Newcastle City Cup Shakedown for AKC

by Mitch McLellan, MMS Media and Commentating

The Karting Australia New South Wales Newcastle City Cup was run over the weekend, with nearly two hundred karters hitting the McDonald’s Cameron Park Raceway Circuit.

The Newcastle Kart Club along with their major partners Driving Training New South Wales, Kurri Hot Bread and Kartworks ran their SP Tools Australian Kart Championship shakedown event just three weeks out from the championship decider. With drivers coming from all across the country, the weekend was full of action-packed racing!

  • full results are on speedhive HERE

Marc Tulloch was the driver to beat in TAG 125 putting his CXR Engines powered entry on pole position over Winston Van Laarhoven and recent AKC round winner Zachary Heard. Tulloch was able to take out all four heats with Heard, Van Laarhoven, Brent Reading, TGR drivers Tyler Greenbury and Thomas Gallagher all battling for the minor spots. AKC championship leader Leigh Nicolaou, after an issue in heat one, was also making his way through. Tulloch was able to clean sweep the weekend with a dominant twelve second win in the final. Nicolaou managed to bounce back to second spot over Reading, Heard and Greenbury rounding out your five.

KA3 Senior was the Alex Ninovic show on Saturday where he was able to take pole position and all of his three heat wins. Ninovic had state champion Jordan Shalala and Keegan Fraser chasing after him. Ninovic won the fourth heat on Sunday with Matthew Hill starting to make his way into contention. Hill was able to take the lead and not look back taking a commanding victory. Ninovic did enough to come home in second spot over Fraser, Robert Graham in fourth and Rohan Gresham rounding out your top five!

(pic – NKRC/FB)

X30 was another great battle with Jackson Souslin Harlow firing the first shot taking pole position over Troy Farley Race Engines Tyler Howard and Tom Williamson Motorsport’s Sam Seccombe. Souslin Harlow was able to take out all four heat wins with Howard, Seccombe, Leon Cordato and Gianmarco Pradel all running in the top five. Souslin Harlow, who had been fighting sickness all weekend, had a battle on his hands in the final with Tyler Howard really taking it to him. Howard was able to take the lead and take victory in the final over Souslin Harlow. Daniel Austin was able to make the most of a first corner incident in the final, coming home in third spot from Harrison Mitchell and Lewis England rounding out the top five.

TAG 125 Restricted was the Brody Nunn show, who started his weekend by putting himself on pole position by a massive eight tenths. Nunn was able to take out all four heats with Jacob Macneill, Martin Wasley, Lee Franks and Tyson Arden all battling behind. Nunn was able to put in a lights to flag victory in the final, over Hunter Cutting who fought his way into second spot. Franks rounded out your podium from Macneill and Nathaniel Vegh rounding out your top five.



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KA3 Junior had another strong field of drivers with Jack Beeton taking pole position over Brock Barber and Ruben Dan. Barber was able to take out heat one with Toby Spinks coming through from fifth to take out heat two and three. Barber was able to take out the final heat with Beeton, Dan and Matthew Hansford-Taylor all racing around in the minor spots. Spinks was involved in an incident at the first corner ruling him out of contention and Barber retired in the race, leaving Jack Beeton in control. Beeton was able to come through and take the final win over Hansford-Taylor and Dan in third. Spinks was able to recover back to fourth spot with Dominic Penman rounding out your five.

Michael Quintiliani put his Tony Kart on pole position in Cadet 9 with Oscar Haddon and Carter Lamperd not far behind. Quintiliani and Haddon shared the heat wins and two wins a piece with Lamperd, AKC round winner Jensen Damaschino and state champion Jay Kostecki all coming into the minor places. Kostecki got himself right in the battle for the lead in the final along with Quintiliani and Damaschino. With many lead changes and some great battles, Kostecki was able to hold on in a thrilling finish by five hundredths of a second. Quintiliani came through to finish second over Damaschino. Hunter Pearce battled his way forward across the weekend to finish fourth with Jack Larsen rounding out your five.

In Cadet 12, Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi added another pole position to his resume over Jack Bartlett and Corey Carson. Eskandari-Marandi was able to take out all four heat wins but had a blisteringly quick Carson behind him in some great battles, Bartlett, Boston Gillanders, Hamish Campbell and Basilio Micale all battling behind for the minors. Eskandari-Marandi and Carson put on a thrilling battle in the final with Carson making his way to the lead on the final lap and taking victory. Eskandari-Marandi came home right behind in second spot over Micales, Bartlett and Riley Harrison rounding out your top five.

KA4 Junior was hot and fast racing all weekend with Samuel March putting his Alpha Motorsport entry on pole position over Brodie Norris and Xavier Avramides. March, Luke Trost, Avramides and Kobe Mcinerney were all able to take a heat win with Patrick Buckley, Ky Burke and a recovering Benjamin Munro all in the top group. Munro after qualifying in sixteenth position, was able to take the lead in the final and had Mcinerney all over the back bumper. After some final lap chaos, Munro was able to clinch in for victory in a thrilling finish from Norris and Buckley. Trost and Burke in the Energy Corse Australia stable rounded out the top five finishers.

The premier junior class KA2 was another big field of quality driving with Mika Lemasurier drawing first blood taking pole position over AKC championship leader Costa Toparis and Jack Wells. Toparis and Lemasurier took a heat win each on Saturday, while having Ky Burke, Toby Dvorak, Peter Bouzinelos and Jett Kocoski all battling behind. Toparis made a huge statement on Sunday taking the remaining heat wins and the final. Dvorak was able to come through and finish second over a recovering Jack Wells after a DNF earlier in the weekend. Logan Eveleigh and Burke rounded out your top five drivers.

The Premier six speed KZ2 gearbox class was the final class that took to the track with Jack Childs putting in a surprise pole position over former Australian champion Joshua Fife and Parolin Australia driver James Lodge. Childs took the opening heat on Saturday with Fife fighting back to level things up in heat two. Lodge, Reece Cohen and Jay Coul were all fighting behind for the minor spots. Childs took out the third heat with Coul throwing himself into contention with a final heat win. The final was an epic race early with Coul leading a four kart train at the front of the field. Fife was able to make the move for the lead and never looked back taking out the win. Cohen was able to make his way up into second spot over Childs in third. Coul just missed the podium in fourth spot with Slade Orsmond rounding out your top five.

The Newcastle Kart Club will run the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship decider on August the 19th, 20th and 21st where the 2022 Australian Kart Champions will be crowned.



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