words – Wimmera Kart Club
pics – Otis Tilley/WKC
The Wimmera Kart Racing Club hosted Round 6 of the 4SS Victoria City to Country Trail during the July Club Day.
It was possibly the biggest gathering of 4SS karts at a rural circuit in Victoria ever. Sixty two in total, made up of eight Juniors and fifty four Seniors. In 2024 the first time the Trail made it to Wimmera there were only twenty 4SS karters who combined classes for a 50 Lap final. There could be no combinations in 2026 and this meant there were three 50 Lap finals for the Senior 4SS’s and a 30 lap Final for the 4SS Juniors. The Medium and Heavy groups almost filled the new herringbone outgrid.
4SS Heavy was the first of the big finals. Andrew Hall led from lap one until the chequered flag. Nathan Daley, Brandon Luna and Jack Ryan traded places throughout the 50 laps and finally came home in that order behind Andrew. After 50 laps there was only six seconds between the four drivers. The rest of the field had some great battles.
4SS Junior was a great battle. The two who led the way from lap one traded places no less than seven times. Jobe Forster 11 finished lap one in P1 but then fell back as far as P4 while battling with Ewie Govan 79. It was a great battle that saw them separated by 2tenths at the chequered flag. Ewie took the honour with Jobe second and Jett Brodrick fighting for third a little further behind.
4SS Medium, the biggest group of the day with twenty two karts. Will Wade came home first with Aidan Grigg second and local driver Phill Hobbs coming in third. Only four tenths separated them on lap fifty. Will never went further back than second and led for the last seventeen laps. Aidan Grigg led the group for a total of fourteen laps during four stints. Phill Hobbs hounded them and moved between second and fifth. At one stage around lap eight it looked like he had lost touch with the lead group. Some great driving and a bit of luck with lapped traffic saw him latch back on to the lead two drivers and stay with them for the last forty laps. Special mention for Shane Wheat who was in third place up until lap ten. He battled on but his kart just wasn’t on the earlier pace he showed. Great sportsmanship was shown as he let those who were faster go by and he took the tow from each one to eventually come home seventh.
4SS Light finished off the day. Ethan Jamieson came home to take the chequered flag first followed closely by Sam Stephens and Ryan Notman. The three of them shared the lead throughout the race. This might have been the smallest group of 4SS Seniors but it was one of the best to watch as there were battles for positions from the back to the front.
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Cadet 12 saw Gemma Phillips dominate throughout the day. She was first in the final and followed by Logan Rethus and Ryder Steel.
Cadet 9 Leo Waters experience was evident as he led relatively new driver Aston Brooksby in the final.
KA3 Junior Erin Phillips in Light drove well all day and in the final cleared out from the remaining karts. The next karts home were the Heavies of Jimmy Swatton, Kasey Waters and Ashton Caruna. They all drove well and gained some great insights to the Wimmera circuit as they ready for DPE VCS Round 6 on the 15-16 August.
Senior 2 Stroke was a combined affair with Robbie Turmine coming home first in his Restricted Medium, followed by Ben Derby in TAG Heavy and Jkobee Smith in Restricted Light.
The officials were very happy with the overwhelming majority of the drivers during the course of the day. A bit of a gremlin crept in to the start lights which hindered a couple of starts. Otherwise there was very little in the way of on track incidents.
The Wimmera Kart Racing Club is extremely happy with how the 4SS City to Country Trail went and look forward to their next visit.
There will be another Club Day on August the 9th and it will also be the last opportunity to get on track before DPE VCS Rnd.
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