2021 is upon us so let’s take a look at what this year has in store for us, COVID pending of course.
The Queensland Superkart Club currently has 5 rounds split between Queensland Raceway and Lakeside planned at the time of writing with an option for 2 Morgan park rounds. The season kicks off on March 21st at the home of QLD Motorsport and one of the great driving tracks in Australia Lakeside Park Raceway. Next up is Queensland Raceway on the 24th of April, 22n of May and the 21st of August for Rounds 2, 3 and 4 before returning to Lakeside on the 19th of September for round 5. Morgan Park is an option in June and November of which will be decide at the February general meeting.
We have new members joining us in 2021 which is great to see, let’s have a look at the various classes now and who’s who in the zoo!
Rotax Light
This has been the domain of Peter Nuske over the last several seasons and is short odds to continue his winning form in 2021 can anyone stop him? Leighton Cook will be looking to build on his first ever round win in 2020 and look to knock Pete off the top spot regularly! Amber Bothamley is another dark horse and after placing on the podium at round 2 in 2020 will be looking to feature regularly on the podium and maybe grab a win if Pete or Leighton make an error. Jeff Cook had a less than ideal 2020 season with a few mechanical gremlins however he did significantly improve his pace over the 2 rounds so expect him to grab a podium or 2 if he has those issues sorted.
Returning in 2021 after some time off is Ben Longland and word on the grapevine is he has a new weapon at his disposal! Will he come out of the blocks firing and mix it at the top or will the new package take some sorting out early on in the season?
Paul Buckley has joined the club for 2021 and has been covering the miles having done some practice days at Queensland Raceway where he will fall into the established pecking order? Only time will tell but looking forward to seeing it all play out.
Rotax Heavy
David Dyson has recently made this class his own after being dominated for many years by Nick Marshall who we’re hoping returns again for 2021 and sets up a dog fight for the title. Glenn Wiggins will be looking to build on his experience gained last year and continue to close the gap to the front, this could be his last season in Rotax with Glenn keen to step up to a gearbox kart in the future. Paul Prineas is making a comeback this season so hopefully he hasn’t lost too much mojo and will be back up to speed enjoying the close racing the Rotax classes produce.
125 National
This will be one of the classes to watch this year with some serious heavy hitters amongst the ranks. Doug Amiss has the Anderson TM package humming and took out both round wins in 2020. BLUFF racing will be looking to grab their first 125 Championship and they have all the right ingredients to make it happen.
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2019 Champion Jon Bothamley will be keen to keep them at bay and train his champion status in 2021 but after a less than ideal 2020 campaign Jon starts 2021 on the back foot. Tim Philp showed plenty of speed at the first round of 2020 although a small reliability gremlin creeped in for the final race that weekend, if he runs the full championship expect him to feature regularly at the top end of the timesheets.
Chryss Jamieson showed that age is no barrier for speed in 2020 mixing Doug, Jon and the rest. Word on the grapevine is that 2018 Club Champion Rocket Rod Tait is making a return hopefully that comes to fruition and he can join the action again! Looking forward to seeing how it all plays out over the 2021 season and who takes home the spoils at the end of the year.
250 National
Can anyone stop the dominant force that Weier Family Racing have become in this class having dominated by winning the class championship 5 out of the last 6 years excluding 2020! AGL motorsport with drivers Lachlan and Gareth Crisp often have the speed by unreliability have cost them in recent seasons and with Gareth now being a Dad we might only see him run a limited campaign this year.
Johnny La Spina had some teething issues with his new Anderson Yamaha package but showed promise to lead the opening laps at the final race of 2020, the grapevine says he’s taking a break in 2021 to do other activities which would be a shame given the momentum they were starting to build.
Steve Murray will be fast if and when he gets his kart back together (nudge nudge Steve). There’s also been interest in some 250’s for sale in the club so hopefully we can get those over the line and get them into the club! If you’re reading this and think that a 250 National is right up your alley then get in contact so we can make your dreams a reality. If they can’t get it sold we may see Russell Jamieson make a couple of Cameo appearances driving the Coach Design 250 Nat which would add an extra dimension to the class!
250 International
250 Internationals numbers have reduced over recent years with only a few active in the club atm. Russell Jamieson is always blindingly fast but rarely runs a full season preferring to focus on the National rounds instead. Steve Cloake has his VM Stockman humming along and the grapevine says that we might see some driver swaps in 2021 will be interesting to see what happens there.
Neil Faulkner’s twin is still up for sale and maybe if it doesn’t sell we can convince him to give it another run or two hey Neil! Lee Swindle’s PVP 250 has been recently bought and should be back on track in the coming months with one of David Dyson’s crew deciding to jump into the deep end of Superkarting!
- the full Qld Superkart Club February newsletter is on the club’s website HERE.
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