words & images from Paul Feely, BKC
Karters from around regional Victoria descended on Haddon Park Raceway to compete on Sunday October 25.
87 karters across 12 classes provided organisers with a mathematical migraine to fit everyone on the grid within the “10 on track” Covid limit. But fit they did, and it was great to see so many karts in action.
The times were record fast. Whether it was the cold weather, the strong tail wind, the new kerbs, or the amount of rubber down we don’t really know, but it provided great entertainment and enjoyment for the karters on track.
- full results on speedhive HERE
- scroll to the bottom for more images
Victorian Combined Masters
11 karts ABC, ACD, ABD, BDC, Random draw – Confused yet? The seasoned veterans worked it out eventually and took to the track to do battle.
Heat 1: Steven Malkin jumped out of the blocks to first place, while Ash Mitchell worked his way to 2nd from 6th on the grid by lap 3.
Barry Golightly was holding on 3rd until Glenn Riddell came through 2 laps from home
Heat 2: Ash Mitchell would start from pole and win by 4 seconds, while Noel Hocking, Steven Malkin and John Page were tucked much closer together for 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Heat 3: Ash Mitchell blitzed the field by almost 6 seconds this time, followed in by Greg Ord and Neil McCauley
Heat 4: Local John Page fended off Steve Malkin for 1st, with Glenn Riddell charging fast behind them and setting the fastest time of the session.
Final: The last class of a long day and the weather turned downright miserable, with some of the field calling it a day to start the long drive home.
Ash Mitchell’s skills on show again in the wet – romping home to a 9 second victory.
John Page was the closest competitor in 2nd, followed by Steven Malkin and Greg Ord.
Overall Points
1 Ash Mitchell
2 Steven Malkin
3 John Page
4SS Senior Light and Heavy
Heat 1
Kirsty Mullen was knocking repeatedly on Andrea Reed’s rear bumper before a little too much contact saw Andrea airborne out of Woolshed and lose her lead in 4SS light.
New P plater Julie Bentley finishing in 3rd.
In 4SS Heavy Beau Humphrey would drive well to try and stay with the lights with Anthony Taylor in tow.
Heat 2 and 3
Much less contact between the front 2 saw Kirsty take a comfortable lead ahead of Andrea, and positions would remain the same , while in heat 3 Kirsty would take the lead from Andrea on lap 6.
Final
The final would see Beau Humphrey overtake the lights and finish ahead by 0.023 seconds, with all other positions remaining constant.
4SS Light Overall Points
1 Kirsty Mullen
2 Andrew Reid
3 Julie Bentley
4SS Heavy Overall Points
1 Beau Humphrey
2 Anthony Taylor
Victorian Combined Medium
7 P platers in a field of 10, what could go wrong? Not much as it turns out, with the field being pretty smart and cautious into turn one and throughout the day.
Heat 1
Aidan Solomon and Jack Johnson were the pace of the field, lapping in mid to the high 31s.
Daniel Storer grabbed 3rd for the best of the P plates, followed by Graham Cox.
Heat 2
Solomon and Johnson separated by only 1 second in the end, followed by Cox in 3rd
Heat 3
Johnson got closer again, this time finishing just 0.2 behind Solomon,
Cox and Storer taking 3rd and 4th again.
Heat 4
Evil conditions unfurled with the field going out the gate on slick tyres as the rain started and the temperature plummeted.
The top 3 still held their head high, with Solomon, Johnson and Cox taking the honours. Only 2 retirements in mixed conditions put in a very good report card for a few P plate drivers.
Overall Points
1 Aidan Solomon
2 Daniel Storer
3 Graham Cox
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Cadet 9
The Cadets were racy from the outset, with starters struggling to get them to slow down and form up for a race start.
Heat 1
Local Lewis Kucina would win, while visitor Cayden Humphrey would set the fastest time. Archie Bristow would lead the P plate squad home ahead of Xavier Mifsud.
Heat 2
Kucina would stretch his legs ahead of Humphrey, with Bristow in a comfortable second.
Heat 3
The margins were closer as the karst improved, but the results were the same, with Kucina, Humphrey and Bristow.
Final
The conditions became difficult and all the Cadets did a fantastic job to stay on track as much as possible. Kucina would have a race to forget, spinning twice from the lead but setting the fastest lap by 1.5 seconds.
Xavier Mifsud loved the wet conditions, jumping up to second from his position of 5th in the heats
Humphrey, Mifsud and Bristow were the top 3.
Overall Points
1 Cayden Humphrey
2 Archie Bristow
3 Lewis Kucina
KA3 Senior Medium
Perhaps the class of the day with a field full of talent that saw nose to tail racing.
Heat 1
Remo Luciani led the field away, but it was a proper dust up behind him with a train of karts and some great “sends” in turn one. Local Luke Fong would prevail for a hard fought 2nd, chased hard by Daniel Hookway and Ryan Cook. Taine Venables would set the fastest lap of the heat from the back of the grid, while misfortune for Todd Chambers with damaged steering on the rollaround ending his race early on lap 5.
Heat 2
A lights to flag win by Taine Venables out front, with Hookway, Luciani, Cook and Chambers as the tail of the dragon in tow.
Heat 3
Identical fastest laps of 30.859 for Venables and Chambers, with the top 7 karts within 2 tenths, but it would be Venables at the front for the flag. The first 6 karts finished within just 1.085 seconds of the leader, including Luciani, Hookway, Chambers, Fong, and King.
Final
A few spits of rain on track for the final , but this group was gripped up and only gave up a few tenths. Luciani would jump to the front and tow Hookway around for the race, while Chambers made is way through the grid with some decisive moves for 3rd
Overall Points
1 Remo Luciani
2 Daniel Hookway
3 Taine Venables
Cadet 12
Cadet 12 was the second class to have ABCD mixed heats, and it was great to see the youngsters race together well.
Heat 1
Samuel March would move up from 4th on the grid to take the lead at the finish line. Ewan Anderson battled hard to take second just a little bit behind, and Chelsea Humphrey would wrap up 3rd. Mitchell Soderstrom and Jack Jenkins were locked together for 4th and 5th
Heat 2
Tyce Hodge set a blazing lap time of 34.2 at the front of the field, with Lochlan Farrell and Samuel March close behind. This time it was Jenkins and Humphrey that would be locked together for 4th and 5th
Heat 3
Hodge would take a comfortable 7 second win over Farrell in difficult conditions, with Jack Jenkins being the only other lead lap finisher.
Heat 4
The pace was back in the dry weather and Hodge would see the line ahead of Farrell, with Samuel March, Ewan Anderson and Chelsea Humphrey in good dice for 4,5,6
Final
Hodge and Farrell put on a great battle out front, but it was Tyce the victor by 2.5 seconds, and Samuel March not far behind.
Overall Points
1 Tyce Hodge
2 Lachlan Farrell
3 Samuel March
KA3 Senior Light and TAG Heavy
Two classes very different on paper, KA3 20kg Lighter and TAG Heavy with more power on different tyres; but actually very very close on lap time around the Haddon circuit.
Heat 1
Jordan Malcolm would put a decisive move on Jason Douglas early on and take the win by a very small margin. The TAG Heavy kart of Ray Dumesny was nipping at the heals of 3rd place KA3 light Adam Henriksen by the end.
Heat 2
Malcolm took the front from 3rd on the grid, while Henriksen held onto second ahead of Douglas. This time in was Billy Westerveld harrying the 3rd KA3 driver, with lap times across all 5 karts separated by less than 1 tenth.
Heat 3
A comfortable win for Malcolm ahead of Henriksen, with the faster Douglas struggling to make use of his pace, while Billy Westerveld joined the party to split the KA3 drivers.
Final
Malcolm was heading for a comfortable win when the rain started 3 laps from home, making for interesting times as the pioneer into turn 2.
All karts demonstrated their aptitude for the conditions and bought the karts home in one piece, Malcolm, Douglas, Westerveld, Dumesny, Westerveld
KA3 Senior Light Overall Points
1 Jordan Malcolm
2 Jason Douglas
3 Adam Henriksen
TAG Heavy Overall Points
1 Billy Westerveld
2 Ray Dumesney
KA4 Junior Light
Heat 1
A small KA4 Light field saw Kobey Samuelson take the win ahead of local Oliver Fumi and 3rd placed Tarkyn Bentley.
Heat 2
Samuelson would retire after several laps, letting Fumi pass Andrew Riddell for the win
Heat 3
3rd heat, 3rd different winner, with Riddell talking the win over Samuelson, Fumi and Bentley
Final
Difficult and greasy conditions for the final saw Riddell rise to the top ahead of Samuelson and Fumi
Overall Points
1 Oliver Fumi
2 Andrew Riddell
3 Koby Samuelson
Victorian Combined Light
14 karts entered meant a slightly different system of 6 heats to work within the 10 on track limit. Each heat was also random draw, making for some lucky and unlucky starting positions, but the best still worked their way to the front.
Heat 1
Group one was won by Terry Rankin, with David Menzel and Harrison Campbell less than 1 second behind.
Group two was a comfortable win for Lachlan Swayne, 4 seconds ahead of Greg Dunmore and Jacob Dowlin.
Heat 2
Group one: Local Mitch Arrow recovered from a DNF in heat one to take the win ahead of James McNamara.
Group two: Menzel took the flag just ahead of Swayne in 2nd, with Timothy Taylor in 3rd
Heat 3
Group one: Campbell made hay as others battled behind him, including Maya McNamara in 2nd and Rankin in 3rd
Group two: Changing conditions had Menzel just ahead of Arrow at the line, with the next battle on track would be Dunmore Junior (Ella) beating Dunmore Senior (Greg).
Final
The worst conditions of the day was music to Mitch Arrows ears, taking the win in the wet (And then spinning out before pit-in in celebration)
Terry Rankin 2nd, Maya McNamara 3rd and Ella Dunmore 4th
Overall Points
1 David Menzel
2 Ella Dunmore
3 Mitch Arrow
KA4 Junior Heavy
Heat 1
Seth Burton had the speed to stay ahead of Zach Findlay for P1 and P2, with Grace Dunmore picking up a neat 3rd place.
Heat 2
Heat 2 was interrupted by an early red flag when Jett Rendell was in the wrong place at the wrong time , launching off the rear wheel of a spinning Burton, and landing very heavily. Upon restart Grace Dunmore would take the win ahead of Domenic Kucina and Laura Fahey
Heat 3
Findlay finished ahead of Burton by 0.6 seconds, following by Grace Dunmore, Domenic Kucina and Grace Riddell
Final
Another final affected by worsening conditions, and this time it was Burton, Findlay, Dunmore, Riddell at the post.
Overall points
1 Grace Dunmore
2 Seth Burton
3 Domenic Kucina
Ballarat Kart Club thanks everyone that took part, all our volunteers officials and our great first aid.
The next round of the inter club challenge is at Wimmera Kart Club on November 8.
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