Round 1 of the Australian Kart Championship at Todd Road was a tough but valuable learning experience for me. Racing in the ultra-competitive KA3 Senior class with 40 karts on the grid, I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I was ready to give it everything I had.
The weekend didn’t start as planned, with a chain coming off in the first session, putting us on the back foot straight away. That meant we were playing catch-up for the rest of the day while trying different setups. Despite the setback, I was slowly getting up to speed by the end of practice, which gave me some confidence heading into qualifying.
Qualifying was a step in the right direction, improving from Friday to put the EKS Kart in P21. It wasn’t where I wanted to be, but it was progress.
Heat 1 went relatively well, and I crossed the line in 19th, but a penalty dropped me down a few spots.
Heat 2 was chaos. I was trying to avoid an incident ahead, but with the other kart still moving and nowhere to go, I clipped it. I ended up airborne and bent an axle in the process. I managed to get the kart home in 30th, but it was a tough break.
Starting further down in Heat 3, I made a few positions up and finished in 23rd. Not ideal, but at least I was moving forward.
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In Heat 4, the pace was there. I was quick enough for a top 7 finish, but poor race decisions and my starting position made things harder than they needed to be. I crossed the line in 23rd again, but I knew I had the speed to be much further up.
For the Final, I got off to a great start, making my way up to P15. Things were looking promising until I started experiencing motor issues. I was slowly losing power, and by lap 11, the engine seized, ending my race early. It was a disappointing way to finish, especially after showing strong pace earlier in the weekend.
It was a tough weekend, but there are plenty of positives to take away. We made progress with speed, and I learned a lot about racecraft and decision-making in a packed field.
A huge thank you to my sponsors – Tickford Autosport, LMF Constructions, Eastern Height Safety, DWE, P, ProLift Garage Doors, DesignEars, and AW Electrics – for their support.
Big thanks as well to Joe Tighe at EKS for the coaching and to my dad, Matt, for all the hard work on the kart. We’ll take what we’ve learned, reset, and come back stronger for the next round!
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