Josh Fife and Max Walton will get the opportunity to show the world what they can do behind the wheel of a race car after winning the Gearbox and KA2 Junior classes respectively at Australia’s first ever ROK Festival on the weekend.
Max will have the opportunity to get behind the wheel of an F4 open wheeler while Josh will step into a Porsche Motorsport Sprint Challenge 911 GT3, both thanks for Earl Bamber Motorsport.
The two days of the event were basically run as two separate race meetings, but the overall Festival result was calculated over both days.
- full results are on speedhive HERE
- Lots more photos by Pace Images: Saturday photos – ROK classes HERE; invitational classes HERE
- Sunday photos – ROK classes HERE; invitational classes HERE
Race report by Mitch McLellan, MMS Media & Commentating
The inaugural Patrizicorse ROK Festival and Karting Victoria 4SS State Trophy took place over the weekend, with the ROK classes making their debut in the karting Australia landscape!
The event took place at the newly extended Oakleigh Go Kart Club on the 1012-meter national circuit with some of the best drivers in the country taking to the start!
ROK GP Light
Bradley Jenner took pole position in the ROK GP Light class on Saturday morning over TAG 125 national champion Zachary Heard and Pro Karting’s Declan Somers. Saturday had 3 different race winners with Jenner and Heard taking a heat race win each, but Kristian Janev was able to take the Saturday feature win after a post-race penalty to Jenner.
Jenner was able to take pole position in a tight session but then dominated race 4 on Sunday morning. Jenner was then in a tough battle in the remaining 2 races with Somers, the pace was hot and both drivers gave it their all. Jenner was able to hold his nerve and clean sweep Sunday to take victory! Heard was able to gather enough points across 6 races to jump on the podium in 2nd, with Janev grabbing 3rd after his feature win on Saturday!
1 Brad Jenner
2 Zachary Heard
3 Kristian Janev
ROK GP Masters
Jace Lindstrom made his racing return over the weekend and wasted little time grabbing pole position in the ROK GP Masters class over Peter Gigis and Trent Harrison. Lindstrom dominated Saturday taking both heats and the feature leaving Gigis, Harrison and Walkinshaw Andretti driver Nick Percat to battle for the minors.
Lindstrom took pole again on Sunday and took both heat races, before heart break in the final when a mechanical issue took him out of the race. This allowed Trent Harrison to come through and take the feature on Sunday and Peter Gigis to take out the ROK GP Masters win! Percat came home in 2nd on combined points with Harrison and Lindstrom equal on points for 3rd, with Harrison taking 3rd due to his Sunday final win!
1 Peter Gigis
2 Nick Percat
3 Trent Harrison
KA2 Junior
Max Walton continued his hot form taking Saturday pole in KA2 Junior over Australian Kart Championship runner up Toby Dvorak and Mika Lemasurier. Walton and Dvorak shared the Saturday heat wins but Walton was able to take out the feature win on Saturday! Jack Webster, Ben Holliday, Ryan Macmillan and James Anagnostiadis were all battling for the minors.
Webster was able to grab pole position on Sunday with Parolin pair Macmillan and Walton each grabbing a heat win. Walton was able to make it another feature race victory and the win in KA2 Junior! Ben Holliday had grabbed enough points for 2nd spot, with Xavier Avramides moving up to 3rd position overall.
1 Max Walton
2 Ben Holliday
3 Zavier Avramides
Gearbox
Gearbox started in intense and fast fashion with former KZ2 national champion Troy Loeskow taking pole position by a thousandth of a second, over newly crowned Australian champion Joshua Fife and New South Wales state champion Jac Preston. Fife and Preston were able to share the heat wins with the Australian number 1 taking out the Saturday feature. Preston, Loeskow, James Lodge and Nikola Mitic battling for the minors.
Fife showed why he was the Australian number 1 on Sunday taking pole position and all 3 race victories! Mitic had done enough to grab 2nd position overall with Loeskow rounding out your podium in 3rd spot.
1 Joshua Fife
2 Nikola Mitic
3 Troy Loeskow
Gearbox Masters
Sam Houston started his weekend in strong fashion taking out pole position in Gearbox Masters over Jorden Lindstrom and Daniel Richert. Lindstrom and Richert shared the heat wins on Saturday but Lindstrom was able to take out the all important feature race.
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Houston was able to fight back on Sunday morning grabbing pole position and taking out victory in race 4 and race 5. Lindstrom was able to put in a brilliant final drive and take out his 2nd feature win of the weekend and win the ROK festival. Houston had enough points to grab 2nd position with Stephanie Duffy jumping on the podium in 3rd spot!
1 Jorden Lindstrom
2 Sam Houston
3 Stephanie Duffy
Cadet 12
Cadet 12 was a close affair all weekend with James Flynn taking Saturday pole over Blake Purvis Sebastian Tander. Flynn took all 3 victories Saturday, with Purvis, Tander, Dominic Mercuri, Oscar Singh and Cayden Beacham all battling in the minors.
De’argo Stewart took pole position on Sunday in the wet conditions but Beacham and Purvis shared the race 4 and 5 victories, setting up a fascinating final. Singh and Flynn had a hard-fought battle in the final with Singh grabbing the feature win on Sunday! Flynn had done enough to take the ROK Festival in Cadet 12 over Singh in 2nd position and South Australian driver Mercuri rounding out your top 3.
1 James Flynn
2 Oscar Singh
3 Dominic Mercuri
4SS Senior Light
The inaugural 4SS state trophy had 19 drivers hit the Oakleigh Go Kart Club national circuit, with Cooper Johnstone taking pole position in both qualifying sessions. Johnstone was unstoppable taking all 6 race victories by big margins to take home the first orange plate! Brayden Slama was consistent across both days and had enough points to grab 2nd with William Wade in 3rd.
1 Cooper Johnstone
2 Brayden Slama
3 William Wade
4SS Senior Medium
4SS Senior Medium was taking out by former state champion Ian Branson. Branson had challenges across the weekend with Hayden Roper grabbing three victories on Sunday. Branson had done enough to grab the title over Nathan Daley in 2nd and Stuart Hall in 3rd spot.
1 Ian Branson
2 Nathan Daley
3 Stuart Hall
4SS Senior Heavy
4SS Senior Heavy had 2 different feature winners with Jacob Holland taking victory on Saturday and Chris Dudfield taking Sunday’s race. Dudfield had gathered enough points across the 2 days to take victory and his first orange plate over Peter Rogers in 2nd and Holland in 3rd.
1 Chris Dudfield
2 Peter Rogers
3 Jacob Holland
KA3 Senior Light
Liam O’Donnell was able to take out pole position in the KA3 Senior Light class on Saturday over Angus Hall and Imran Aly. Hall was dominate on Saturday taking both heats and then the feature win.
Imran Aly had his turn off success on Sunday morning taking pole position but Hall retook control taking out race 4 and 5, putting himself off pole position for the final. Hall was able to put in another stellar performance and taking 6 from 6 race victories! Liam O’Donnell had done enough to grab 2nd position, with Joshua Lackas jumping on the final step of the podium in 3rd position.
1 Angus Hall
2 Liam O’Donnell
3 Joshua Lackas
KA3 Junior
Lachlan Cutting took pole position in dominate fashion on Saturday in KA3 Junior over Hunter Salvatore and Jay Murray. Cutting had a perfect day on Saturday taking both heats and the feature leaving Salvatore, Murray, Jasper and Cooper Frith and Aydin Karadagli to battle behind.
Thomas Patching entered the equation on Sunday by taking pole position and sharing the heat wins with Hunter Salvatore. Salvatore was able to hold his nerve in the final and take victory in the Sunday feature and the overall championship. Cutting had done enough to grab 2nd spot, with Karadagli jumping on the podium in 3rd spot!
1 Hunter Salvatore
2 Lachlan Cutting
3 Aydin Karadagli
TaG 125 Restricted Light
TAG 125 Restricted Light qualifying was taking out by Sebastian Perrone on Saturday morning over Andrew Sotiropoulos and Alec Christopoulos. Perrone took both heat wins on Saturday but Christopoulos was able to take the feature setting up a fascinating Sunday.
Sotiropoulos put himself back in the mix by taking pole position on Sunday. Christopoulos and Perrone both took heat wins on Sunday but Perrone was able to come through and take Sunday feature and the championship! Christopoulos was equal on points but finished 2nd in a countback with Damiano Muscariello rounding out the podium in 3rd.
1 Sebastian Perrone
2 Alec Christopoulos
3 Damiano Muscariello
The Patrizicorse ROK Festival will be looking to go bigger and better in season 2023 and the ROK class is well and truly on the karters minds!
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