QSC Round 1 Lakeside Raceway 21st March 2021
by Marilyn Weier
Qualifying
A very good field of 21 karts turn up for the first Round of the Queensland Superkart Series at Lakeside Raceway.
As well as our regular Drivers we welcome newcomers #94 Liam Hoy, #18 Ross Frazer, #17 Kyle Schroder #65 Mark Holmes, #32 Greg Hack and a returning member from 2013 #98 Paul Davis. All of whom increased out 125cc Gear Box Karts on the track except for Mark who joined the 125cc Non Gearbox kart ranks.
Also adding to our grid were four drivers from South Australia, #7Tony Lappas 125cc National, #12 James (Jim) Gorman NGB Light, #97 James Boden NGB Light and #41 Brandon Stillwell NGB Light and we appreciate their coming all this way. James told me he use to race 250cc GP Bikes in the early 90’s when our Pole sitter Tim Weier would have been in Kindergarten.
Despite the cloudy and grey sky, it was a dry track for qualifying. Tim Weier #89 in his 250cc National was first in line to go out but the rest of the field beat him out when he lost radio contact while still in the marshalling area. His earbuds had failed. They were quickly replaced, checked and he headed out to set the fastest time of 55.79secs to put it on pole. Lachlan Crisp #88 also in a 250cc National was only able to set a time of 59. 60 secs, putting him 3rd on the Grid, when his feet kept hitting the nose cone and he was unable to put enough pressure on the pedals to set a faster time. However this was easily rectified by remove this section of his nose cone. He started in 3 position behind Doug Amis #46 in his 125cc Kart. Doug is off to the Bend in a few weeks’ time for Round 1 of the SKA championship and had come out more for a shake down and was happy with his time of 57.94 secs.
Paul Davis had his muffler fall off, #77 Ben Longland had his chain break, but both were fixed in time for the first race, Greg Hack unfortunately couldn’t get the Stockman Honda running and would see him sit the day out. #66 Amber Bothamley was very happy with her qualifying time which was 2 seconds faster than her best time around here in 2020.
The rest of the field had no problems and lined up with the following times:
Race 1
The rain continued to stay away and it was slicks all round for the first race of the day. There was some confusion at the start when the Starter didn’t wave the green flag. Some of our newer guys not realizing this meant an aborted start, started to race and probably thought all their Sundays had come at once when they went past the karts on the front rows.
There was also a miscommunication between the Starter and the Tower and no call came over the radio to abort the start. Tim Weier quickly realized that it wasn’t about to be aborted and quickly got back to the front of the field and despite a bolt falling out of his dash and it spent the race bounding around on his knees he cleared out to win comfortably. Doug also quickly made it to front of the rest of the field and was circulating comfortably when he was baulked by a slower kart at Hungry and spun off but no damage was done. Lachlan was not so fortunate and had been swamped by the mid field and had to work his way though and was in third when his Kart oversteered coming down Eastern Loop, he grabbed it and then lost it again and went off the track. Paul D crossed in 2nd and James G was 3rd and he was really happy after learning that reset the NGB Light lap record, He came up for South Australia with the intention of setting a new lap record and he did with a 1.00.19. Scott ignition problems continued and Ben’s chain broke again and they along with Tony had DNF’s.
Because of the mix at the start we didn’t get to see our usual close racing. James Gorman took out a comfortable 3rd ahead of James Boden and Brandon. Peter was a couple of seconds behind them and spread behind him was David, Leighton, Kyle, Mark, Glenn, Ross, Paul and Amber. Liam was leading his class when with a 100 metres to go to the chequered flag his right rear tyre came off and he backed it into the wall. Fortunately this didn’t do any damage and with help from the other Karters a key was put in his back axle, the wheel put back on and he was back out for the next race. Ben found his axle was walking, causing his chain breakage. This was fixed and no more problems with if after that.
Race 2
Ready for the 2nd heat but there was a small delay after a very light sprinkle made the track a little slippery going into Carousel and Kyle and Tod went off on the warm up lap. The field was bought back into the pits, both karts were fine and they were able to restart with the rest of the field. No problems with this start and Tim was away out in front but Lachlan was down in 4th when he was passed off the start by Paul, Liam and Doug, However he passed them all down the straight on the second lap. Scott was in 9th spot on the second lap but was nudged from behind as he went into Eastern Loop. This put him into the wall and he was taken away by ambulance for observation. He did return to the track later in the day with a few bruises but otherwise okay although his kart didn’t fare so well. The field circulated around until the track was cleared.
advertisement
Tim got clean away with the restart taking another easy win but found that luck had been on his side when he found back in the pits that his left front tyre had only 2psi in it due to a bent valve that debris or something has hit. The guys from South Aust lent him a bead breaker and with the help of Jason Smith the tyre was changed to a new rim. This left these four to race for third outright before Paul stopped with engine failure and Doug retired with 3 laps to go with fuel problems. Tony managed to get in front of Liam giving him out right in the 125cc class and Liam a close 2nd. Behind them, Tod, Brandon, Jim G, James B and Peter were having a good dice for several laps. Kyle caught up with them on lap 7 but came in too hot running down to Hungry and spun ending up on the grass. Action Sports Photography Australia captured this in photos that can be seen on the Queensland Superkart Club Face Book page.
James G went on to be next across the finish line ahead of James B, followed by Todd finishing ahead of Brandon who was pipped by Peter with two laps to go. Peter had been hanging in with the group and came home strong. David, Leighton, Ben and Paul were all enjoying some close racing but finished in this order with Glenn and Amber following them across the line. Mark had a DNF when his chassis broke coming down towards Hungry, he spun but the field behind him were able to safely split and go around him.
Race 3
Tim’s engine had a miss off the line at the start of the 3rd race and this allowed Lachlan to get the jump on him and lead him into Carousel. However Tim was back in front by Hungry and cleared out for another convincing win. Lachlan circulated around in 2nd till the 5th lap when Doug who had fixed his fuel problem passed him and finishing ahead of him, 2nd outright but first in the 125cc GB.
Liam, Todd, James B and James G enjoyed some close racing but finishing in that order. Kyle finished a few seconds behind them. Peter caught up with Brandon with two laps to go and managed to get passed but only just held him out across the line. David and Leighton spent most of the race swapping spots and again it was very close as the crossed the finish line with David just getting his nose in front. They were followed by Ben, Glenn, Paul, Amber and Tony.
Race 4
Very light drizzle started to fall at the field was waiting to go out for the 4th and last race, the track was damp but not enough for wet tyres. Kyle went off on the warm up lap the race was red flagged, while he was bought in. The race was then started and Tim was away again with Lachlan following him around for the next few laps followed by the rest of the field.
As the race continued the rain started to get heavier and heavier and after 6 lap the race was called and the field finished in the following positions. Tim, Liam, Doug, Brando, James B, David, Todd, Ben, Lachlan, Paul, Peter, Leighton and Amber with Glenn and Kyle not finishing. While it was not the best way to finish the day we were very grateful for how much dry racing we had. It had been very wet leading up to this weekend and the weather forecast had predicted an 80% change of rain. This shower came down so heavy that as we were packing up you could see small rivers running down the main straight and some of the Karters were packing up in up to 5 cm of water.
All in all, a good First Round and looking forward Round 2 at Queensland Raceway on the 24th of April.
- more photos on the Action Sports Photography Australia Facebook HERE.
Results
125cc TAG Light
1st James Boden (Sth Aust)
2nd Brandon Stillwell (Sth Aust)
3rd Peter Nuske (Qld)
125 TAG Heavy
1st David Dyson
2nd Glenn Wiggins
125cc National
1st Liam Hoy (Awesome effort for first time on Track)
2nd Todd Bothamley
3rd Doug Amiss
250 cc National
1st Tim Weier
2nd Lachlan Crisp
advertisement