from Brad Mitchell
WA State Championships
Bunbury City Kart Club
September 22, 23 & 24 2018
Home track driver Cody Leunen was the standout driver at the 57th running of the WA State Championships which were held at the Bunbury City Kart Club over the recent long weekend. Over 200 drivers were on hand at the south west venue which last held the championship back in 2012.
Cody Leunen would blitz the field in KA3 Junior to lead all 26 laps in his Arrow and win by over seven seconds. He would back that up by jumping into his Deadly chassis and winning KA4 Junior Heavy. He would have to settle for fourth place in KA4 Junior Light behind winner Max McRae, Luca Nici and Jack Clohessy who had an epic race in the final.
Sachen Smith Wei dominated Cadet 9 over the weekend to win from Chase Wildman and Campbell Thompson. Cadet 12 was a much tougher affair with Zane Rhodes fastest in qualifying whilst the heat wins were shared between James Micucci-Allen (heats 1 and 2) and Brandon Locke (heat 3). Locke would take the lead from Micucci-Allen on lap 9 of the final and would maintain it until the finish.
Daniel and Lewis Shugar headed the field in the opening fourteen laps of the TaG 125 Heavy final until their pair of CRG karts had a coming together on the main straight. Bayley Mickler and Simon Gwilliam would then take turns to lead the race until comeback racer Brenton Magri in his KF Kart hit the front after starting deep in the field and scored a great win.
TaG 125 Light provided some epic racing across the weekend but in the end local racer Brock Kenny proved too good in his KF Kart to win from the similar entry of Kip Foster with Adam Levi, who put in the drive of the weekend after starting in seventeenth, in third place.
Roy Tester narrowly won TaG 125 Restricted Masters from Marc Redman with 2017 champion Andrew Freeman in third place.
Courtney Gough was a popular winner in WA Open Performance. She had a thrilling duel with Jed Grigg and after several failed attempts for the lead she finally made the race winning pass two laps from the finish.
Ryan Bender took the win in KA3 Senior Light, Jason Betts in KA3 Senior Medium whilst Simon Minton claimed the KA3 Senior Heavy crown.
Results: (full results on speedhive HERE)
Cadet 9:
1. Sachen Smith Wei
2. Chase Wildman
3. Campbell Thompson
4. Riley Grey
Cadet 12:
1. Brandon Locke
2. James Micucci-Allen
3. Nash Ferraro
4. Noah Lisle
KA4 Junior Light:
1. Max McRae
2. Luca Nici
3. Jack Clohessy
4. Cody Leunen
KA4 Junior Heavy:
1. Cody Leunen
2. Riley Trager
3. Lochlen Harvey
4. Max Whiting
KA3 Junior:
1. Cody Leunen
2. Chase Hoy,
3. Luke Sawyer
4. Bevan Stone
KA3 Senior Light:
1. Ryan Bender
2. Jake Sawyer
3. Jacob De Cerqueira
4. Zack Needham
KA3 Senior Medium:
1. Jason Betts
2. Braedyn Bowra
3. Alexander Barboutis
4. Michael Jones
KA3 Senior Heavy:
1. Simon Minton
2. Aaron Chivers
3.Craig Ryan
4. Jay Ten Broeke
TaG 125 Restricted Masters:
1. Roy Tester
2. Marc Redman
3. Andrew Freeman
4. Eric Smith
TaG 125 Light:
1. Brock Kenny
2. Kip Foster
3. Adam Levi
4. Sam Dicker
TaG 125 Heavy:
1. Brenton Magri
2. Simon Gwilliam
3. Bayley Mickler
4. Bradley Nock
WA Open Performance:
1. Courtney Gough
2. Lewis Sutherland
3. Jed Grigg
4. Cory Hayes