by Russell Innes, IKC
The 2023 Ipswich Kart Club Championship will kick off this Saturday the 4th of February with a massive 301 entries, with Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 the feature classes going for the IKC Cadet Titles.
In Cadet 12 there are a multitude of potential winners. The likes of Copper Folley, Lana Flack, Alester Flack, Gabriel Elkayam, Michael Quintiliani, Zander Watts, Maxim Kirwan and Basilio Micale, will be likely frontrunners, but with so many talented kids also coming up from competing last year in Cadet 9, there may be a few new names towards the front.
In Cadet 9, quite a few of last years pacesetters have now moved up a class, so the ones to watch may be the likes of Jack Musico, Brock Nolan, Jeremy Broadbent, Riccardo Johnston, Harlen Bell and Carter Grother.
In addition, the 1st Round of the 2023 IKC Championship will also be the 1st Round of the IKC Pineapple Cup for Gearbox class and KA2 Junior. This 3 Round Series will give all Gearbox (including KZ2) and KA2 Juniors plenty of opportunity to run their karts at Ipswich in the months leading up to the AKC Round in July. Early favourites in the Gearbox class will be Henry Johnstone, Bailey Sagaidak, Taylah Agius, Scott Sorensen, Jordan Ensbey and Lachlan Murphy. In KA2 Junior, strong local hopes for the win will be Max Walton, Mika LeMasurier, Isaac McNeill, Ryan MacMillan, Ky Burke and Brodie Norris.
A big feature of racing at Ipswich Kart Club in recent times has been the Cadet P Classes, which has been an initial introduction to racing for many of the Cadets that have moved through the Cadet P Program and are now running very well in Cadet 9 and Cadet 12. The amount of Cadet P drivers coming along at IKC is huge at the moment and a total of 18 Starters will line up on Saturday for the Cadet P group. 12 of them will be doing their very 1st race meeting.
advertisement
Across the other classes, KA3 Junior Light is massive and will have a capacity field of 40 starters, with many chances for the winner on the day, but Sebastian Bennett, Jye Flynn, Luke Rinaldi, Tyson McGill, Brodie Norris, Isaac McNeill, Patrick Buckley, Hamish Campbell, Seth Huth and Baxter Jarrett will be likely frontrunners. KA3 Junior Heavy is a much smaller start list, but Cody Scott, Charlotte Page, Dominic Penman, Lucas Lesmes and Max Acquasanta will be towards the front. In 4SS Junior, defending class champion Georgie Yeadon will be hard to beat, but the likes of Jett Saraghi, Jaxon Duong and Troy Bowden have committed to a lot of practice in the off season and will provide a challenge at the front.
In the TAG Restricted classes, Jacinta Hoey, Robert Mortensen, Nathaniel Harrison, Jake Czislowski, Jack Munro and Ethan Blackband will be at the front of TAG Restricted Light. In TAG Restricted Medium Dean Silcock, Allan Mayes, Ryan Silcock, Jody Zaal and Rudy Farkas will be likely frontrunners. Evan Broughton, Christopher Williams and Kevin Johnston will lead the large TAG Restricted Masters field.
TAG Heavy will be a great class to watch on Saturday with many potential winners from Sam Houston, Jumpei Morita, Jared Neinert, Josh Goddard, David Vogel, Brendan Nelson, Brock Plumb, Joshua Dagg, Will Marshall, Justin McCartney, Scott Gray, etc. As always, a large and talented list of drivers have entered TAG Light. Harrison Hoey, Brent Reading, Zane Morrison, Tyler Greenbury, Jess Golding, Jordi Marcon, Alex Hadden, Jack Wells, and Rohan Gresham are all potential winners. X30 is not normally run at IKC Club rounds, but will be on the programme for those getting in some early practice for the July AKC Round at Ipswich. William Gallagher, Declan Somers, Jace Matthews, Sam Seccombe, Shaun Jaques, Marcos Flack and Declan Matthews are likely frontrunners.
KA3 Senior has only attracted a very small field of entries, but it will be a tight battle between Lachlan Platten, Rohan Gresham, Ryan Uhlmann and Keegan Fraser.
Queensland Open Performance is always an entertaining class to watch at IKC and Scott Cleveland, Zane Morrison and Travis Carruthers will be the frontrunners. Others who will challenge for the podium include Angus Mathers and 2022 club champion Keyan Appleby.
The Ipswich Kart Club team of officials and volunteers will have a major task getting through what will be a massive race meeting starting with qualifying at 7.45am, but with their usual efficiency, racing is expected to be completed by 8.00pm, with all the feature class races (Cadet 9, Cadet 12, KA2 Junior and Gearbox) being held under lights.
advertisement