 Jack Grambauer (#72) 51.264; P5 Jai Brown (#22) 51.300; P6 Ryan Newton (#66) 51.644; P7 Kurtis Tennant (#57) 51.662; P8 Thomas Cooper (#55) 51.705; P9 Blake Lockett (#11) 51.788 and P10 Kyle Evans (#34) 51.871 seconds.
KA4 Junior Light and Heavy Final.
Luke Pink won all three of the Heats leading up to the Final, and as the field moved out onto the racing surface a crowd of supporters and on lookers moved to advantage around the circuit to watch the action, Pink able to hold onto the lead for one lap only before being slip streamed by Jai Brown to take over the lead, third early Thomas Cooper already up two positions, Brown holding point for six laps before dropping back to second for laps eight and nine behind first Cooper and then Tennant before regaining the lead on lap ten, meanwhile Cooper dropping from first place on lap eight back to fifth on lap nine before recovering to finish second, at the same time Jai Brown dropping from first back to finish sixth on the final lap, Tennant fourth through until lap eight moving to third then to take the lead the following lap was to drop back to second behind Jai Brown before moving to the front again when it mattered most, Pink coming home in third , in what was a most enjoyable Final for all to witness, fastest lap going to Jai Brown with a time of 51.221 seconds recorded on his tenth lap of the journey, our Heavy driver Leorra Devisser finishing seventeenth overall with a best time of 53.302 seconds.
TaG 125 Restricted Medium and Masters Combined Qualifying
I am still trying to come to terms with the term Medium in this class, but, with a field of thirteen drivers ready to take to the track, we were to see Zari Patrick (#41) come away with Pole and a time of 51.714 seconds, P2 Cameron Harch (#75) with a time of 52.676, P3 Eric Hoeger (#15) 52.711; P4 Greg Hines (#68) 52.788; P5 Peter Greenwood (#64) 53.068; P6 Tim McDonald (#69)53.184; P7 Craig Holmwood (#55) 53.247 and P8 Andrew Gilliam (#18P) 53.285 seconds.
TaG 125 Restricted Medium and Masters Combined Final
Zari Patrick is definitely the class of the field and took advantage with a straight through win in all Heats and the Final alike, the margin back to second placed Greg Hines 13.802 seconds with a further margin of 5.286 seconds back to Scott Cleveland in third, fastest lap going to the winner with a time of 51.803 seconds recorded on his final lap of the journey, Masters class was won by Cameron Harch with Gary Payne running home in second and Allan Beaumont third, fastest lap going to Cameron Harch with a time of 53.194 on his ninth lap.
Open Performance
With a mix of engines in this class we were to see Tomas Gasperak (#22) take the win with a margin of 2.581 seconds back to second placed Sam Houston (#6) third going to Tristan Ellery (#10) and fourth Adam Mercer (#41) the fastest lap recorded by Gasperak with a time of 47.061 seconds recorded on his fourth lap.
Cadet 12 Qualifying
A great field of youngsters drove onto the racing surface to determine the driver who would start from Pole, six minutes later and that honour would go to Ethan Feather (#26) with a time of 54.272 seconds; P2 Oscar Targett (#22) 54.528; P3 Harrison Lyne (#74) 54.637; P4 Tristan Griffin (#83) 54.777; P5 Lachlan Platten (#56) 54.854; P6 Marcus Watson (#7) 54.933; P7 Riley Hotter (#33) 55.152; P8 Coby Govoni (#13) 55.290; P9 Alex Gardner (#94) 55.344 and P10 Rusty Ross (#58) 55.348 seconds.
Cadet 12 Final
With an equal share of wins going to Oscar Targett and Ethan Feather in Qualifying and the three Heats with Tristan Griffin filling third place on all but one occasion we were in for a Final and a half, Oscar Targett was to lead all throughout the Final not so for second and third Feather third at the start moved forward to finish second whilst Tristan Griffin second for the first two laps dropped to third, Lachlan Platten came from eighth to finish fifth with Rusty Roos, Riley Hotter and Platten playing all the way through the Final to finish fifth ,sixth and seventh, Roman Findlay coming from eighteenth to finish twelfth (good drive) there were there D.N.F’s Jack Wells, Coby Govoni and Bradi Owen, fastest lap going to Ethan Feather with a time of 54.539 seconds recorded on his pen-ultimate lap.
KA3 Senior and Tag 125 Restricted Light Combined Qualifying
A total of twenty five drivers presented for the six minute session and we were to see Jarrad Costello (#49) with a 50.309 take Pole in the KA3 Senior class with P2 going to Dale Zimmerman (#88) 50.897; Pole in the Restricted Class going to Bailey Tippett (#94) with a time of 51.614 seconds,P2 going to Steve Edmonds (#16) with a time of 51.171 seconds.
KA3 Senior and Tag 125 Restricted Light Combined Final
Jarrad Costello was to go on and take Pole in Qualifying and a win in all three of the Heats before going on to secure the win in the Final,
Jarrad also was to record the fastest laps throughout the days’ racing in all the Heats and the Final (a good days’ work in anyone’s’ book) he won the Final with a margin of 5.146 seconds over second placed Dale Zimmerman with Daniel Murrell coming home in third place, after a great performance throughout the day Bailey Tippett was to take the honours in the Restricted class over Andrew Rankin with Allan Mayes, handy all day taking third, fastest lap recorded by Andrew Rankin with a time of 51.511 recorded on his tenth lap.
Drivers recorded a number of fastest lap track records on the day, showing the track was just right for racing…Beginners Cadet 12, Cadet 9, Cadet 12, KA3 Junior, KA4 Junior Light, TaG 125 Light, TaG 125 Heavy and TaG Restricted Medium and Open Performance, (9 classes)
That’s my report of the fourth round of the Ipswich Kart Club Championship for 2017 and the Graham Acreman Memorial Trophy along with the 2017 TaG 125 Heavy Title, again both these events sponsored by William Yarwood and his Company Company Project X Racing.
Geoff Salmon
Sportsvoice