Ashton Cattach had his final Australian Kart Championship preparation at the Eastern Lions Kart Club over the weekend. Cattach, in his first full Senior season, has been making progress all season and running in the competitive KA3 Senior Light category was looking forward to another great weekends racing.
The Ringwood Kart Centre backed entry looked to Sunday Morning qualifying to get his racing weekend started.
Qualifying unfortunately didn’t go to plan for Ashton when he was caught up in an unavoidable collision, resulting in his kart having steering damage. Due to this the Luscombe Automotive sponsored entry wasn’t able to set a competitive qualifying time and was out of position fourteen for his opening two heats.
Cattach was looking for a strong start in heat one and that was exactly what he got, jumping up two spots of the start into position twelve. By lap two Ashton had made his way to position eleven and lap four he was inside the top ten showing great pace. The Ringwood Kart Centre backed entry came home in position ten making up four spots in the six laps.
Heat two was the scene of a blistering start by young Ashton who went from position fourteen up five spots to ninth by the end of the opening lap. With excellent pace and race craft Cattach was up to position seven by the end of the third lap, matching the pace of the race leaders out in front. In a massive drive the Luscombe Automotive backed entry came home in position seven, making up seven spots for the race.
Position ten was the improved starting point for heat three and Ashton stayed there for the opening lap. With an incident occurring between other drivers on the second lap, Cattach was able to stay out of trouble and jump up to position six. In another strong showing of race pace, the Ringwood Kart Centre backed entry came home in position six with his confidence up heading into the final.
advertisement
Cattach was out of position eight for the final and was looking for a clean get away. Ashton slotted into position eight at the end of the opening lap and made a move for seventh by the end of lap two. The Luscombe Automotive backed entry was in a fast battle with James Lodge and Marcus Pisani for position five, six and seven. In a drag to the line the Ringwood Kart Centre backed entry came home in position seven in another strong showing with quick lap speed.
Ashton spoke post-race of the difficulties of starting down the order after qualifying and his recovery. “I’m happy with my results overall and had strong pace up with the national front runners. Despite racing on old tyres and having an unavoidable collision in qualifying – which took out my steering and resulted in me having to start from the back for the first 2 heats”.
Cattach now looks to the Australian Kart Championship at the Eastern Lions Kart Club.
advertisement