by Russell Innes, Ipswich Kart Club
229 starters assembled at Ipswich Kart Club on Saturday the 30th of April for Round 3 of the IKC Championships, which also doubled as the KA100 Titles for KA4 Junior Light, KA3 Junior and KA3 Senior.
After drizzling rain made it challenging for the feature classes who did qualifying at the start of the day and for the early Heat races, conditions improved mid morning and relatively fine weather continued for the rest of the day. With the wet start to the day, track conditions were not as brilliant as the previous Round when a total of 20 class lap records were broken. This Round, only 1 lap record was broken, by Bailey Sagaidak in Queensland Open Performance Light.
Some fantastic racing occurred across all the classes and many competitors commented afterwards that this was possibly the best race meeting they had ever attended, with the highly efficient IKC Officials and Volunteers once again getting through a massive program.
In the Feature Classes (KA100) Toby Musico had a fantastic day out in KA4 Junior Light, winning all 3 Heats and the Final. Dominic Penman, Luke Rinaldi, James Cittolin and Xavier Avramides were among the placings in the Heats and in the Final they once again battled for the minor placings behind Musico. Cittolin did snatch the lead from Musico for a couple of laps, but Musico grabbed it back pretty quickly to win from Cittolin and Penman, Rinaldi 4th and Avramides 5th.
In KA3 Junior Jack Wells, Brodie Norris and Isaac McNeill were the dominant 3 across the 3 Heats, each winning a Heat and filling the placings in the others. Alex Gardner, Dominic Penman and William Gallagher battled all day for the placings behind the 3 out front. Norris was off pole for the Final but Wells took the lead early with Norris and McNeill pursuing, these 3 quickly gapping the rest led by Gallagher. Norris kept the pressure on Wells and took the lead well into the race on Lap 12, but Wells responded straight away and retook the lead on Lap 13 to then hold on and win by about ½ a second from Norris closely followed by McNeill. Penman was able to get by Gallagher late in the race to secure 4th, Gallagher 5th.
Keegan Fraser, Kurtis Tennant and Jai Brown as expected were the 3 dominant drivers through the Heats in KA3 Senior, each winning a Heat. Tennant led the Final early before Fraser took the lead on Lap 4 and then held on to win narrowly from Tennant. Brown fell back early in the race and had to work his way back towards a podium result and only just snatched 3rd from Ryan Uhlmann on Lap 13 of the 14 Lap Final. Uhlmann had a pretty good day to get 4th and Henry Titman, Will Marshall and Josh Miller had a good battle early on for 5th, before Miller retired and Marshall dropped back, leaving Titman with 5th place.
In the Cadet classes, the level of competition is amazing at IKC and some fantastic racing was observed by all in attendance. In Cadet 9, Blake Haigh, Andrew Thomson, Jack Musico, Harlen Bell, Nicholas Kinder and Zander Watts filled the placings through the Heats, but Haigh was the class of the field winning all 3 Heats. Others to impress through the Heats were Brock Nolan, all the way from Townsville and only 2nd time on this track with 4th, 4th and 5th in the Heats, Carter Grother who has improved immensely lately with 6th, 7th and 6th in the Heats and Vincent Ter Horst with 5th, 10th and 7th in the Heats. Back further in the pack, recent Cadet 9P graduates, Kenichi Morita, Jeremy Broadbent, Leighton Thorley and Dylan Di Sandro, along with Lincoln Dixon, Creed Patroni, Aston Mills and Emrey Stallan were having some fantastic dices for position and really entertaining the crowd. In the Final, Haigh was dominant stretching his lead early and comfortably winning from Thomson and Watts.
Cadet 12 had an assortment of podium finishers in the 1st 2 Heats as Zack Hilder won Heat 1 from Luke Wilson and Seth Huth, whilst in Heat 2 Alester Flack led home Baxter Jarrett and Gabriel Elkayam. Alester Flack started to assert some dominance in Heat 3 with a win over Elkayam and Jarrett. On to the Final and Alester Flack led all the way but only narrowly from Elkayam with Lana Flack, Wilson and Jarrett battling for 3rd. Lana Flack briefly took 2nd at one stage from Elkayam but he fought back to take 2nd at the end, with Lana Flack 3rd and completing an EnergyCorse lockout of the podium.
The Cadet P Classes at IKC continue to provide a wonderful development path for the new Cadets and they get to learn their racecraft in an environment where they don’t have the pressure of racing in with the more experienced Cadet drivers and these kids are providing very entertaining racing for everyone to watch. In Cadet 12P, Declan Hicks, August Soward, Campbell Dawson, Alistair Leggatt and Cooper Field filled the placings in the Heats. Soward led from early on in the Final and was driving brilliantly. Field got very close towards the end and at one point momentarily led but Soward was determined and immediately took the lead back to win narrowly from Field and Leggatt.
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4SS Junior continues to grow at IKC and with the 4SS Titles coming up at Ipswich next Round, it will not be surprising to see well over 20 entries? The Stratford boys, Charlie and Henry have been in dominant form in recent events and went in as strong favourites at Ipswich. The wet conditions at the start of the day mixed things up though and Georgie Yeadon led Hannah King and Buster Bailey across the line in Heat 1. In Heat 2 Charlie Stratford got things back to normal winning from his brother Henry and Finn Woodley in 3rd. Henry Stratford won Heat 3 from his brother Charlie and Georgie Yeadon 3rd. Into the Final and the same top 3 result with the Stratford boys putting on a masterclass in front, Henry 1st, Charlie 2nd and Yeadon rounding out the podium.
In Cadet 9P Joshua Fabian, Oscar Ray, Riccardo Johnston and Monty Jamieson were in the placings in the Heats. Ray winning the Final from Johnston and Jamieson.
Gregory Rust got things started with a strong win in 4SS Senior Light in the wet Heat 1, winning from Xander Jacobi and Jordan Briggs. Briggs won Heat 2 from brother Darcy and Tim Baker in 3rd. Heat 3 was another Briggs 1 – 2, Darcy 1st this time, Jordan 2nd and Jacobi 3rd. Same result in the Final with Darcy Briggs 1st, followed by Jordan Briggs and Jacobi for a Coolum Karts podium lockout.
The Silcock boys have been the pacesetters in TAG Restricted Light so far this year and once again the two boys dominated, Ryan winning Heat 1 from Dean with Nathaniel Harrison 3rd. Dean Silcock took out Heat 2 from Harrison and Ryan Silcock. The older Silcock (Ryan) narrowly led home younger brother Dean in Heat 3 with Robert Mortensen 3rd. Onto the Final and whilst it was a close race with the boys swapping the lead a couple of times, Ryan crossed the line 1st from Dean, with Mortensen not far behind.
In TAG Restricted Medium, David Vogel, Ben Lillis, James Hogan, Justin McCartney, Gaven Whitmore and Rudy Farkas were in the placings across the Heats, McCartney winning 2 and Vogel the other Heat. For the 1st time this year so far, McCartney was really challenged in the Final. Vogel and Whitmore both taking it to him in the early laps, before McCartney resumed the lead on Lap 5 to have a small but comfortable win from Vogel and Josh Herne who grabbed 3rd from Whitmore with a couple of laps to go.
Peter Nolloth had a day out in TAG Restricted Masters, winning all 3 Heats and the Final. Noel Smyth, Nick Newman and Allan Mayes were amongst the placings during the Heats, but Smyth got the best of the battle for 2nd behind Nolloth, leading home Mayes in the Final.
Shane Castle, Harrison Fox, Jared Neinert, Brendan Nelson, Christopher Williams and Brock Plumb filled the placings across the 1st 2 Heats in TAG Heavy. Nelson soon established his normal superiority with a strong 3rd Heat win ahead of Plumb and Neinert and then the same 3 filled the placings again in the Final.
Thomas Gallagher, Lucas O’Connor, Bryce Lane, Sam Seccombe, Stewart Hare and Jack Stimson were in the placings through the 1st 2 Heats of TAG Light. Gallagher and Seccombe the 2 Heat winners. Seccombe won Heat 3 this time ahead of Shaun Jacques and Brent Reading. Seccombe led all the way in the Final to win from Hare and Reading.
In Queensland Open Performance Light, Bailey Sagaidak was dominant winning Heat 1, Heat 2 and Heat 3 ahead of Scott Sorensen, Lachlan Murphy and Marshall Lewis completing the placings in the Heats. Sagaidak completed his dominance in the Final winning by over 11 seconds from Sorensen with Murphy 3rd. Queensland Open Performance Heavy had Jason Smith winning Heat 1 and Dan Hutchinson winning Heats 2 and 3, with Leorra Devisser, Brett Wells, Scott Cleveland and Keyan Appleby amongst the placings in the Heats. In the Final Devisser grabbed the lead at the start and held a narrow margin ahead of Hutchinson throughout to win. Cleveland finishing 3rd.
This Round of the IKC Championships also saw the return of the IKC Clubday Challenge Program and Group winners were:
- Cadet 9 Group 2 – Brock Nolan
- Cadet 9 Group 3 – Jeremy Broadbent
- Cadet 12 Group 2 – Xavier Raso
- Cadet 12 Group 3 – Chad Rissman
- KA4 Junior Light Group 2 – Lachlan Costa
- KA4 Junior Light Group 3 – Marcus Lio
- TAG Restricted Light Group 2 – Nicholas Crofton
- TAG Restricted Medium Group 2 – James Hogan
- TAG Restricted Masters Group 2 – Kevin Castles
Next race meeting at Ipswich will be Round 4 of the Club Championship and the 4SS Titles, which always attracts a huge turnout from the 4 stroke boys and girls. This race meeting does clash with an AKC Round so many IKC members will be missing for this Round, but the 4-stroke brigade will still ensure a very large entry list again for IKC.
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