Driver PR: Max Chudasko, AKC Round 1

Max Chudasko has been putting in a lot of effort over the off season and start of the 2022 season to get himself ready for the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship!

Chudasko who joined the all-conquering Tom Williamson Motorsport stable last season is looking to make the TAG 125 class his own in 2022. Max showed excellent pace at the recent Australian Kart Championship shakedown meeting and was looking to continue this form into the weekend.

(pic – Pace Images)

In a large field of thirty three drivers, Chudasko hit the circuit for qualifying to try get up as far up the grid as possible. The Tom Williamson Motorsport stable driver immediately put himself in the top five and then moved into the top three battle for pole position. Max had competitors Winston Van Laarhoven and stable mate Zachary Heard swapping times at the top of the time sheets. Chudasko set a breath taking lap in the back end of qualifying and that was enough to put him on pole position in an exciting moment for the young driver!

Chudasko tuned the kart up with the team for heat one and was looking to continue on from his good start to the weekend. The CC Racing powered entry got a good start leading into the opening corner. Max showed excellent consistency and pace out front with pressure from Van Laarhoven and Heard. Chudasko had a brilliant opening heat leading from lights to flag and continuing his strong start to the weekend.

Heat two came around and Chudasko dropped the lead to Van Laarhoven off the start and settled in to second spot. The Kart Republic driver was showing great pace and setting fastest laps trying to get to Van Laarhoven and take the race lead back. The two drivers battled hard in lap speed and on track and they were only separated by a couple of tenths in the back end. In a great finish to the race Chudasko couldn’t quite take the lead back and crossed the line in second spot with more good points coming in for his championship.

The final heat of Saturday once again had Max off pole position and looking to make it two from three heat wins. The CC Racing powered driver got another good start and led the opening half of the race in strong fashion with his stable mate Heard just behind. Heard was able to take the lead in the second half of the race with Max right behind him. In another extremely close finish, Chudasko crossed the line in second position only a tenth from the winner. Unfortunately, Max’s Saturday ended on a sour note with a starting infringement putting him back to position ten in the third heat.



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Another front row start for Chudasko in heat four but this time he was off the outside running down to turn one due to his heat three result. Max got a tough start on the outside of the front row dropping back to position seven leaving turn one. By lap five the Tom Williamson Motorsport backed entry was inside the top five and by lap nine he was inside the top three. Due to the front two drivers getting away, Max had to settle for third spot overall to conclude the heats.

(pic – Pace Images)

Chudasko had eyes to his all-important final. The final was an epic affair with Max finishing the opening lap in fourth spot. The Kart Republic karter knew he had to dig deep if he was going to have a chance at victory. Chudasko moved past former national champion Leigh Nicolaou on lap eight. The front two drivers starting arguing and Max was able to capitalize and move up to second spot on lap nine. Chudasko made the race winning move on lap eight and didn’t look back from there taking out the win, his first in the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship!

Max spoke post-race of his incredible round win. “Saturdays qualifying, I was able to build on Friday’s practice times in the dying stages of the qualifying session and achieve P1 for a great start to the round. Race one started well from pole and a race win set the standard to achieve. Race 2 started on pole but I lost first place and came in second. Heat 3 started from second and finished second but a starting penalty put me 10 secs down. But because of the points I was starting P3 in heat 4. Heat four is where things started heating up and things got a bit rough and tumble. I went from 2nd to 7th but clawed my way back to third. The final gave me a starting position from third but it was elbows out just after the starting line. Getting into the rhythm of the race I started to move in lap eight to third, lap nine to second and by lap twelve had cleared the field.

“The power in my CC Racing engine prepared by Clint just opened up and got better and better as the race went on. I must give thanks to the expertise, wisdom, guidance and friendship of Tom from Tom Williamson motorsport Clint and Pete for not only their awesome engine preparation but also their constant checks on me and on the engine, all weekend. Trent from Control high performance for keeping me at my peak performance, keeping me hydrated and mind on the job. This Sport is a team effort. Greatest thanks go to my mum and dad for giving me this opportunity, and for the love and support in this journey. And mum for keeping me fed, and having drinks and everything I ever needed over the weekend and dad for swinging the spanners and a constant reminder of what to look out for. A million things need to go right and only one thing wrong to stuff up the weekend. The people around me are my greatest asset. I have the greatest team”.

Chudasko goes away from the opening round with the championship lead!



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