from Dave Camwell
Cadet 9 racer Jensen Marold is one of South Australian’s rising stars.
Jensen started racing at the age of 5 in a Midget Dirt Kart.
Racing was held in SA at various tracks, giving him a lot of experience in kart control and in being smooth around corners as the engine was only a small 35cc whipper snipper 4 stroke engine.
After a year of getting dirty, Jensen wanted to try bitumen.
Kym Pearce from Omega Racing Karts in SA built his first kart, he practiced at the Go Kart Club of SA on the 1000+ metre Circuit from sunset to sundown in January 2017.
Jensen was required to complete 4 race meetings to get off his P’s so that he could race the final round of the SA State Championships in July of that year.
In the same year his parents saw a lot of growth and potential in Jensen. He competed in many State race events and raced twice in Mildura and a race at Warrnambool in Victoria. His speed and race craft started to show where he was out qualifying some of the local drivers in Cadet 9.
2018 was a big year where Jensen and his family raced all of the Victorian Country Series, placing on the podium at every event and finishing 2nd overall for that series.
He also raced the Victorian State Championships, which was a 2 round event, the first round he finished 3rd in the final and 4th outright. Overall he placed 4th after both rounds, a considerable effort for this young man.
Jensen set himself a goal to take out the SA State Championships in September of 2018. He realized this goal and became the 2018 Blue plate champion for Cadet 9.
The yearly prestigious Junior Sprint Classic at Puckapunyal was next on Jensen’s list, arriving at a new track for the first time and then putting it on pole and racing to a 4th place in the Final.
By this time, Dad and son had completed 22 weekends of racing, and tiredness was setting in. Three more events were completed for that year, then a well earned rest was due.
2019 would be another big step up for Jensen and his crew, this would be their first year of National racing and other selected major events. Unfortunately the Victorian Country Series was off the cards this year.
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Racing started in January with the Junior Top Guns at Oakleigh Victoria which saw Jensen on pole for the 2 day, 2 meeting event and follow on to take the win in the final by 8 seconds with an overall first for the weekend. He was very excited to take the $500 prize money as well.
National wrap up to date:
Round 1 of the Nationals held at Ipswich was an awesome event, but bad luck with tyres saw him finish 11th overall.
Round 2 at Newcastle had Jensen off P2, take some wins in the heats, but due to an incident, 6th in the Final. He placed 3rd overall for the weekend and moved up to 7th on series points.
Round 3 at Monarto was an opportunity to shine, being Jensen’s home track.
A rare mistake with Carburettor setting put him qualifying at 11th position. Bad luck in the 4 heats saw incidents in every race making Jensen fight hard to claw back places. Accrued series points at the end of that round slipped Jensen down 1 spot to 8th.
School holiday in July was a road trip up the east coast of Australia. First race was held at Eastern Creek for the NSW State Championship, this was a new track he had not been to before. This did not stop him and his crew putting his #13 kart on pole, and took out the Final and secured the NSW Blue Plate for Cadet 9, an awesome result.
The 4th Round of the National Championship was held at Emerald in Queensland, this is a fantastic track, very fast and has great facilities. He qualified 11th, raced all heats in the top 3 and placed 5th in the Final. This was a good weekend of collecting series points, points accrued saw Jensen 3rd outright for the weekend and now 5th in the Championship with 1 round to go.
The 2nd of August Jensen raced the 35th City of Melbourne event held at Todd road. Jensen had the biggest field of Cadet 9’s he has raced against ever, 32 drivers hitting the track. This made for some fantastic racing with Jensen qualifying 4th, place 2nd and 3rd in all the heats then had a cracking final to take out first place and won this prestigious event.
He was well and truly over the moon beating all the local kids who practice at this track all the time.
In summary Jensen has learnt to come to a new track, and by practice session 3 he is putting down times that place him at the front end of the group.
This profound skill allows Jensen, his dad Ollie and crew to attend new tracks and big events and have a competitive edge, not easy for a kid of his age.
Jensen would like to thank the following sponsors and partners for their generosity and support:
• Minijumbuck
• BEST Bricks and Pavers
• Results Electrical
• Tradecall247
• CNW Electrical Wholesalers
• CMI Toyota
• Anarchy Kartsport for awesome engines
Trackside coaching:
• Josh Tynan
• Troy Hunt
• Henry Johnstone
And of course his parents who contribute so much into Jensen’s racing.
Good luck from all of us- Karting SA
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