New South Welsh Man Jett Kocoski made his first trip to Victoria for the 2024 karting season when he took on the Victorian Kart Championship over the weekend. Kocoski, running out of the Rush Performance camp was running double duty for the weekend racing in both TAG 125 Light and X30 Light.
Kocoski who had showed strong pace at the Todd Road circuit in 2023, was looking for a strong weekend of racing. In 2 tough classes against some of the countries best, young Jett was able to set strong pace in both qualifying sessions. Kocoski was right in the battle for pole position landing on the front row of the grid in TAG Light. Jett was also super competitive in a tough X30 field landing in position 8 overall.
Saturday heat racing was a mixed affair with a tough start in TAG Light. Kocoski’s engine wouldn’t start on the grid for heat 1 and he started the race outside the top 20. Jett recovered well and made his way back into the top 15 to finish 14th in heat 1. Jett rebounded in heat 2 to come away with a brilliant top 5 result of 4th position.
X30 Light was a consistent day with improving coming in both heats for the young driver. Kocoski was able to come away with 6th position in both heats leading into Sunday. The final heat was again mixed result for the young Rush Performance pilot. Jett started in position 9 in TAG Light before dropping back to 13th off the start. Kocoski put his head down and was able to charge back into the top 10 and come away with 8th position overall.
X30 Light went much more to script with Jett quickly jumping into the top 5 off the start. Kocoski chipped away all race and was able to make his way up to 3rd position and be classified in 2nd post race leaving him right in contention come the final!
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Jett started out of position 7 for the final in TAG Light and got a brilliant start jumping into position 4 overall. Kocoski was battling around the top 5 and was looking strong when a major accident caused Jett to roll over in his kart and DNF the final. An injured and tough Jett brushed the incident off and hoped into his X30 kart for his second championship final. Kocoski put in a brilliant drive and charged into the top 3 and was right in the battle for victory. In one of his finest drives, young Jett moved his way to the lead of the race and crossed the line to win the championship final!
Kocoski, not to his knowledge had completed the final with a broken collarbone and in heart breaking circumstances was disqualified post-race due to being 100 grams underweight!
Jett’s father Bob spoke post weekend on a weekend of highs and lows of racing. “I’m super proud of Jett, he drove so well all weekend and the X30 final I’ve never been prouder. My heart broke for him post-race seeing him in so much pain and watching his post-race weight hover. We know we’ve got the speed and this will drive us for the rest of the season”.
Kocoski will be back in Victoria next month for the second round of the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship.
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