50-Lap Handicap Features at Lithgow Opener

Last Sunday January 23, Combined Districts Kart Club held its first event for 2021 at Lithgow City Raceway. The event was round 1 of the Club Championship and also featured a 50 Lap Classic for TAG Restricted and Senior Performance karts.

The event attracted 135 entries for class racing and a track capacity field of 32 for the Classic.

The event started with a tribute to Russell Grimson who passed away early in January. Russell had been karting since the 60s and was a life member of Coffs Harbour, Combined Districts and Vintage & Historic Kart Clubs and a life member of KNSW.

Novice attracted 13 entries with lots of new faces. Some great racing through the heats and finals.

1. Luke Freeburn
2. Oscar Singh
3. Charlie Campbell

Rookies had an awesome field with 24 entries. The racing was close and hard throughout the day. The final was dramatic before the race even started. Pole sitter and current Club Champion Josh Hunter dropped a chain on the first roll up lap, this led to a collision that involved Josh Benaud (Pole sitter) Brad Freeburn and Lucas Youl. Brad Freeburn was the only one that could continue but was to start at the back of the pack. Hamish Campbell led from start to finish and was pushed all the way by Joseph Belardo, Daniel Quimby crossed the line in third but had lost a chain guard and was excluded elevating Corey Carson to 3^rd.

1. Hamish Campbell
2. Joseph Belardo
3. Corey Carson

Junior Light and Heavy were on track together with 13 Lights and 8 Heavies. Lots of new Karter’s in both of these fields was great to see. This was the action class for the day with 2 red flags but thankfully no injuries. Light had some experienced races; the podium was an all star affair. The heavy class had some great new Karters, with notable performance by Massimo Sofi and Darcy Dunn who was unlucky to get caught up a tangle in the final while in a podium position.

Junior Light

1. Alex Ninovic
2. Oliver Saade
3. Ryan Tomsett

Junior Heavy

1. Imogen Radburn
2. Nick Ricci
3. Massimo Sofi

Junior Performance had 13 entries with some close racing. Jordan Shalala showed his class by leading from start to finish. Ryan Tomsett finished 3 seconds back with Christian Estasy glued to his rear bumper for most of the race. A couple of notable performances by Oliver Estasy (5^th) and Lincoln Pope (9^th) have their first race in Junior performance.

1. Jordan Shalala
2. Ryan Tomsett
3. Christian Estasy

4SS Heavy and 4SS Super Heavy had 7 entries each making a field of 14. The 4-Bangers had some close racing. The battle at the front of Heavy was intense with the lead changing many times. The Super Heavy boys were also having a Super race a few seconds down the track.

4SS Heavy

1. Paul MacKinnon
2. Shane Wilson
3. Russell Newell

4SS Super Heavy

1. Kurtis Dickson
2. Adam Berghoffer
3. Brent Dickson

TAG Restricted Light with 28 entries was the largest field of the day. There were a few “ring ins” for the day as the 50 lapper had attracted lots of interest. The racing was spectacular through the heats and finals.

1. Josh Sieffert
2. Cody Manes-Rutty
3. Adam Wright

Senior Performance Light attracted 9 entries. Bonito Montalbano dominated the day with the other podium positions up for grabs. In the Final Trent Rogers got an early lead but could not hold off Kart Republic teammate Montalbano. Macey Cluderay and Zac Varley had a great dice for 3^rd with Macey taking the final podium spot.

1. Bonito Montalbano
2. Trent Rogers
3. Macey Cluderay

TAG Heavy attracted 9 entries with most if this field also entering the 50 lapper (needing to add a Restrictor). The racing was hard and fair all day with Jack Lemon having his first run in TAG and taking a strong podium position

1. Simon Davison
2. Jack Lemon
3. Nick Becker

50 Lap Classic

The 50 lapper attracted a full grid of 32 entries with a few on the waiting list. The race included 3 classes with a time handicap based on Lithgow lap records for each class being applied.

Senior Performance Light started at the front with a 40 second handicap followed by TAG Restricted Light (35 second handicap) and TAG Restricted Heavy. Each class was gridded in reverse order of the heat racing results.

There were 4 casualties that did not make it to the end of lap 1. After this the racing settled into a sensible pace with drivers needing to keep a good pace to catch up their handicap or prevent being run down by a faster class.

Once the race had settled Macey Cluderay, Zac Varley (Senior Performance Light) and Josh Seiffert (TAG R Light) were at the head of the field and Nick Becker was leading on handicap (TAG R Heavy) from Jack Lemon (TAG R Heavy). On Lap 27 Nick Becker was out of the race and Jack Lemon assumed the Handicap lead. As the race was drawing to an end Zac and Macey were still nose to tail and had been for the entire 50 laps. Josh Seifert was less than 5 seconds on track behind these 2 and in front of them on handicap and Jack Lemon need to be lapped by the Senior performance karts and have them pull away by 5 seconds.

When the flag fell and the handicaps were applied Josh Seiffert was the winner (by .186) over Zac Varley and Macey Cluderay .296 behind the winner.

There are a couple of bugs to iron out of how the timing system was set up to run the handicaps, which we now know what to do for the next 50 Lap Classic, which will be for Juniors on February 21.