Benjamin Classon returned to the Eastern Lions Kart Club over the weekend to try and get his club championship assault off to a good start. Classon was one of the class drivers in the back end of the 2021 season taking multiple round victories and continually running at the front in the championship.
Ben aboard his Kosmic chassis was looking to start his championship hunt with a bang. A field of eleven drivers were taking to the start for Sunday morning qualifying. Classon headed out for qualifying and was immediately in the battle for pole position with fellow competitor Tyler Calleja. Both drivers had top of the time sheets with pole position looking like it could have gone to either driver at either stage. Classon was able to dig deep and late in the session set a time fast enough for pole position by a margin of seven thousandths of a second.
Ben was looking to convert his pole position into heat one victory, with the battle starting straight away. Calleja took the lead off the start and Classon slotted in behind for the first half of the race. Classon took the lead back on lap four and was looking to hold on for the win. In a great race with multiple lead changes, Ben was able to hold on for the opening race victory by just over two tenths.
Classon confidence was high after his start to the day and was able to get the jump away this time. Ben was able to lead the opening half of the race and looked a real chance to take back to back victories and be off pole for the third heat. In an unfortunate incident, Classon was ran off the circuit on lap four into turn one, resulting in a DNF result and losing crucial points. Due to the results of heat one Classon was out of position five for heat three.
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Unfortunately, the young drivers luck didn’t change from heat two struggling to move forward with many tough mid pack battles and contact with karts. Ben tried his heart out and came home in position six in a disappointing race.
The Kosmic driver was once again out of position five for the final and was looking to stay out of trouble and make up as many spots as he could. Once again Classon bad luck had stayed with him as another kart got stuck on the back of him. Ben couldn’t get the kart out of his rear bumper and this meant he had to retire from the race and the final.
Ben’s father Paul spoke post-race. “It was a great start taking pole position and taking a hard fought heat win. Not a lot went right after that. We know we’ve got the pace to be competitive around this circuit and will try to bounce back at the next round of the club championship”.
Classon will be back on track again this weekend for the opening round of the Victorian Golden Power Series at the Goulburn Valley Kart Club.
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