Daniel Quimby returned to the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship over the weekend at the Emerald Kart Club. Quimby was racing under the Top Gun Racing team and was looking to put in a strong weekend of racing.
Daniel has shown he has the pace to race with the best drivers in the country, but was looking to make his way cleanly through qualifying and the heats. Qualifying on Friday afternoon was the starting point for the KA2 driver. Quimby had Friday practice to get up to speed but had engine dramas going into qualifying, putting him in the bottom fifty percent. The Liftronic sponsored entry was able to head out the gate for qualifying and starting putting in quick lap times. Daniel was as determined as ever to get up the grid but wasn’t able to get a lap in with a slip stream. Quimby was able to set the fastest time in the lower fifty percent but came out in seventeenth position overall.
Starting out of position seventeen for heat one, Daniel was looking to make his way further forward. The Praga Karts Australia sponsored entry made a smooth get away and had the eyes forward. Quimby was showing blistering pace and was able to make his way up on the edge of the top ten. Daniel then burst into the top ten and in an awesome start to racing made up nine spots and crossed the line in position eight overall!
Quimby was looking to much the same in the second heat and move forward through the field. The Galvaniize Insurance backed entry got another clean get away and made his way into the top fifteen quite quickly. Daniel showed excellent pace once again and was looking to make his way into the top ten drivers. Quimby put in another stellar performance moving up five spots across the race and crossing the line in position twelve overall. Daniel was now out of position nine for his third and final heat race of Saturday.
The MIR Raceline Australia backed entry got another lightning start, moving his way into the top five. Unfortunately, a poor piece of driving from another competitor sent Daniel off and back to position twelve. Quimby regrouped and while making a move for position nine on the last lap was spun by another karter resulting in a DNF and the hard work having to restart.
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Quimby started Sunday with his fourth and final heat out of position fourteen overall. The Top Gun Racing entry didn’t have the start he unfortunately needed, getting boxed in off the start and having a bent kart for the remainder of the race. Daniel did the best that he could with the equipment on offer and came home in position eighteen. His four heat results had him out of position sixteen for the all important final.
The final was over a long twenty laps and Quimby was prepared to fight hard to try and move his way forward. The Liftronic sponsored entry got a great start moving up four spots on the opening lap. Daniel was able to continue his charge into the top ten and show excellent pace and excellent race. The final got cut short to a red flag incident with Quimby coming in and being classified a fantastic eighth position inside the top ten!
Daniel’s father Ian spoke post weekend on the ups and downs; “Daniel did a great job and was moving his way right into contention in heat three before some bad luck. He drove a great final and showed where his pace really was at. We can’t wait to get up to Newcastle for the final round”.
Quimby will continue his preparation for the final round of the championship at the Newcastle City Cup next weekend.
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