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Columbrita Wins Brian Farley Memorial


by Simon Kendrick

16 April 2017
 

Over the past ten years, the Brian Farley Memorial has developed into one of the biggest events on the Australian karting calendar. It continues to attract the best drivers from various parts of the country, including current national champion Brendan Nelson amongst others.

Hosted annually by the North Shore Kart club at Eastern Creek it offers competitors in the Tag 125 Light category the chance to fight for not only the $2,000 prizemoney but the prestige of having their name etched on the Brian Farley perpetual trophy. Former winners of the event include multiple-time Australian Champions Troy Hunt and Jason Hryniuk along with son of former V8 Supercar driver, Macauley Jones.


Above: Tim Columbrita - TAG 125 Light Brian Farley Memorial Victor (pic - Quickpixels)

Brian Farley worked tirelessly for karting over a period of many years and passed away suddenly a number of years ago. The Brian Farley Memorial meeting is to celebrate Brian’s life and contribution to karting. His son, Troy Farley contests the event in honour of his father and always produces a competitive drive each year.  With the running of the 10th anniversary of the event Troy announced that he will be hanging up the boots after this year.  We will see if he can’t be coaxed out in 2018.

168 entrants entered in total with 36 contesting the premier TAG Light class. Due to some good weather prior to the event, the track was super clean with fast times posted and Lap records broken over the weekend in KA3 Senior Medium, KA3 Junior, Cadet 12, KA3 Senior Light, TAGR Medium and TAG125 Light.


(pic - Quickpixels)

The Brian Farley memorial introduced a unique qualifying format this year, borrowed from Speedway, the Pole Shuffle pits the top 10 qualifiers against each other, two at a time, starting from 10th and 9th.  The winner of each 2 lap battle stays on track to race the next fastest qualifier.  Kody Garland from 8th spot put in an impressive performance as he knocked off each driver from 9th through to 5th as he moved himself up the grid to 4th position.  Cody Gillis toppled Garland to take 3rd with Tim Columbrita and Gillis passing each other multiple times throughout their battle.  The final session came down to Columbrita and Cody Brewcynski.  Tim took the early lead and looked to protect the race lines to ensure an inside start, but Cody had others ideas.  In a thrilling pass into “the Carousel” Brewcynski put an outside pass on Columbrita that had the crowd gasping, and came out of the top part of the circuit in the lead to hold on for the pole win at the flag.

Tom Williamson Motorsport team-mates, Tim Columbrita and Cody Gilles fought it out nose to tail for 13 laps until Columbrita finally put the pass on Gilles with 3 laps to go, and held on to take the victory. 3rd place went to pole sitter Cody Brewczynski. (Velocity karts/ Troy Farley Race Engines).   It was a fantastic race weekend with thrilling racing in all classes and we can’t wait for next year’s event to come around.


Above: Tim Columbrita raises a finger as he crosses the finish line to win the 2017 Brian Farley Memorial and receive a cheque for $2000. (pic - Quickpixels)

Cadet 9 – Marshall Croft’s (CRG Australia) luck prevailed in the final to win by 5 secs over Kamal Mrad and Robert McTighe in 3rd place. 4th place went to Lewis Cordato (Kartschool Aust.) and 5th place Matias Cervenka.


Above: Victory in Cadet 9 went to Marshall Crofts (pics – Quickpixels)

KA3 Junior: - Reece Cohen qualified 3rd but progressively tuned his kart throughout the weekend to be on the pace for Sunday and bring home the win in the final. Zach Heard (CC racing) drove well in the final to close the gap and finish just a tenth of a second behind in 2nd place.  3rd place went to Jackson Souslin- Harlow (Arbor Bizz/ Lush Model) only a further 3 tenths behind.  It was great racing from these drivers throughout the weekend and I’m sure there will be more throughout the coming year.

 


Above: Reece Cohen, KA3 Junior winner, leads Jackson Souslin-Harlow through the final turn to take the win in heat 4   (pic - Quickpixels)

Cadet 12  - Adrian Haak (Evokart Wifa Racing) put his #6 kart on pole position and held that spot all weekend.  The fight was taken to him by Cody Maynes-Rutty (Accounting By Maynes Rutty) who drove well for 2nd place and Rhys Smith (Scuderia PCR Australia) in 3rd.


Above: Cadet 12, Adrian Haak #6 with Rhys Smith #57 hot on his heels (pics - Quickpixels)

Junior Max – Brodie Whitmore (South Windsor Butchery) put a pass on Lucas Lichtenberger (HRE/Skov) on lap 5 of the final to put himself into the lead and held off a competitive Lichtenberger for the win.  Jaiden Pope (TWM – Southern tyres) finished 3rd to round out the podium.


Above: Brodie Whitmore, Junior Max winner, celebrates the win (pic - Quickpixels)

TaG Restricted Light was strongly contested with 21 entrants.  State Champion Cameron Kendall showed why he carries the Blue State Champion plate with a convincing victory in the Final.  2nd place went to new comer Shane Petersen who surprised some of the more established field with 3rd going to Kartschool Australia driver Joseph Licciardello.


Above: Cameron Kendall, TAGr Light winner in the Intrepid Kart greets the chequered flag (pic - Quickpixels)

TaG Restricted Medium - was hotly contested throughout the weekend with Groudis and Kendrick trading heat wins on Saturday but with both having DNFs in a heat each due to mechanical issues, it meant Atkins and Phelan moved to the front of the field for the Finals. Groudis lead early, but Simon Kendrick (Troy Farley Race Engines) chased down Groudis in the 16 lap final to catch him at the final turn, and after incidental contact Kendrick crossed the line to pick up the win.  Post race, Groudis was disqualified, elevating Jeremy Atkins (Complete Access Scaffolding) to 2nd place and Zach Phelan (Ozzy Outhouse) to 3rd place.


Above: Simon Kendrick, (#2) TaG Restricted Medium winner in the Troy Farley Race Engines team kart set a new lap record of 42.828 followed by Jake Heyneman (#23). (pic - Quickpixels)

KA4 Junior Light Jackson Souslin-Harlow and Zach Heard (CC Racing) exchanged positions throughout the final in a thrilling race with Zach Burge in 3rd, Paige Raddatz in 4th and Thomas McTighe 5th.


Above: KA4 Junior Light winner Jackson Souslin-Harlow waves the Number 1 finger (#77)  (pic - Quickpixels)

KA4 Junior Heavy - Compkart’s Dylan Debono (#11 All About Tools) lead the field all day to post an 8 second win. In 2nd place, Brayden Taylor (Hunter Race Engines) battled hard with Nicholas Caruso (Tigers Trays/Pedders) finishing in 3rd Place.


Above: Dylan Debono, KA4 Junior Heavy winner in the Comp Kart. (pic - Quickpixels)

TaG 125 Heavy – Tony Bregonje (Platinum Motorsport) was dominant from Qualifying through to the final. Michael Osmond, (Ozzy Outhouse) was fast all weekend to finish in 2nd place with Nick Karmalis rounding out the podium in 3rd.


Above: Tony Bregonje - (Platinum Motorsport) lead every outing from Qual to Finals to dominate the field (pic - Quickpixels)

TaG 125 Restricted Masters Light was led all the way with a convincing performance by Ronald Arnold. Jock Dos Santos and Michael Micallef fought out a close battle for the minor placings with Jock taking 2nd place with Micallef in 3rd.


Above: Ronald Arnold, 1st TaG 125 Restricted Masters Light (pic - Quickpixels)

TaG 125 Restricted Masters Medium – Christopher Nobbs (#44) showed a clean pair of heels to Niven Riches (#41) finishing in 1st and 2nd spots respectively.  George Kassis (#5) finished 3rd with some more fancied runners DNFing the final.


Above: Chris Nobbs on his way to the win in TaG Restricted Masters Medium (pic - Quickpixels)

KA3 Senior Light – Kody Garland (Wholesale Diesel) had a busy weekend competing in KA3 Senior light as well as TAG Light. His Shane Piper Race Engines powered kart showed the way home to Chris Polis on his way to the win in KA3 Senior Light. Chris Polis (Kartschool Aust.) put in the fastest lap of 41.661 to eclipse the existing lap record and take 2nd place with Luca Krkovski in 3rd place.


Above:  Kody Garland (#41) lines up the field with Krkovski (#17) and Polis (#88) (pic - Quickpixels)

KA3 Senior Medium -  Paul McKinnon (#17 Evolution Motorsport) battled with Mitchell Phipps (#92 Fusion Shutters) all weekend for McKinnon to finish victorious in the final. Jacob Collins graced the bottom step on the podium with 3rd place.


Above: Paul McKinnon takes the win in KA3 Senior Medium (pic - Quickpixels)

Round 4 of the NSKC Club championships is on 14th May.  I hope to see you all there.

Results:

Cadet 9
1. Marshall CROFTS, 2. Kamal MRAD 3. Robert MCTIGHE

Cadet 12
1. Adrian HAAK, 2. Cody MAYNES-RUTTY, 3. Rhys SMITH

Jnr KA3
1. Reece COHEN, 2. Zachary HEARD, 3. Jackson SOUSLIN-HARLOW

KA3 Senior Light
1. Kody GARLAND, 2. Christopher POLIS, 3. Luca KRKOVSKI

KA3 Senior Medium
1. Paul MCKINNON, 2. Mitchell PHIPPS, 3. Jacob COLLINS

Jnr Max
1. Brodie WHITMORE, 2. Lucas LICHTENBERGER, 3. Jaiden POPE


Above: Marshall Crofts – (CRG Australia) Cadet 9 proudly holds the 1st place trophy

Jnr KA4 Light
1. Jackson SOUSLIN-HARLOW, 2. Zachary HEARD 3. Zachary BURGE

Jnr KA4 Heavy
1. Dylan DEBONO2. Brayden TAYLOR, 3. Nicholas CARUSO

TaG 125 Restricted Light
1. Cameron KENDALL, 2. Shane PETERSEN, 3. Joseph LICCIARDELLO

TaG 125 Restricted Medium 
1. Simon KENDRICK, 2. Jeremy ATKINS, 3. Zachary PHELAN

TaG 125 Restricted Masters Light
1. Ronald ARNOLD 2. Brad SUTTON, 3. Joaquim DOS SANTOS

TaG 125 Restricted Masters Heavy
1. Christopher NOBBS 2. Niven RICHES, 3. George KASSIS

TaG 125 Light
1. Timothy COLOMBRITA, 2. Cody GILLIS, 3. Cody BREWCZYNSKI

TaG 125 Heavy
1. Tony BREGONJE, 2. Michael OSMOND, 3. Nick KARMALIS


Above: Tim Columbrita (centre) Cody Brewcynski (Left) Cody Gilles (right) (pic - Quickpixels)

 

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