by Russell Innes
Over 210 entries have been received for the 2023 Queensland State Cup being held at Ipswich Kart Club this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as part of “Ipswich Speedweek”, which also includes the 2023 Rotax National Cup on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Competitors will be vying for the much sought after Maroon Plates across 11 classes.
With a few of the leading drivers in Cadet 9 having now moved up to Cadet 12, Riccardo Johnston and Lukas Loeskow will be the likely frontrunners in the youngest class, with Ayrton Hobday, Oliver Flack, Joshua Fabian, Luca Raso and Olivia Walton all fighting for the minor positions.
Cadet 12 has a massive 51 entries and will run the oversubscribed Heat format. There are multiple likely frontrunners in this class including Alester Flack, Gabriel Elkayam, Cooper Folley, Brock Nolan, Basilo Micale, Oscar Singh, Michael Quintiliani, Jeremy Broadbent, Roman Krutil, Riley Curtis, Carter Grother, Cruz Kelly, Brock Helm, Declan Hicks and Jack Jensen.
In KA3 Junior Light, regular frontrunners such as Isaac McNeill, Jye Flynn, Tyson McGill and Jack Szewczuk will vie for the win with Zack Hilder and Baxter Jarrett also looking to get amongst the battle at the front.
McNeill and Flynn will double up and run KA3 Junior Heavy and along with Charlotte Page, Jaxon Fischle, Michael Janusz, Max Acquasanta, Lucas Lesmes and Oliver Acquasanta will be amongst the frontrunners for the win.
In the small KA2 Junior field, Kiwis Maxim Kirwan and Marco Manson will take on Australian Champion Max Walton, Tyson McGill and James Raaymakers.
New NSW Champion Isaac Demellweek, along with Jack Munro, Robert Mortensen and Riley Van Den Broek will be amongst the leaders in TAG Restricted Light,
TAG Restricted Masters will be a fantastic battle between Rudy Farkas, Phil Smith, Gavin Whitmore, Noel Smythe, Daniel Fraser, current Queensland State Champ Russell Vellacott, James Morrison and Evan Broughton.
Farkas, Whitmore and Smyth will all double up and run TAG Restricted Medium and again will feature at the front and be joined by the likes of Zac King, Justin Voight, Alan Czislowski and Michael Oro.
Australian Champion Keegan Fraser will go in as favourite for KA3 Senior, but the likes of Leo Ianella Ari Wedlock and Rayner Costello will likely challenge.
The usual frontrunners like Christopher Williams and Brendan Nelson in TAG Heavy will have plenty of challenges from the likes of Bradley McNaught, Will Marshall, Scott Gray, Jared Neinert, Justin McCartney and Josh Dagg,
The 30 strong TAG Light field will be very hotly contested with Logan Eveliegh, Jacob Dowson, Keegan Fraser, Jordan Ensbey, Troy Loeskow, Jack Wells, Kurtis Tennant, Brent Reading, Jai Brown, Jack Webster, Toby Spinks and Brodie Norris all going hard for the Maroon Plate.
Competitors and spectators will have a very entertaining time over the 4 days of Ipswich Speedweek with a high quality of drivers entered across the State Cup and Rotax National Cup ensuring some great ontrack action, but will also be entertained across the Friday and Saturday evenings with a Fireworks display and a Tyre Changing Comp organised by Ipswich Kart Club.