by Russell Innes, Ipswich Kart Club
At the start of what will be a huge month of karting competition at Ipswich Kart Club, another massive entry of 220 competitors fronted for the KA100 Titles as part of Ipswich Kart Clubs Round 3 of the Club Championship on September 5th. This event was a lead in to IKC Round 4 and the Graham Acreman Memorial for TAG Classes scheduled for September 26th, followed a week later by the Queensland State Championships on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of October.
As the KA100 Titles suggests, the Feature Classes were KA4 Junior Light, KA3 Junior and KA3 Senior Light. The Feature Classes all had qualifying whilst all other classes were random grid draws.
The 27 kart field in KA4 Junior Light was led in qualifying by Zane Rinaldi, very closely followed by Lachlan Platten, Jordan Ensbey, Henry Titman and Carter Mobbs. Rinaldi and Platten showed early on in Heat 1 that they were going to be the two dominant drivers across the day. Rinaldi winning Heat 1 from Platten. Jack Wells came home 3rd from Mobbs and Ensbey. Rinaldi and Platten once again took the top two spots in Heat 2 ahead of Wells, Titman and Alex Gardner. Rinaldi again led Platten home in Heat 3, from Dean Silcock, Matthew Boylett and Alice Buckley.
Rinaldi had led every lap all day leading in to the Final, but Platten was determined to take him on and got the jump at the start of the Final and these two ran close at the front until Rinaldi took over the lead on Lap 8 of 10. Platten came back hard on the final lap though and they went across the line side by side, Rinaldi hanging on to win by 0.011 seconds. Mobbs almost caught them on the final lap to finish 3rd, Titman was an excellent 4th with Buckley 5th.
Marcos Flack set the early pace in qualifying for the 20 kart field in KA3 Junior, ahead of Ty Spencer, Alice Buckley, Zane Rinaldi and Ryan Laycock and the Heat 1 result was exactly the same except for Laycock having a bit of a disastrous start only coming in 17th. In Heat 2, teammates Flack and Spencer again led comfortably before taking each other off with 1 lap to go, leaving the win to Rinaldi from Elliot Cleary and Laycock, with Stewart Hare and Buckley in 5th. Flack recovered to 17th, but Spencer was a DNF. Rinaldi led all the way in Heat 3 for a comfortable win from Keegan Fraser, Shaun Jacques, Coby Govoni and Flack and Spencer who both had to come back from starting deep down in the field.
In the Final, Hare led early from Rinaldi and Flack quickly moving forward again. Rinaldi soon went to the front followed by Flack, these two slowly edging away from Hare who was coming under pressure from Buckley. Flack made the move to the front on lap 6 of 10, but Rinaldi wasn’t making it easy and hounded him to the finish, almost grabbing the win on the last lap, but Flack held on. Buckley came across in 3rd ahead of Hare and Spencer.
KA3 Senior Light continues to build in numbers and certainly has some serious talent. The Matthews brothers, Jace and Declan, along with Jai Brown have been the pacesetters at Ipswich all year, but in the lead up to the State Championships, a few more talented drivers have joined the pack. Kurtis Tennant led Harrison Hoey, Byron Phillips, Declan Matthews and Jace Matthews in Qualifying. Tennant and Hoey had a great battle in Heat 1, Tennant getting the upper hand late in the race. Declan Matthews was 3rd ahead of brother Jace and then Ryan Uhlmann. Tennant led all the way in Heat 2 from Hoey, Jace Matthews, Declan Matthews and Phillips. Tennant again led early in Heat 3 before Hoey and then Jace Matthews got by. Hoey went on to win, Tennant getting back to 2nd ahead of Jace Matthews. Declan Matthews was close behind with Phillips rounding out the top 5.
In to the Final Tennant started on pole from Hoey and the two Matthews brothers on the 2nd row, Phillips and Uhlmann on Row 3. Jace Matthews, Tennant and Hoey all had a stint in the lead early in the Final before Hoey took control on lap 7. Matthews and Tennant stayed close though. Hoey winning by 0.140 seconds from Matthews and Tennant close behind. Phillips and Jai Brown rounding out the top 5.
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In the other classes, Basilo Micale and Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi again fought for top honours in Cadet 9, Micale winning two heats from Eskandari-Marandi, the results reversed in the other heat. Zack Hilder, Brock Helm and Gabrial Elkayam all had a 3rd place throughout the Heats. Eskandari-Marandi led Micale home in the Final, these two well clear of Caleb Myers who drove fantastic to get his first podium at Ipswich.
The small Cadet 4SS field ran with Cadet 9 and was led all day by Samual Piggott, ahead of a vastly improved Annabel Kennedy.
The massive Cadet 12 field was dominated by Isaac McNeil who was in splendid form winning all 3 Heats and the Final, Max Walton and Jenson Burns making it a Parolin clean sweep in the Final.
4SS Junior continues to grow as a class with 3 new P Platers. Keiran Stirling, Miles Bromley and Jack Stimson filled the first 3 places across the Heats and Final, whilst newcomers Jordan Briggs, Jai Cleveland and Finn Woodley put on a great battle across the day for the P Plater honours.
The 4SS Senior classes were down on numbers a bit as many would be contesting the big 4SS Invasion meeting at Bundaberg Kart Club the week later, so small fields of the 4 Stroke guys and girls still put on some good racing. Edward Arendt and Riley Conroy both had Heat wins in 4SS Supermaxx Heavy, but Conroy had a comfortable win in the Final from Arendt and BJ Kennedy. Kevin Johnson was unchallenged all day in 4SS Senior Light, winning all the Heats and the Final ahead of Julie Folley. Paul Jarvis and Kaid Macdonald battled all day for the leading P Plate and 3rd in Class, Macdonald getting the upper hand in the Final. Timothy Baker clean swept the Heats and Final in 4SS Senior Medium, ahead of Harrison Arendt.
In the TAG Restricted classes, Lachlan Murphy, Nathaniel Harrison, Kyle Zink, Dallas Oksanen, Josh Goddard and Melanya Rudd were amongst the placings in the Heats in TAG Restricted Light. Murphy and Oksanen were the winners during the Heats and put on a good battle in the Final, Murphy narrowly winning from Oksanen and Harrison. Tom Steinfort has been the man to beat lately in TAG Restricted Medium, but Jamie Page set the early pace with a Heat 1 win from Joshua Williams and Ashley Lester. Steinfort bounced back to win Heat 2 from Pete Sattler and Williams. Page, Williams and Steinfort again at the front in Heat 3. Page led Steinfort all the way in the Final, these two well clear of the battle for 3rd which saw Ben Lillis come through after a quiet day prior. Paul Baxter looked pretty comfortable leading all day in TAG Restricted Masters winning all 3 Heats and the Final. Nick Newman, Craig Westwood and Justin Beeton, shared the placings during the Heats, Newman emerging quickest of the rest and 2nd in the Final, ahead of Westwood in 3rd.
The TAG Light and Heavy grids are healthy at Ipswich as the drivers build up to the prestigious Graham Acreman Memorial on Saturday 26th September and then the Qld State Championships the week later. TAG light was going to be a cracker with the likes of Marc Tulloch, Tyler Greenbury, Jace Matthews, Dylan Rudd, Harrison Hoey, Scott Sorensen, Brent Reading, Thomas Cooper, Joel Jamieson, Ben Jurczak, etc. Tulloch won the 1st heat from Matthews and Greenbury. Greenbury the 2nd Heat from Reading and Cooper. Sorensen, Greenbury, Alexander Hadden and Tulloch had a fantastic battle in Heat 3, before Sorensen fell back. Greenbury hanging on to win from Tulloch and Jurczak coming through for 3rd. Greenbury lead early in the Final before Tulloch took the lead and edged out to a half second vistory. Hoey after a DNF in Heat 2 had to work his way back up the field in the Final and finished 3rd, ahead of Jurczak and Hadden. Jared Neinert and Scott Gray were Heat winners in TAG Heavy, with Jamie Page, Andrew Gilliam and Angus Mathers amongst the placings. In the Final, Gray had a comfortable victory ahead of Neinert and Gilliam. Page 4th and Wagner Cardoso recovering from a solid hit early in the day to finish 5th in the Final.
The crowd pleasing KZ2 were on the programme again at IKC and Troy Loeskow was again dominant winning all 3 Heats and the Final. Jac Preston and Flynn Jackes were the quickest of the rest and shared the minor placings across the Heats. Preston got the better in the Final taking 2nd from Jackes.
- full results are on speedhive HERE
Ipswich Kart Club continues to run their very successful Clubday Challenge Program at IKC Club Rounds and the Group Winners on the day were, Gabriel Elkayam in Cadet 9 Group 2, Alester Flack in Cadet 9 Group 3, Sebastian Bennet in Cadet 12 Group 2, Armand Hamilton in Cadet 12 Group 3, Henry Titman in KA4 Junior Light Group 2, Luke Ayres in KA4 Junior Light Group 3, Josh Goddard in TAG Restricted Light Group 2, Ashley Jarvis in TAG Restricted Light Group 3 and Kent Lawrence in TAG Restricted Medium Group 2.
The Graham Acreman Memorial for TAG will be the feature classes at the next IKC Cub Round 4 on Saturday September 26th, only 1 week before the State Championships also at Ipswich so this race meeting will likely again have a massive entry list of well over 200, possibly up to 250.
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