Patrizicorse made another interstate trip last weekend taking on the 2022 ROK Festival which was the team’s 1st trip to the newly extended Oakleigh Go Kart Club.
Michael Patrizi led his team of nine drivers across 5 classes into the weekend, with former national champion Troy Loeskow head lining the gearbox class and Australian Kart Championship front runners Mika Lemasurier and Xavier Avramides taking on the KA2 Junior class.
Troy Loeskow and globe trotter racer Oscar Targett took to the Gearbox class representing the Patrizicorse team. Loeskow started Saturday with a bang, grabbing pole position with Targett also inside the top 10 in position 8. Loeskow had an extremely consistent day with 2nd in race 1, race 2 and the Saturday feature with Targett moving forward to 7th by the feature race. Both drivers didn’t have qualifying go their way on Sunday but rebounded by making their way into the top 5 across race 4 and 5. Loeskow came home in 4th position in the Sunday feature which was enough to get him on the podium in 3rd spot overall! Targett came home just outside the top 5 in 7th in the feature and the 2-day championship.
De’argo Stewart was the youngest driver in the Patrizicorse team taking on the Cadet 12 class. Stewart qualified in position 10 on Saturday morning and had the aim of moving forward across the day. With a 7th in race 1 and 2 and 8th in the feature, De’argo had built momentum going into Sunday. Stewart relished the wet conditions for Sunday morning qualifying and grabbed pole position to start Sunday. A DNF in race 4 hurt the young driver’s chances but he was able to rebound for 6th in race 5 and 7th in the Sunday feature, which put him in position 7 overall for the championship.
ROK GP Light had the double driver Patrizicorse attack in Shaun Jaques and Tom Dare. Both drivers set quick times to just miss the top 5 in qualifying, with Jaques in position 6 and Dare in position 7. Jaques put in a superb day with 4th in race 1, 2nd in race 2 and 5th in the Saturday feature while two 7th place finishes had Dare in the mix going into Sunday. Both drivers just missed the top 5 in a wet Sunday morning qualifying to keep them in the front 4 rows. Jaques recovered from a DNF in race 4 to finish 6th in race 5 and the Sunday feature to claim 5th position in the overall championship. Dare continued his consistent weekend before a DNS in the final resulted in him coming home in position 9 overall in the championship.
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Dan Hutchinson and Stephanie Duffy were another double act affair in the Gearbox Masters class. Hutchinson led the way in qualifying 4th and Duffy was right behind in 5th. Hutchinson ran as high as 2nd in race 1 and 4th in race 2, while Duffy had a 3rd place in race 1 and consistent 4th in the Saturday feature. Both drivers were once again able to qualify inside the top 5 on Sunday and both were able to have top 3 finishes, with Duffy 3rd in race 4 and Hutchinson 3rd in race 5 and the Sunday feature. Duffy had gathered enough points in the ROK Festival to jump on the podium in 3rd spot overall. Hutchinson recovered nicely after a DNF in the Saturday feature to come home in 5th spot overall in the championship.
KA2 Junior had Patrizicorse stars Mika Lemasurier and Xavier Avramides. Lemasurier put himself 3rd on the grid with Avramides just outside the top 10 in 11th. Lemasurier came 2nd in race 1 and 2 before an unfortunate DNF in the final while battling for the lead. Avramides moved forward to a brilliant 4th in race 2 and 6th in the Saturday feature. Both drivers didn’t have the qualifying they were looking for but moved into the top 5 battle in race 4 and 5. Avramides was able to come home 5th in the Sunday feature and this had given him enough points for 3rd position overall! Lemasurier had another unfortunate DNF after showing so much pace and promise across the weekend.
Team representative Trent Mercer spoke post weekend on the Patrizicorse teams’ weekend at Oakleigh.
“The team did well adapting to the new challenge of the exciting circuit that Oakleigh now presents we showed performance in all categories with Pole position in KZ on Saturday and cadet 12 on Sunday. Our KA2 drivers Mika and Xavier were super strong all weekend aboard the all-new Ricciardo Kart with Mika in the hunt for both feature victories and Xavier coming away with a round podium. The team took home podiums in KA2, Gearbox and ROK shifter masters”.
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