Ben McLellan and Cody Gillis are the Shamick TaG Enduro champions for 2019.
After a gruelling 4.5 hours and 287 laps, the TWM Arrow/Rotax combo beat home Declan Somers/Jace Lindstrom (Exprit/Rotax) and Adam Lindstrom/Jason Pringle (Formula K/Rotax).
The winners! Ben McLellan (left) and Cody Gillis. Team boss Tom Williamson said they bent and almost rolled the kart after contact in the final stint. He was particularly impressed with McLellan’s progress and consistent pace to support Gillis’ speed. (pic – Pace Images)
First IAME home was David Sera/Anton de Pasquale (Sera/X30) in 4th, just 0.4s off the podium.
Amazingly, the top seven teams all finished on the lead lap.
The field about to go under starter’s orders. Impressive speed from the Taylor Hazard/Dylan Drysdale Exprit/Rotax on pole while P2 was Brad Jenner/James Sera FA/X30. (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)
As per previous years, the first part of the race was easy to follow, but as soon as the pitstops started, it’s hard to know who’s where until the final 30-odd minutes. And even then, some teams had to quick-stop for a driver change or splash-n-dash of fuel to get home.
Generally, the X30 runners had to pit early as they didn’t get the fuel range that was achievable with the Rotax MAX. However, the Rotax runners couldn’t make full use of the better fuel economy as that put them in the danger zone of over-timing a driver.
Lap one, turn one – and unlike last year, no crash! PS – the first crash happened on lap 2… (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)
As the race wound into the final stage, it looked like the Harrison Hoey/Kris Walton entry had out-maneuvered the competition with a +1 lap lead. They were one of the first to take a compulsory long stop and were therefore off the leader board and out of mind for much of the event. But then, with just minutes to go, Hoey dived into pit lane to hand over to Walton, losing the race by 30 seconds.
Fast and consistent Queenslanders, Harrison Hoey/Kris Walton (Parolin/Rotax) (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)
In the Masters division, Matt Wall/Glen Riddell (KF Kart/X30) teamed up for the second year running, taking 16th outright (after starting last). Twenty laps behind was second placed Bjorn Schultheiss/Reif Corbett (FA Kart/Rotax), which was somewhat of a miracle – the duo didn’t take the start with a starter motor failure pre-grid. After joining the race late, they encountered numerous other issues along the way, but they did finish, which is half the battle!
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Masters podium (pic – Mark wicks, KartSportNews)
Supercar bragging rights went to Anton de Pasquale, teaming with David Sera and taking fourth place. Nick Percat was 6th, Chaz Mostert 11th, James Golding 19th and Michael Caruso 20th.
Senior Enduro podium (pic – Mark wicks, KartSportNews) Fuel bay (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Flat out fuel bay (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)
scroll down for more pics…
Cadets
21 Cadet entries fronted for their 1 hour race, three teams entering two drivers, the rest going solo.
In the Cadet 12 division, James Anagnostiadis pipped the Isaac McNeill/Max Walton combo for the win with the rest of the field a lap down. Miley Miller, who placed fourth, had earlier qualified fastest.
1 James Anagnostiadis 2 Isaac McNeill / Max Walton 3 Xavier Avramides
Cadet 12 podium (pole sitter Mile Miller replacing 3rd placed Xavier Avramides) (pic – Mark wicks, KartSportNews)
Six drivers made up the Cadet 9 field, all racing solo. Ewan Anderson lead home fastest qualifier William Calleja with Max Mangano third.
Cadet 9 podium (pic – Mark wicks, KartSportNews)
KA3 Junior
All eleven KA3 Juniors ran their one hour race solo. Hugo Simpson, who qualified pole, won by 12.8s over Luke Sawyer. The top seven all completed 62 laps.
1 Hugo Simpson 2 Luke Sawyer 3 Jake Santalucia
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KA3 podium (pic – Mark wicks, KartSportNews) Many teams threw new pads in with about an hour to go (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Jamie Mills returns the Mills Brothers Praga/X30 after a snapped chain took out the coil (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Lots of teams rotated tyres side-to-side, fearing they would run out of dots (and grip!) before the end. All the tyres we saw (MG Red) still had tread left. This is the Masters winning Wall/Riddell entry (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Adam Mercer in the kart (Arrow/Rotax) he shared with Chaz Mostert. Note the stop watch on the steering wheel (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)A number of teams used air-blowers to cool engine and/or brakes in the stops (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)It was a last minute change to FA Kart for Nick Percat and Jake Spencer #39. Spencer wrote off his Arrow the day prior when his brakes failed (bleed nipple) crashing into the fence at 80+kmh, luckily without serious injury. A new FA was built up overnight by the MKC team, allowing them to take sixth. Benito Montalbano/Tyler Howard #44 follow on their way to a solid ninth. (pic – Pace Images)Many of the event organisers competed in the race, including David Sera and Jace Lindstrom (bit stressed there Dave?) (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)That’s one way to get your sign over the fence and above everyone else! (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)One of the pre-race favourites was local hot shots Adam Lindstrom and Jason Pringle. (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)The Noise! First time at Todd Rd, Kev Davies go go go and never missed a beat. (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Last year’s winner Matt McLean teamed up with Jayden Pope but they finished well down the order after losing many laps (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)The other winner from last year, James Golding (Parolin/X30), teamed with James Wharton who was having his first race back in Australia as a Senior. They lost some laps when Golding had to enter the pits for repairs. #94 is Reece Cohen/Cody Brewczynski (JC Kart/Rotax) (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews) The WA entry of Kip Foster/Adam Levi (KF Kart/X30) gets some front end adjustment mid-race. A starter-motor issue cost them time in one of the stops (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Qualifying 8th, Cooper and Henry Johnstone (DR/Rotax) held the lead for many laps but ultimately finished 18th (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Countdown to zero – the winning iPhone! (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Last minute splash-n-dash for Jayden Jin and Jason Burns (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)C’mon Dave! (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Outta the way! Quicks-stops were always a rush from parc ferme to the out lane and more than one team up-ended their trolley. (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)A broken throttle cable ruined the hopes of the Ryan Wood/Ryan Tulloch Ricciardo/X30 (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)Chaz in serious mode (pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews) Michael Caruso teamed with event co-organiser Leigh Nicolaou, but a broken seat stay and radiator mount hampered their run (pic – Pace Images)Declan Sommers/Jace Lindstrom motored along to a fine second place (pic – The Noise)Reverse direction and use of the Clover Leaf infield section makes for a challenging layout that’s different to the norm (pic – Mark wicks, KartSportNews)(pic – Mark Wicks, KartSportNews)
