Blue Plate Dozen at Newcastle

The MIR Raceline Australia KA NSW State Kart Championship was contested at Newcastle across the weekend, 165 entries competing across the 12 classes. Jac Preston took the win in the drawcard KZ2 gearbox category while Riley Harrison conquered the largest field at the event, Cadet 12.

• full results on speedhive HERE

race report by Mitch McLellan, MMS Media & Commentating

There were 12 blue plates on the line and with four of the newly crowned SP Tools Australian Kart Champions taking the start and over $17,000 in prizes to give away, New South Wales had one of its biggest events of the year!

Cadet 12 (25 entries)

Corey Carson was able to continue his good form around the Newcastle circuit, grabbing pole position in Cadet 12 over Alaster Flack and Lana Flack. Carson shared the heat wins on Saturday with Northern Territory state champion Riley Harrison and Maxim Kirwan with Liam Carr, national champion Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi and Basilio Micales all coming into the fight. Eskandari-Marandi took out the final heat race setting up a fascinating final. Harrison and Micales were able to break away in the middle stages of the final to set up a final of 2. Harrison was able to take the lead and hold his nerve in the final few laps to take his 2nd state championship over Micales and Eskandari-Marandi in 3rd. Carr was able to come home just off the podium in 4th with Alaster Flack rounding out your top 5.

1 Riley Harrison
2 Basilio Micale
3 Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi

KA4 Junior (10 entries)

Australian number 1 Patrick Buckley grabbed pole position in KA4 Junior over Luke Trost and Kobe Mcinerney. Buckley was able to take out both heat 1 and 2 but the rain arrived and so did Samuel March’s pace in heat 3 when he took victory. The track dried out for Sunday morning running and March was able to continue his pace and make it another heat win and set up fascinating final with Buckley. March dropped to as low as 4th off the start but was able to take the lead and charged away to claim his maiden KA4 Junior state championship by over 3 seconds! Trost was able to come home to round out the podium over Mcinerney and Brodie Norris running out the top 5 drivers!

1 Samuel March
2 Patrick Buckley
3 Luke Trost

TaG 125 (23 entries)

Newly crowned TAG 125 Australian champion Zachary Heard took pole position in the TAG 125 class over state champion’s Jackson Souslin-Harlow and Harrison Hoey in 3rd spot. Saturday was a crazy day of racing with Souslin-Harlow, Heard and Thomas Gallagher all taking a heat win with Hoey, Tyler Howard and Brett Shailes all running inside the top 5. Souslin-Harlow took out the 4th and final heat and set up a fascinating final. Heard and Souslin-Harlow broke clear in the final to battle at the front. In a frantic last lap, Hoey was able to emerge from the carnage for an unexpected victory! Howard was able to move to 2nd spot over Heard, Souslin-Harlow and Gallagher with the top 5 only separated by 3 tenths of a second!

1 Harrison Hoey
2 Tyler Howard
3 Zachary Heard

KA3 Senior (14 entries)

Alex Ninovic was another Australian kart champion to grab pole position, this time in KA3 Senior. Ninovic took pole over local driver Oscar Priest and state champion Jordan Shalala. Ninovic won both opening heats on Saturday, with Shalala taking a wet and wild 2rd heat. Priest, Matthew Hill, Toby Spinks and Matthew Waters were left to battle for the minor spots. Ninovic took the final heat win and opened a commanding lead in the final when Matthew Hill got to 2nd and chased after the Australian champion. In a close finish, Ninovic was able to hold his nerve and take out another major title in 2022 over Hill and Waters in 3rd. Local driver Priest came home in 4th spot with Luca Belardo rounding out the top 5 drivers.

1 Alex Ninovic
2 Matthew Hill
3 Matthew Waters

KA3 Junior (21 entries)

Luke Trost qualified in 2nd spot in KA4 Junior but went 1 better in KA3 Junior, taking pole position over Victorian James Anagnostiadis and Logan Eveleigh. Heat 1 was under wet conditions with slick tyres where Xavier Avramides charged from 21st and last on the grid to take victory! Jack Webster was able to fight his way through to take victory in heat 3, with Anagnostiadis taking out heat 2 and 4 which meant there was multiple chances for the final. Anagnostiadis and Eveleigh broke away in the final staging a brilliant final few laps. Anagnostiadis held on in a tight 1 to take his maiden KA3 Junior state championship over Eveleigh and Webster in 3rd. Avramides rounded out his weekend in 4th spot with Northern Territory state champion Ky Burke rounding out the top 5.

1 James Anagnostiadis
2Logan Eveleigh
3 Jack Webster

Cadet 9 (11 entries)

Queenslander Blake Haigh took pole position in Cadet 9 over Noah Zamprogno and Oscar Haddon on Saturday morning. There were 3 different heat winners on Saturday with Kurtis Pulkinghorne, Haigh and Jenson Damaschino all grabbing a heat win, with Carter Lampard grabbing the most points to put himself on pole for heat 4. Lamperd became the 4th different heat winner of the weekend with Michael Quintiliani and Haddon also racing around for the minors. The final was a hard fought race with Haigh, Lamperd and Zamprogno all having their shot at the front. Haigh and Zamprogno came together late in the race, which allowed Lamperd to open margin and take the state title in Cadet 9. Zamprogno recovered for 2nd with Damaschino, Singh and a recovering Haigh rounding out your top 5 drivers.

1 Carter Lamperd
2 Noah Zamprogno
3 Jensen Damaschino

The TaG 125 Restricted Classes

TAG 125 Restricted qualifying was taking out by Brody Nunn over Lily Stevens and Ryan Dealy. Nunn was the dominate driver across all conditions taking all 4 heat wins with Dealy, Oliver Estasy, Stevens and Jake Zdravovski racing in the top 5. The final was an exciting affair with Estasy taking the fight to Nunn and the lead changed hands multiple times in the final few laps. A lap karter changed the race complexion with Estasy caught out and out of the race. Nunn was left to take a clean sweep and the state championship over Dealy and Zdravkovski. Stevens and Tyson Arden rounded out your top 5 with Martin Wasley and Bailey Walker being your new champions in TAG 125 Restricted Masters and TAG 125 Restricted Medium.

TaG Restricted Light (10 entries)
1 Brody Nunn
2 Ryan Dealy
3 Jake Zdravkovski

TaG 125 Medium (4 entries)
1 Bailey Walker
2 Jack Freeland
3 Lee Franks

TaG Restricted Masters Light (7 entries)
1 Martin Wasley
2 Michael Croxton
3 Adrian Compton

X30 (16 entries)

X30 was an intense qualifying session with Tyler Howard taking out pole position over stable mate Jackson Souslin Harlow and Hamish Fitzsimmons. Howard took the opening 2 heats on Saturday with former national champion Tyler Greenbury taking the 3rd heat. Souslin-Harlow, Fitzsimmons, Leon Cordato, Declan Somers and Harrison Hoey were all battling for the podium positions. Howard made it 3 out of 4 heat wins and blew the field away in the final with the most dominate performance across the championship. Howard took out the title by over 8 seconds to recent junior graduate Toby Spinks, Greenbury, Joshua Fife and Cohen Day rounding out your top 5!

1 Tyler Howard
2 Toby Spinks
3 Tyler Greenbury

KA2 (16 entries)

Western Australian Jack Webster put in a strong display in qualifying to take pole position in the premier KA2 junior class over stablemate Lewis Cordato and Shamick Racing’s Max Walton. Webster was unstoppable in the heats taking all 4 wins with Cordato, Walton, Jake Rutkowski and Mika Lemasurier all showing excellent speed to be in the fight for the podium. The final turned into a 3-way fight in the final between Webster, Cordato and Rutkowski. Cordato made the championship winning move in the final few laps to take the championship. Rutkowski and Webster rounded out your podium with Daniel Quimby and Walton rounding out your top 5!

1 Lewis Cordato
2 Jake Rutkowski
3 Jack Webster

The Karting Australia New South Wales champions will now get to wear the prestigious blue state championship winning plates for the next 12 months!