Sunny Days at Queensland Superkart Final

The fifth and final round of the Queensland Superkart Club’s 2021 Championship was run at Lakeside Raceway on September 19. Marilyn Weier reports, with images by Action Sports Photography Australia.

Qualifying

It was another beautiful Queensland day as the Karts went out to qualify for the last Round of the year. #133 Brock Nicholas was the only 250cc Twin entered. He had come out to the Saturday practice but was having miss firing issues at high RPM. Bernard Weier lent him their spare spark plug on Sunday and it ran fine for qualifying putting him 4^th on the grid. Ewan Burg came out to the Saturday’s practice to acquaint himself with the Lakeside track but has opted to leave the racing there till next year. #89 Tim Weier in his 250cc National was in marshalling for qualifying but discovered he had no free play in his clutch which would have resulted in a slipping clutch and despite a quick dash by Bernard back to the pits for the right tools to adjust it, several karts had to find their way around him before he was ready to head out. Once on the track his engine started missing but he was able to get one good lap in enough to qualify second behind Russell with a 57.3.

Russell Jamieson leads Doug Amiss at Eastern Loop (pic – Action Sports Photography Australia)

Russell Jamieson #86 left his 250cc Twin at home and came out in his 125cc kart with a newly designed pipe and ignition timing setup and set the fastest time in qualifying of 0:57.2724 seconds. Qualifying was cut short after only 5 laps when #98 Paul Davis spun at the top of Eastern Look and #66 Amber Bothamley spun off heading into Eastern Loop on the same lap, #8 Todd Bothamley also ended up facing the wrong way at the entry to Eastern Loop. #46 Doug Amiss nearly missing qualifying when the negative clip on the battery broke. A quick run back to the pits to crimp a new terminal and he went out and was able to get one hot lap that put him 3^rd on the grid ahead of Greg Hack (5^th) on the grid before qualifying was stopped. Doug had also had issues come out for Saturday’s practice with a water pump failure and a fatigue crack appear around his EGT Sensor in his pipe which failed in the third practice session. He replaced his water pump and a quick trip to Taylor Bertram and the pipe was good as new!.

At Saturdays Practice Day, #32 Greg Hack found his Kart wouldn’t run right or idle and he was chewing through Reeds. When the problem persisted in qualifying, he changed to standard Honda ones. Todd Bothamley qualified with a 1:01.5 to be 6^th on the grid ahead of Liam Hoy (8^th) who stayed on the track despite losing his brakes and his starting pressures being a bit low. Before spinning off at Eastern Loop Paul Davis (9^th) set the next best time in the 125cc ahead to Kyle Schroeder (14^th). Kyle was another Karter who came out for Saturdays practice. He spun under the Old Dunlop Bridge on his 2nd lap out, backing it straight into the wall. Bernard Weier and Steve Murray spent the next couple of hours disassembling, straightening, and then reassembling the rear end and he was able to get back on the track.

Work in the pits (pic – Action Sports Photography Australia)

However, the floor was dragging so more adjustments were made before he was able to put in some good laps. On his first lap out in qualifying, the kart appeared to lose power, Kyle came back into the pits but as he did it picked up again and he went out and was able to do one quick lap before qualifying was stopped. #33 David Dyson was testing the new Hosier 5-inch tyres on his NGB heavy and set the fastest time in this class (10^th) ahead of our new NGB driver, #72 Andrew Cain (11^th). Andrew raced with the Warwick Sprint Club in 1987 and raced with them for quite a few years before taking a break. He started back in 2019 and then found our club on Facebook, came out to QR to watch us racing and decided he liked what he saw and has joined our NGB Heavy Class. Not surprisingly #16 Peter Nuske was the fastest in the NGB Light (7^th) ahead of Paul Buckley (12^th) and Amber Bothamley (13^th). Missing from the grid was another new member. Kane Ottway and his Dad Glenn had raced Sprint karts but have swapped them for a 250cc National Kart with Kane being the driver. Kane had a good day at the Saturdays practice sorting a few issues and getting some faster laps in as the day went but was unable to get it to run smoothly in the pits before qualifying. Unfortunately, it turned out he had a broken earth wire which may or may not have caused the ignition box to fail. Not having a spare he was out for the day.

250cc Internationals and National

Race 1 Tim Weier “borrowed” back the new spark plug he had lent Brock Nicholas, giving him a choice of two older ones he had. This seemed to work for both with Tim’s miss disappearing and Brock’s not coming back. However, Tim had too much speed for Brock and just cleared out to circulate around comfortably to take an easy win. Brock continued around to also finish 1st in class but 3rd overall after Doug passed him on the 2nd lap and cleared out. Greg was hot on his tail but couldn’t find a way around him.

The field forming up out of Hungry (pic – Action Sports Photography Australia)

Race 2 Brock challenged Tim off the start of the 2nd race with his extra horsepower, but Tim took the lead again winning the braking duel into carousel and from there circulate around for another easy win. Brock again was in 2nd overall for the first lap but first Russell and then Doug passed him on the 2nd lap. Doug had explained to Greg how and when to pass Brock but Brock found some extra horsepower and Greg was stuck behind him again. Brock won his class again but finished 3rd overall. He feels he is down on power and a rebuild will make a difference.

Race 3 This looked like it was going to be a rinse and repeat of Race 2 with Tim clearing out for another comfortable win his consistency and outright pace were superb 5 laps within 0.3 and a best of a 55.3, but Brock lost power on the first lap and went back to 6th overall and stayed here till the 5th lap when his power came back on and he was able to first get past Liam and with one lap to go back past Greg to finish 4th overall but first in Class.

Race 4 On the warmup lap for this race a message came over the radio that there was a spot fire and to return to the pit lane. However once back in pit lane they were told to go straight back out.

Greg Hack #32 chases Brock Nicholas to the Dunlop bridge (pic – Action Sports Photography Australia)

After rinse and repeat races all day both Tim and Brock added a bit of excitement to the last race of the day with first Brock hitting the kerb on the 1st lap and spinning at Eastern Loop. He was able to keep going but dropped back to 7th overall where he mixed it up with the middle of the field, passing first Paul, followed by Liam and then Greg by the 3rd lap, finishing with another class win and 4th overall. Tim, who had again cleared out waited till the 7th lap before trying a tighter line through Hungry, hit the inside curb and did a complete 360. He was so far out in front of the rest of the field he wasn’t in danger of hitting anyone or being hit and as he spun he went down through the gears so when he stopped spinning he was in 1st gear and able to keep going and his lap time only around 10 seconds slower than his other laps. He went on to make it a clean sweep both in Class and overall.

125cc National

Race 1 after setting the fastest time in qualifying Russell Jamieson looked like the hot favourite in the first race but did a right hook into the escape road and disappeared into the pits after the first lap when his accelerator cable came loose from the top of the carby. He was able to tighten it and made it out in time to do one lap. Doug Amiss, was feeling a lack of grip through his rears and it looked like he and Greg were going to enjoy a good dice but Doug was able to pass Brock (250cc Twin) on the 2nd lap. Greg found the different reeds were working and was itching to challenge Doug for 1st but couldn’t find a way around Brock and finished in 2nd. Liam Hoy and Todd Bothamley enjoyed a good dice for most of the race till Tod spun off at the exit of Carousel he regained the track but finished 4th behind Liam (3rd). Kyle Schroeder enjoyed his race, staying on the track with his engine being reliable and mixing it up with the NGB karts. He finished behind Peter Nuske but 5th in class. Paul Davis spun off with two laps to go.

Todd Bothamley #8 leads Paul Davis out of Eastern Loop (pic – Action Sports Photography Australia)

Russell came back out for the 2nd race and despite Doug accidentally hitting him in the marshalling area and breaking his rear wing mount, this didn’t have any noticeable effect on his speed and for the rest of the class it was, man is he quick and which way did he go as once he passed Brock on the 2nd lap, he cleared out setting a fastest time of less than a second slower than Tim’s in his 250cc. Doug also managed to pass Brock on the 2nd lap but couldn’t get near Russell and circulated around in 2nd. Between races Doug had told Greg how and where to pass Brock but wasn’t counting on Brock finding a bit of extra speed in this race and so he had to follow him around again. Liam and Todd mixed it with Paul (Buckley) in his NGB light for several laps before Todd went off at Carousel and then came back onto the track finishing in 5th. Liam decided nearly found himself in the gravel at carousel when his brake pedal went to the floor, he was very lucky not to lose it but stayed on the track and finished in 4th. Paul (Davis)was doing well until with one lap to go he spun off at Hungry.

Race 3 Russell took up where he left off in the 2nd race and put a gap on Doug and the rest of the 125cc karts to take an easy win and 2nd overall with a fast lap time early in the race of 0.56.0367 seconds. Doug was still experiencing handling problems and could only follow him around to take second. Along with Russell and Doug, Greg was able to get past Brock on the first lap when he had a loss of power but he wasn’t able to get close to Doug and circulated around for 3rd however Brock, after his power came back on, passed Greg back with one lap to go. Liam and Todd also passed Brock on the first lap. Brock passed Todd back on the next lap but took another 3 laps before he caught and passed Liam. Liam continued circulating around to finish 4th overall but Todd went off on lap 6 through Carousel, in his words – trying too hard. After the 2nd race, Paul found his rose joints were loose and tightened them up. This made a difference and saw him stay on the black stuff and he finished this race behind Liam. Kyle, while not having the outright speed of the other 125cc’s mixed it up with the NGB karts again and was happy to have another finished race under his belt.

Race 4 Russell had a good start and cleared out from Doug, Liam, Greg and Paul (Davis). On the 7th lap Russell was able to close on Tim after his spin through Hungry but not enough to get passed but went on to finish comfortably 2nd overall and 1st in Class. Doug, finished just over half a second behind him but still not having solved his handling problems hindered any chance he had to challenge for first. Liam and Paul enjoyed close racing with Paul passing Liam on the 4th lap and stretching his lead to the chequered flag for 3rd place and Liam in 4th. Greg stopped on the 4th lap and discovered back in the pits he had a broken reed. Todd stopped on the 3rd lap when he accidentally hit his kill switch.

125 NGB Lights NGB Heavy

Race 1 Peter Nuske broke the tow early in the first race in his NGB Light and cleared out for an easy win. David Dyson (H) enjoyed some good racing with our new member Andrew Cain (H) and Kyle in his 125cc also mixed it up with them till the 3rd lap when David went off at Eastern Loop trying tpo put a pass on around the outside contacting the wall. Re-joining with no apparent damage it wasn’t until he arrived at carousel that he discovered the throttle cable had been bent and was stuck wide open! Not a fun thought at 160+ kmh thankfully he hit the kill switch and had a slow spin off into the gravel. This left Andrew to circulate around for 1st in the NGB Heavy class. Paul Buckley (L) finished behind him but 2nd in class ahead of Amber Bothamely (L). Amber’s Dad Jon found the stoppage at the start of the last race a QR was a fouled spark plug so an easy fix and again Amber showed her competitive spirit when her laps for the first race were consistently 6 secs faster than her qualifying time. She chased Paul around finishing just behind him.

Race 2 Peter (L) took up where he left off in the first race to circulate around by himself for another easy win. David (H), Andrew (H) and Paul (L) were enjoying a good race when David’s kart stepped out through Carousel. Paul went off into the kitty litter avoiding him but they were both able to regain the track and finished in that order, but David picking up a win in the Heavy class and Paul 2nd in the Lights. Andrew was also caught up in this and was not so lucky and was unable to restart. Amber went off at Carousel at the end of the 2nd lap when in her words she was trying too hard to stay with the Boys.

Race 3 Peter (L), like the 250cc classes was having a rinse and repeat kind of day, circulating around by himself for another easy win. Andrew (H) was coming to grips with his kart and the track with his times getting that little bit faster each race. He and David (H) had a good dice for most of the race with Andrew picking up the win. Amber (L) had a much better race this time, mixing it up with Paul (L) to finish in 2nd in her class. Paul who had set personal best times in his first two races was having issues with his engine and thought it might be electrical.

David Dyson #33 leads Paul Buckley (12) and Andrew Cain (pic – Action Sports Photography Australia)

Race 4 Peter kept it on the black stuff with no curb hopping induced spins in the last race of the day to circulated around to take another easy win. Andrew (H) and David (H) came out to play again in this race with David taking the honours this time and Andrew just behind him as they crossed the line. David wasn’t too sure about his new Hosiers at the start of the day but happier with them by the end of racing. He felt however he needed to work on setting up his kart to get the best out of them. Amber (L) had another good race to finish in 2nd again ahead of Paul (L) who was still having issues with his engine. At the end of this race David and Andrew were tied on points but David took the win for the day when he won the last race.

That’s it for the 2021 Queensland Superkart Season the trophy night is booked for the 30^th of October at the Geebung RSL come along and celebrate the fantastic year that 2021 has been for the club with our biggest influx on new members in recent history.