words – Russell Innes, Ipswich Kart Club
photos – Paul Goodman Photography, 0406086869
Another fantastic entry of 251 karters arrived for the 2nd round of the 2021 Ipswich Kart Club Championship on Saturday March 6th. Feature classes this round were TAG Light and TAG Heavy, who were also competing for the Graham Acreman Memorial trophies.
As they did in Round 1, the Tyler Greenbury Racing team was dominant in TAG Light, Hamish Fitzsimmons setting fastest time in qualifying and then having a reasonably comfortable win in all 3 Heats. Teammates Ryan Hadden and Ryan Laycock filled the placings during the Heats along with Marc Tulloch with Dylan Rudd also in the mix. Fitzsimmons was superb though and had a great win in the Final to add his name to the Graham Acreman Memorial trophy. Hadden and Laycock made it a TGR podium. Rudd was 4th with Lucas O’Connor 5th.
Christopher Williams went in as favourite in the big TAG Heavy field and backed it up with a strong qualifying performance and then strong wins in all 3 Heats and the Final. After a disappointing Round 1, Shane Castles bounced back with a very strong result as best of the rest during the Heats and 2nd in the Final, just ahead of Jamie Page, Finlay Derry and Scott Gray.
The small 4SS Cadet field was led all day by Annabel Kennedy, who won the Final comfortably from Zac Mason and Caine Caldwell.
After victory in Round 1, Zack Hilder was looking to continue on with his success, but Sebastian Eskandari-Miranda would provide a strong challenge as these two took a Heat win each, and then Eskandari-Miranda winning the 3rd Heat to start the Final from pole, but Hilder drove superbly to get to the front and defend well to hang on for a narrow win in the Final. Alester Flack was always very close behind these two all day but had to settle for 3rd. Others to figure amongst the top 5 placings during the Heats were Lana Flack, Gabriel Elkayam, Travis Dhu, Caleb Myers and Riley Curtis.
The huge Cadet 12 field of 30 had some mixed results throughout the Heats with Basilo Micale, Patrick Buckley, Toby Musico, Jenson Burns and Baxter Jarrett amongst the placings. Heat 2 provided some real drama as Kobi Preston flipped his kart and the ensuing pileup took out 8 karts. All drivers were okay and Preston was able to start the next Heat. In the Final, a tremendous battle for the lead resulted in Jenson Burns crossing first, half a kart length ahead of James Cittolin and Patrick Buckley, only a 10th of a second between the 3. Musico was 4th with Ky Burke 5th.
The 4SS Junior class is slowly building up numbers again with new drivers coming in. Cooper Crawford and Cody Scott had Heat wins, with Xander Jacobi not far behind. Crawford and Scott had an intense battle in the Final for the lead, Crawford withstanding several attempts by Scott to get past for the race lead, with Jacobi right behind and waiting for the opportunity. Crawford held on to win from Scott and Jacobi.
KA4 Junior Light had most of the usual frontrunners amongst the placings during the Heats. Isaac McNeill, Ryan MacMillan, Alex Gardner, Max Walton, Jordan Ensbey, Mika LeMasurier and Michael Janusz all figuring prominently. McNeill coming across the line first in the Final fractionally ahead of MacMillan. Gardner a brilliant drive to 3rd, just holding out Walton and Ensbey.
Slade Orsmond, Sebastian Tupackovski, Dean Silcock and Hayden Egan were the pacesetters and shared the podium placings during the Heats in KA3 Junior. In the Final Orsmond won for the 2nd Round in a row, ahead of Tupackovski and Silcock. Liam Thomson coming through for 4th in the Final ahead of Egan in 5th.
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The 4SS Senior brigade came out in force again as they build up towards their 4SS Titles event in May. In Senior Light, Justin Whittal won all 3 Heats but Dion Jarvis was strong in the Final for a narrow win from Whittal and Julian Cook back in 3rd. In Senior Medium, Timothy Baker drove possibly the best we have seen from him to have 3 very strong wins in the Heats and then a dominant win in the Final. Last Round winner Damian Poole was 2nd just edging out Daniel Lawler.
Craig Silcox made the long trek south worthwhile with a strong drive to the Suppermaxx Heavy win in the Final, from Kevin Davis and Anthony Tucker. Young gun Jack Munro was dominant in Supermaxx Medium winning all 3 Heats and the Final by a big margin. Kevin Johnston was next best with Caleb Webber emerging from the midfield pack for a strong 3rd in the Final.
The TAG Restricted Light field was once again a massive turnout with 31 starters, but Brent Reading was dominant again, although Dallas Oksanen did take a Heat 1 win as Reading came through from the back in the random grid draw. Reading won the 2nd and 3rd Heats and then the Final convincingly by over 5 seconds and set the fastest lap in every Heat and the Final. Oksanen was the best of the rest with a 7th in the 2nd Heat from a low starting spot in the random grid draw, a 2nd in the 3rd Heat and then 2nd in the Final. Dion Jarvis, Robert Mortensen, Melanya Rudd and Ashley Jarvis had some great racing fighting for the minor placings throughout the day, but it was Dion Jarvis who ended up on the 3rd step of the podium.
Like Reading in TAG Restricted Light, Joshua Herne is dominating TAG Restricted Medium and after winning Round 1 has continued on with wins in all 3 Heats and the Final in Round 2. Dean Hollier, Phillip Ouzounis, Nickolas Lorenz, Jody Zaal and Adam Woods had strong battles throughout the heats for the minor placings. Lorenz finishing 2nd in the Final from Woods, Zaal and Hollier.
In TAG Restricted Masters, Michael Mclean turned the tables on Adam Surplice, reversing the final result from Round 1. McLean and Surplice both took a Heat win early, before Surplice narrowly defeated McLean in Heat 3. The battle continued in the Final with McLean just holding out Surplice and then Peter Nolloth just edging out Justin Beeton for 3rd. Darren Wong rounded out the placings with 5th in the Final.
KA3 Senior Light as they always do, put on some great racing. Kurtis Tennant and Jai Brown were the fast 2 during the Heats, Tennant winning all 3 Heats just ahead of Brown. The minor placings during the Heats were shared around between Benito Montalbano, Keegan Fraser, Lachlan Nichols, Brieann Moyse and Chase Webster. In the Final Tennant was able to establish a good lead and had a comfortable 3 second win, from Brown and Montalbano.
Open Performance was a battle between Scott Howard and Scott Cleveland, previous and current IKC Club Presidents. Howard won Heat 1 from Cleveland and Keyan Appleby but copped a DQ for a transponder infringement. Cleveland won Heat 2 from Howard and Appleby, Howard reversing the result in Heat 3 with Bill Miller 3rd. In the Final Howard had a comfortable win from Cleveland and Appleby.
The 2nd Round of the 2021 Queensland KZ2 State Series also featured on the program and Troy Loeskow went in as the driver to beat and started well with fast time in Qualifying followed by good wins in Heat 1 from Bailey Sagaidak and Taylah Agius and Heat 2 from Agius and Sam Houston, but Agius was on fire in Heat 3 for a narrow victory over Loeskow and Oscar Targett. This set things up for what was going to be an exciting Final. Loeskow led early from Sagaidak and Agius, before Sagaidak took the lead followed through by Agius. Loeskow then slowed and DNF’d. Agius kept the pressure on Sagaidak and took over the race lead on lap 7 of 10 to hold on for a narrow margin of victory. Sam Houston came through for 3rd.
The next IKC championship round will not be until May 1st, which will be the big one for the 4SS brigade, the IKC 4SS Titles Meeting and will once again have most of the Finals conducted under lights.
- full results are on speedhive HERE
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