by Kev ‘The Noise’ Davies
Last weekend SEK QLD held their round 6 event at Warwick Kart Club, culminating in a 7-hour enduro race on Sunday.
However, first off on Saturday, amongst the Formula 100 races, were several junior & senior single engine races.
- Full results on speedhive HERE
- More videos on Kev’s YouTube HERE
- More videos & interviews on Kev’s Facebook HERE
- Photos from the event on Kev’s Facebook – album 1 HERE, album 2 HERE, album 3 HERE.
In the Juniors there was some great racing all day and the #28 kart of Haydn Crossley, having gotten closer and closer to the leading pack, suffered a problem in the final leaving him 2 seconds off the pace and eventually a DNF, his highlight a 3rd place finish in heat 3 with a much stronger showing. In third place it was Jackson Greenhalgh who on this occasion just couldn’t match the pace of brother Sam. He did best him in heat 1 but wouldn’t repeat that for the rest of the day. Sam Greenhalgh got to within 0.179s of the winner in heat 3 but that was as close as he got because it was a dominant performance all day from eventual winner Zachary Fill.
In the Senior 4-stroke singles a few dramas were to spoil Helena Crossley’s chances of finishing all heats. Dramas also struck Dean Crossley who after winning all the heats unfortunately didn’t get going in the final with a mechanical issue. 4th place went to the new comer Rylee Grier-Stralow. Julia Crossley got a well deserved 3rd place and got to stand on the podium. Also on the podium in second place was the consistently quick Ronald Barnes, leaving the top step to be populated by the Molecule Cleaning products Australia driver Colin Palmer.
The final for the 4-stroke singles was a 50 minute final sharing the track with the twin engine enduro karts for their 1-hour sprint race on the Saturday.
In the one hour sprint race, dramas struck Team Omega early on with the kart after qualifying in p4 on the second row an engine continually throwing chains was to be their undoing, finishing 16 laps down. Ahead of them all on the same lap it was team Seven73 then the #25 kart The Kartel and in front of The Kartel was team #46 City Generators. A well deserved 2nd place in the Sportsman class and 5th overall went to a Race Odyssey kart #22. Kart #13 the aptly named Team 13 did a fabulous job to take victory in the Sportsman class and 4th overall.
As expected the three Maxx class karts were on the podium. In third place a great result for #33 Ruperts Bar & Grill. A massive battle between the top two karts could have gone either way with both teams recording 49 second laps for the last 7 laps whilst lapping back-markers – it was extraordinary! Eventually Tam JLA Racing #12 would take the win ahead of #66 Force Phantom.
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Moving onto the 7-Hour enduro on Sunday, and this race had its fair share of dramas. Firstly the pole position medal went to Team JLA Racing with a 49.366 second lap achieved by stand in driver Hayden Nissen (full time driver Adam Briggs is stuck in NSW).
The first drama actually started the previous day for Team Omega whose chain dramas would continue through the entire race and only swapping engines onto a different side of the kart eventually cured the issue. Unfortunately they were well out of contention by then.
A problem with the chain also struck one of the favourite, team #66 Force Phantom who came in and changed an engine in 180 seconds(!) – and that’s slow for them!! This would see them battling the pack for most of the seven hours.
Also suffering a major mechanical failure was team #46 City Generators when an axle snapped mid race at the end of the main straight. They would get a new axle fitted and finish the race in 8th place overall.
In 7th place was The Kartel just 20 laps off the lead lap after completing 463 laps. Ahead of them were Team Seven 73 who finished 6th overall and 3rd in the Sportsman class, recording the fastest lap of the Sportsman class of a 50.107s with “The Stig” in the seat, Nick Hobbs.
5th overall went to #22 a Race Odyssey who ran Force Phantom #66 oh so close, but were passed by them in the dying laps. A fabulous 3rd overall, and winning the Sportsman class, capped an amazing weekend for #13 Team 13.
Just as big an accomplishment was to come for #33 Ruperts Bar and Grill who managed their first ever 2nd place. But the win went to the dominant team of the weekend and there was no stopping team JLA Racing #12.
An amazing weekend once more and now we move to round 7!
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