by Russell Innes, IKC
In what was a massive club day at Ipswich Kart Club on Saturday 1st of April, over 330 entries took part in a fantastic day of racing. With an influx of interstate visitors and the huge local contingent, racing was superb all day across the many classes and the amazing team of IKC officials and volunteers ran a sensational race meeting.
- full results are on speedhive HERE
KA3 Senior, KA3 Junior Light and KA3 Junior Heavy were the Feature classes contesting the IKC KA100 Titles and this race meeting was also the 2nd Round of the Queensland “Pineapple Cup” for KA2 Junior and Gearbox classes.
Lachlan Platten set the fast time in qualifying for KA3 Senior, ahead of Jai Brown and Keegan Fraser, but Brown was the pacesetter through the heats, winning all 3 Heats with Fraser and Platten sharing the placings. Brown was challenged at the start of the Final by Fraser but retook the lead on lap 2 and gradually built a small but comfortable lead over the 14 laps for the win from Fraser and Platten.
Isaac McNeill set the quick time in qualifying for KA3 Junior Light, with Tyson McGill and Dominic Penman following, ahead of the capacity field of 40 drivers. Penman had a narrow win in Heat 1 from Xavier Avramides and Zack Hilder, as several other front runners failed to finish or fell well down the pack. McGill recovered from a bad 1st Heat to win Heat 2 narrowly from McNeill and the consistent Penman. Luke Rinaldi had been close to the front runners all day and showed his hand in Heat 3 with a narrow win from Penman and McNeill. Penman’s consistency had put him on pole for the Final ahead of Rinaldi and Hilder, with the likes of McNeill, Max Walton and McGill starting well back in the pack. Penman led early from Hilder and Rinaldi before Hilder was shuffled back and McNeill was making rapid progress forward into 3rd by lap 3. McNeill then took 2nd from Rinaldi on lap 4 and set off in pursuit of Penman and quickly caught and passed him by lap 5. Avramides also was moving forward and caught and passed Rinaldi for 3rd and then started hunting down Penman for 2nd and got him on the last lap. McNeill was far too strong out front and won by a comfortable margin over 3 seconds in what was a very impressive drive. Avramides was 2nd and Penman held out Rinaldi for 3rd.
Michael Janusz was fast qualifier in KA3 Junior Heavy, from Cody Scott and Lucas Lesmes. These 3 filled the same positions in Heat 1 and also Heat 2. Janusz again had a comfortable win in Heat 3 from Scott whilst Ari Wedlock was starting to get dialled in and finished 3rd. After winning all 3 Heats, Janusz would go into the Final as a clear favourite, but unfortunately could not get the kart started when the gates opened and missed the race start. Scott therefore led early and was building a very small margin at the front from a tight pack including James Cittolin, Ari Wedlock, Logan Lalas, Lucas Lesmes and James Raaymakers. On Lap 12 of 14 and with what looked like a race winning margin, Scott got tangled up in some lapped traffic and the pursuing pack of Wedlock, Raaymakers, Lesmes and Lalas pounced and Scott was suddenly back to 5th. Wedlock was now in the lead from Raaymakers and Lesmes and in a thrilling last couple of laps was able to hold on for a narrow win, Raaymakers a close 2nd and Lesmes right on his tail for 3rd.
Georgie Yeadon again set the pace in the Heats of 4SS Junior class, winning all 3 with Troy Bowden, Jett Saraghi and Jaxon Duong amongst the placings. The Final was a sensational race with Bowden, Yeadon and Saraghi all having a go in the lead, but Saraghi timed his run to perfection and took the lead late in the race to hold off a very improved Bowden and Yeadon.
Cruz Kelly and Harlen Bell were the dominant drivers in the Heats in Cadet 9, with Brock Nolan, Jeremy Broadbent and Carter Grother the best of the rest. The Final was a great battle early on with Kelly, Bell and Broadbent battling hard for the lead, before Bell and Broadbent unfortunately went off and out of contention. This left Kelly to cruise to a reasonably comfortable win from Nolan and Grother.
Cadet 12 Heat winners were Michael Quintiliani, Vincent Ter Horst and Cooper Folley. Come the Final though and Alester Flack saved his best for last with a runaway win after fending off some initial challenges from Folley. Quintiliani was 2nd and Xavier Raso 3rd.
The Cadet P Class again put on some great racing with 18 starters. Archer Bailey and Oliver Tresillian were the pacesetters through the Heats in Cadet 12P, Bailey winning 2 Heats and Tresillian the other. Jayde Wasley, Blake Cowie and Maxwell Southgate also not far off the pace. The Final was a mixed affair with Bailey out early and Tresillian pushed well back in the field leaving Wasley and Cowie to battle it out in an entertaining race. Wasley holding on for the win from Cowie and Southgate.
In Cadet 9P, Darius Arian won all 3 Heats with Oskar Kozak, Fred Wuoti, Oliver Jones and Walter Hillier amongst the placings. In the Final, Arian had a very big win from Kozak and Wuoti.
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KA2 Junior contested the 2nd Round of the Queensland “Pineapple Cup” and after Jack Webster won Heat 1, it became a Mika LeMasurier dominated day as he won the next 2 Heats and convincingly won the Final. Dominic Penman, Isaac McNeill and Ryan MacMillan battled for the minor placings, with Penman narrowly holding out McNeill for the placings on the podium.
Gearbox was the other class contesting the 2nd Round of the Queensland “Pineapple Cup” and Jack Childs, Bailey Sagaidak, Reece Cohen, Jac Preston and Christian Cowie all battled hard for the placings through the 1st 2 Heats, Childs and Preston both taking a Heat win. Sagaidak started to assert some dominance in Heat 3 with an entertaining battle with Cohen, taking the lead on the 2nd last lap, with Preston and Childs close behind. Cohen led early in the Final before Sagaidak found a way past but then edged away for a strong win. Cohen 2nd just ahead of Childs.
Nicholas Crofton and Alan Czislowski won the early Heats in TAG Restricted Medium with Rudy Farkas and Gav Whitmore also amongst the placings. In another entertaining Final, Crofton led from the start but was under constant pressure from Farkas, Whitmore and Czislowski who swapped the minor placings throughout. Crofton holding on for a very narrow win from Farkas and Whitmore.
TAG Restricted Masters has been huge at IKC so far this year and another bumper field of 26 entered. Christopher Williams, Kevin Johnston and Noel Smyth were the 3 Heat winners, with Evan Broughton and Gavin Soward also amongst the placings. Johnston led for most of the Final before Williams moved past into the lead and held on to win narrowly, Soward a strong 3rd.
With random grid draws for the 1st 2 Heats, there was some mixed results in TAG Restricted Light, Jacinta Hoey winning Heat 1 from Robert Mortensen and Xander Jacobi, whilst Heat 2 saw Jack Munro take the win from Joshua Frew and Riley Van Den Broek. Hoey grabbed the lead early in Heat 3 and led narrowly all the way to win from Munro and Mortensen. Hoey and Munro had a ripper of a battle early in the Final, swapping the lead multiple times, before Munro was able to establish a very small margin towards the end to win from Hoey and Mortensen not too far behind.
Chris Williams, Tim Farrell, Justin McCartney, Brock Plumb, Sam Houston and Will Marshall were amongst the placings in the first 2 Heats of TAG Heavy. Plumb and Houston though established their dominance in the 3rd Heat, with Plumb winning from Houston, these 2 well clear of Williams in 3rd. Houston drove brilliantly in the Final to lead all the way and edge out a small margin to win from Plumb with Williams 3rd.
Brent Reading, Declan Matthews and Harrison Hoey each took a Heat win in the hotly contested TAG Light class, but Hoey was too good in the Final edging away to a comfortable win from Zachary Heard and Reading.
Kurtis Tennant, Josh Miller and Jace Matthews were Heat winners in X30, with Shaun Jaques, Sam Seccombe and Cohen Day in the placings. Matthews led the Final from the outset with Miller in 2nd early before Seccombe and Tennant moved into the podium positions. Matthews going on for a comfortable win from Seccombe and Tennant.
Scott Cleveland was dominant in Queensland Open Performance Heavy, winning the first 2 Heats easily. Kobe Barton was able to win Heat 3 from Cleveland, but Cleveland had an easy win in the Final from Tristian Ellery and Angus Mathers who recovered strongly from a roll-over earlier in the day.
Quite a lot of the Gearbox class drivers doubled up and also ran Queensland Open Performance Light and it was Cohen and Sagaidak who duplicated their battles in the Gearbox class into the Open Performance class, Cohen taking Heat 1 from Sagaidak. Sagaidak got one back winning Heat 2 from Cohen and copied it in Heat 3. Jack Childs, Leon Cordato and Toby Webb filling the minor placings in the Heats. In the Final Cohen led early from Sagaidak and a great battle went on throughout with Sagaidak finally moving to the front with a couple of laps to go and holding on for a small win from Cohen, these two well clear of Childs in 3rd.
Ipswich Kart Clubs Clubday Challenge Program was reintroduced at this Round and Group winners were:
- Cadet 9 Group 2 = Kenichi Morita
- Cadet 9 Group 3 = Jacob Brook-Lenehan
- Cadet 12 Group 2 = Declan Hicks
- Cadet 12 Group 3 = Leo Prommnitz
- KA3 Junior Heavy Group 2 = Cooper Friend
- KA3 Junior Light Group 2 = Trent Newton
- KA3 Junior Light Group 3 = Poppi Rule
- TAG Restricted Masters Group 2 = Michael Mitrovic
- TAG Restricted Medium Group 2 = Matthew Jones
- TAG Restricted Light Group 2 = Hamilton Rae
Next race meeting at Ipswich Kart Club will be on 29th of April for Round 4 of the IKC Championship and the feature class will be Queensland Open Performance and this will also be Round 2 of the 4SS Senior Club Championships. This will be followed on June 17th and 18th with the IKC Championship Round 5/AKC Shakedown, which will also be the 3rd and Final Round of the Queensland “Pineapple Cup” for KA2 Junior and Gearbox classes.
Words – Russell Innes, IKC
Action pics – Action Sports Photography Australia (0417 715 747)
Podium pics – Gary Walton (IKC)
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