TaG Titles

words – Russell Innes, IKC
photos – Olivia Walton

William Gallagher and Brent Reading were the big winners at Round 5 of the Ipswich Kart Club Championships on Saturday the 28^th of June, with the Feature Classes being TAG Light and TAG Heavy contesting for the Graham Acreman Memorial trophies.

Gallagher and Reading now add their names to a star studded list of winners which includes Tyler Greenbury, Scott Sorensen, Marc Tulloch, Adam Mercer, Sam Houston, Brendan Nelson, Harrison Hoey and Jace Matthews.

• live stream replay, below
• full results on Speedhive HERE
• more photos HERE

Marc Tulloch set the fastest time in TAG Light Qualifying to lead Thomas Gallagher, Jack Stimson, Hugh McGuire and William Gallagher. Things got off to a very exciting start in Heat 1 when a sprinkle of rain hit the track as the field came to the start and half of them slid off track through Turn 1 scattering the field everywhere with Seb Bennett leading after the 1^st lap, Louis Brown taking the lead on the 2^nd lap but then slipping off, with Tulloch then taking the lead on Lap 3. As the track started to dry Tulloch held a considerable lead over Brown with Bennett 3^rd with Trent Newton, the Gallagher brothers and Stimson battling behind. Tulloch was comfortable out front to lead all the way to the end of 10 laps. Brown also settled in to 2^nd with a nice gap to Bennett in 3rd. William Gallagher got the best of the battling pack to move to 4^th with Newton finishing 5^th. A post race penalty for Brown however dropped him to 6^th, leaving the top 5 as Tulloch, Bennett, Gallagher, Newton and Stimson.

Thomas Gallagher and Tulloch had a great battle for the Heat 2 win, Gallagher just having enough to hold off Tulloch, with William Gallagher a little further back and then Stimson holding off McGuire in the battle for 4^th.

Thomas Gallagher and Tulloch again had a great battle in Heat 3. Tulloch led off the line but Gallagher quickly moved to the front and set about trying to get a comfortable lead, with Bennett and William Gallagher fighting for 3^rd ahead of McGuire. Gallagher led all the way for a small but comfortable win from Tulloch. McGuire had great pace to move to 3^rd from William Gallagher and Brown in 5^th.

Tulloch would start the Final from Pole ahead of William Gallagher, Thomas Gallagher, McGuire and Stimson. William Gallagher went to the lead on Lap 1 and initially built a small but comfortable margin before Tulloch started to reel him in the 2^nd half of the race. Gallagher was able to respond though and crossed the line the winner after 12 laps only a few meters ahead of Tulloch. Thomas Gallagher initially ran in 3^rd in the early laps before McGuire and Brown both got past mid race. McGuire probably had the best pace on track in the later stages and almost caught Tulloch but had to settle for 3^rd, with Brown 4^th and Thomas Gallagher 5^th.

Brent Reading has dominated TAG Heavy at Ipswich Kart Club so far this year and he would continue that with another solid day, with fastest lap in Qualifying and then winning all 3 Heats and the Final comfortably. Reading was over 3/10ths faster than Josh Dagg in Qualifying, Will Marshall 3^rd fastest then followed Brock Plumb and Matt Goddard. Reading was super fast at the start of Heat 1, almost 2 seconds up the road after 2 laps ahead of Marshall, Dagg, Plumb and Goddard. Marshall struck trouble on Lap 7 and dropped to the rear of the field, elevating Dagg to 2^nd but more than 3 seconds behind Reading. As the laps wound down, Reading showed his dominance, putting in the fastest lap on the last lap of the Heat to win comfortably from Dagg, followed by Plumb, Goddard and Mark Lees.

Reading again got off to a fast start early in Heat 2 pulling out a substantial gap from Dagg with Marshall, Plumb and Lees following. Whilst Reading continued to increase his lead at the front, positions behind remained stable except for Goddard moving past Lees in to 5^th. Reading eventually winning by almost 5 seconds from Dagg, then Marshall, Plumb and Goddard.

Reading was certainly not giving anyone a look in, as he again shot away to a huge lead early in Heat 3, gapping the field by ½ a second on Lap 1 ahead of Dagg, Plumb, Marshall and Goddard. By lap 6 he was over 2 seconds ahead of Dagg, Marshall had moved up to 3^rd with Goddard and Plumb filling the top 5. After 10 laps Reading was over 4 seconds clear from Dagg with Marshall and Goddard the only other finishers.

If anyone thought that they had a shot at challenging Reading in the Final, he snuffed that out pretty quick with a scintillating 1^st lap over a second clear of Marshall and Dagg fighting for 2^nd. It was going to be a matter of how much Reading would win by and by Lap 6 he was almost 4 seconds clear of Marshall, then Dagg, from Plumb and Goddard. As Reading continued to increase his lead, the rest of the top 5 were pretty well spread out. Reading would eventually win by over 7 seconds to top off a completely dominant display. Marshall held off Dagg for 2^nd, with Plumb in 4^th and Goddard 5^th.

Alan Czislowski has dominated TAG Restricted Masters so far this year and he once again was victorious in the Final winning comfortably from Pete Sattler and David Vogel.

Riley Van Den Broek has been in hot form in TAG Restricted Medium and continued his winning ways with a strong victory in the Final from Hugo Kues-Sales and Dean Silcock.

The ongoing battles for supremacy in TAG Restricted Light between Luke Trost, Jack Munro and Cody Scott continued at Round 5 with some very entertaining racing. Trost was able to just hold off Munro in the Final with a very narrow margin of victory with Scott close behind.

A smaller than normal Cadet P field was led all day in Cadet 12P by Bentley McPherson and likewise in Cadet 9P it was Grayson McPhee who led all day.

Cadet 9 had some great racing all day from our youngest drivers. Alfie Doyle would win the Final but copped a start line infringement which dropped him to 4^th behind Dominic Micsko, Jacob Ding and Hugo Jones.

Cadet 12 always provides entertaining on track action and Round 5 was no exception. Riccardo Johnston ended up winning the Final by a very narrow margin from Blake Haigh and Lenox Carson getting his 1^st podium finish at IKC.

Henry Stratford had a great day out in KA3 Senior, winning the Final from Annabel Kennedy and Cooper Fysh.

Club President Scott Cleveland had another fruitful day in DD2, winning narrowly from a challenging Josh Goddard and Adam Wood in 3^rd.

After loosing out to Baxter Jarrett last Round, Jye Flynn got one back with a good win in KA3 Junior Light ahead of Jarrett and Monty Jamieson 3^rd.

On the day when big sister Alice won her 1^st TA2 race down the road at Queensland Raceway, Paddy Buckley also impressed with a fine win in KA3 Junior Heavy with Jaxon Duong a strong 2^nd and Jett Saraghi 3^rd.

The 5^th Round of the IKC Championship also included the IKC Clubday Challenge Program for Cadet 9, Cadet 12, KA3 Junior Heavy, KA3 Junior Light, TAG Restricted Light, TAG Restricted Medium and TAG Restricted Masters and the Group winners were:

• Leo Milligan in Cadet 9 Group 2
• Oscar Ray in Cadet 12 Group 2
• Joseph Pillot in Cadet 12 Group 3
• Jack Jensen in KA3 Junior Light Group 2
• Jacob Neale in KA3 Junior Light Group 3
• Nathan Coburn in KA3 Junior Heavy Group 2
• Jay Keyes in TAG Restricted Light Group 2
• Blake Remaili in TAG Restricted Light Group 3
• Liam Turnbull in TAG Restricted Medium Group 2
• Scott Campbell in TAG Restricted Masters Group 2
• Peter Fletcher in TAG Restricted Masters Group 3.

As usual, the entire Round 5 of the IKC Championship was live to YouTube.

The next race meeting at Ipswich will of course be Round 4 of the Australian Kart Championship on July 25^th, 26^th and 27^th, followed shortly after by the Supercars Showdown on Friday evening the 8^th of August. Details on this event and the classes and format will be released very soon.