words – Russell Innes, Ipswich Kart Club
photos – Stephanie Duffy, Ipswich Kart Club
After a lengthy mid-year break, club championship racing returned to Ipswich Kart Club on Saturday 1st August with the Good Sports “Game Ready Round” TAG Restricted Titles as part of round 4 of the 2026 IKC Championship.
TAG Restricted Light, TAG Restricted Medium and TAG Restricted Masters were the Feature Classes.
- scroll down for video coverage of the event (almost 11 hours!)
- full results on Speedhive HERE
A maximum grid of 40 entries fronted for the TAG Restricted Light class and featured many big name drivers who normally race Open at National level dropping down to take on the established stars in Restricted. Declan Matthews led the way in Qualifying from Jack Munro, Jye Flynn, Kayden Thompson and Kalan Mullins. Munro led home Heat 1 from Matthews and Thompson, but Matthews led the way in Heat 2 winning from Flynn and Jay Keyes. Munro fought back in Heat 3 winning from Matthews and Flynn. It was all set up for a thrilling Final under lights and Matthews and Munro would share the front row ahead of Flynn and Thompson. Munro got away poorly at the start of the Final and dropped back a few places with Matthews leading from Flynn and Thompson, with Munro back in 5th. Munro quickly regained some space on track and the front 4 of Matthews, Flynn, Thompson and Munro pulled clear of the rest of the field, led by Trent Newton. Matthews slowly built a race winning lead to edge away from Flynn, Thompson and Munro who were racing close together and putting on a great display for the crowd. Matthews went on to win comfortably from Flynn, Thompson and Munro, with Harrison Mitchell moving up to 5th at the end.
Brent reading set the fast time in TAG Restricted Medium qualifying ahead of Lucas O’Connor, Jared Neinert, Jai Buckley and Max Acquasanta. Reading convincingly won the 3 Heats with O’Connor, Josh Dagg, Neinert and Buckley amongst the placings, however at the start of the Final Reading and O’Connor were both heavily delayed in a 1st corner incident leaving Dagg in front from Buckley and Gav Whitmore. Buckley took over the race lead on Lap 2 with Whitmore moving to 2nd and Dagg dropping back to 3rd by Lap 3. Dean Vellacott had moved to 4th with a recovering O’Connor back to 5th whilst Reading was way down in 14th. The front 3 had moved clear of the rest and were to maintain positions for the rest of the Final. Buckley holding off Whitmore by about half a second with Dagg another second back. Vellacott closed up on Dagg late in the race but had to settle for 4th and then O’Connor 5th. Reading recovered to 6th with the Fastest Lap in the Final.
Aaron Rabjones set the fast time in Qualifying for TAG Restricted Masters ahead of Noel Smyth, David Vogel, Alan Czislowski and Steve Johns. Rabjones then set about probably having one of his best ever days on track with 3 Heat wins and winning margins each Heat of 3 or 4 seconds. Vogel was next best with 2nd in each Heat whilst Czislowski was 3rd in 2 of the Heats and Smyth 3rd in the other. Rabjones then went on to completely dominate the Final winning by over 5 seconds from Vogel and Czislowski, Smyth in 4th and Johns 5th.
The Cadet P Plate class was once again on the programme and 14 drivers put on a great display of racing across the 3 Heats and the Final. In Cadet 12P, Amory Seipel won the 1st 2 Heats, but Jegar Speelmeyer won Heat 3 and then held off a strong challenge from Seipel in the Final with Natalie Edmunds 3rd. Elias Elghozze, William Whitaker and Carter Coulthard each had a Heat win in Cadet 9P. Coulthard had a big win in the Final well ahead of Whitaker and Elghozze.
Cadet 9 had a huge 23 kart field and Cooper Heffernan was Heat 1 winner with Emerson Mills winning the other 2 Heats. Amongst the placings in the Heats were Cooper Van Twest, Jacob Ding, Jaxon Martin and Rylan Heffernan. In the Final Mills won narrowly from Van Twest and Martin.
Frankie Majorek won 2 of the 3 Heats in Cadet 12, Riccardo Johnston winning the other, whilst Lincoln Ferris, Liam Campbell, Ken Morita, Harrison Bailey and Joseph Pilott were amongst the placings in the Heats. Majorek and Morita had a terrific battle in the Final with Majorek holding on for a narrow win from Morita and Johnston 3rd.
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Newly crowned State Champion Josh Williams had a day out in KA3 Junior Heavy, winning all 3 Heats and the Final by huge margins. Jacob Neale was the best of the rest with 2nd in the Final ahead of Taylor Baldwin.
KA3 Junior Light provided its usual fantastic racing and the 3 Heat winners were Oscar Hennock, Jordy Butler and Jack Jensen. Butler won the Final from AJ Leggatt and Monty Jamieson.
Likewise KA3 Senior provided some very entertaining racing with Jace Matthews Jye Flynn, Baxter Jarrett, Jett Saraghi and Dima Micale all battling at the front throughout the day, Flynn won 2 Heats with Matthews winning the other. In the Final Flynn had a nice win from Matthews and Micale.
Scott Cleveland won all 3 Heats in DD2 and then the Final but was challenged real hard by Dan Hutchinson in 2nd and Adam Wood in 3rd.
Scott Pearce was unchallenged in KA3 Senior Masters, winning all 3 Heats and then the Final from Wayne Adams and Jeremy Knight.
A small TAG field was led home in 2 of the Heats by Jordi Slater with Marc Tulloch winning the other Heat. Slater and Tulloch had a tight contest in the Final with Slater just winning from Tulloch and then Matthew Clarke 3rd.
The Ipswich Kart Club Clubday Challenge Program was once again conducted at IKC Round 4 and the Group Winners were:
- Cadet 9 Group 3 – Riley Smith
- Cadet 9 Group 2 – Leo Milligan
- Cadet 12 Group 3 – Lincoln Ferris
- Cadet 12 Group 2 – Sebastian Woodrow
- KA3 Junior Light Group 3 – Lenox Hunter
- KA3 Junior Light Group 2 – Jeremy Broadbent
- KA3 Junior Heavy Group 3 – Alec Barnard
- KA3 Junior Heavy Group 2 – Ethan Baxter
- TAG Restricted Light Group 3 – Mark Hili
- TAG Restricted Light Group 2 – Connor O’Reilly
- TAG Restricted Medium Group 2 – Aayden Tunnicliffe
- TAG Restricted Masters Group 3 – Samual Wooding
- TAG Restricted Masters Group 2 – Robbie Daniels.
Ipswich Kart Club once again had the live to YouTube feed for the Good Sports “Game Ready Round” TAG Restricted Titles. Watch below.
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