Mackay Racing Update


from David Sturgeon 11 February 2014
 

The Mackay Kart Club had their first race meeting for the new year on Saturday 18th January. This meeting is held as a memorial to the Burridge Family who lost their lives on the highway near Rockhampton on Australia day 2011.  

Mark Burridge was a junior driver here in Mackay and his family were very active club members at the time. This year the club decided to donate the proceeds from the meeting to the new Road Trauma Support Group which Road Accident Action Group (RAAG)  have been instrumental in starting up here in Mackay to support those that have to deal with a loss such as this.

  • Round 1 results, Burridge Family Memorial, are HERE (PDF)


Above: Graeme Ransley (RAAG – road safety coordinator) and Karla Ogilvie (Mackay Club President). Graeme gave a short presentation to the drivers before racing commenced

Forty seven drivers compted at the meeting and 13 of those were Juniors, which was fantastic to see. Cohen Ogilvie (Karla’s son) who raced in the  Junior Light class had to work hard all meeting, but in the final he managed to come home first and secure the overall class win with a 1 point margin over second Huet De Froberville and Kiara Lyons picked up 3rd place. Great to see the first 3 places going to Mackay drivers. As a reward for his hard work, Cohen now has his name on the perpetual trophy in memory of the Burridge family.

Another class that was great to watch on the night, even though there was not a great deal of drivers, was the TAG 125 Light class. The racing  was fast and tight  all meeting. Young Roland Legge was able to stay in front for most of the races, but he always had one of the four other drivers close behind, just waiting for a slip. Jarryd Ebzery finished second followed in third by veteran Bevan Garioch.


Above: Graeme Ransley and Karla Ogilvie with Burridge Family Memeorial plaque

The club ran their February meeting on Saturday. We were a little down on numbers due to the inclement weather but still some good racing on the day. Some off the local drivers made a weekend of it and travelled to Proserpine to race on Sunday at Whitsunday Moto Sport Clubs first  meeting for the year. Most of the drivers that did this were hoping to get in some practice for the Qld State Titles being held at Proserpine this year from the 11-13 July. It was a bit of a let down again due to the weather. Results from both meetings are below.

The 2 biggest classes in Mackay were the Cadets and Junior National Light classes. Riley LeGarde put on a fine display of driving in the Cadet class winning all 4 races here in Mackay and also coming out on top in Proserpine in this class. Cohen Ogilvie did the same in Junior National Light clean sweeping the races here in Mackay and finishing on the top step on Sunday in Proserpine also. Both these drivers will be in with a chance at the State Titles in a couple of months’ time.

The Sportsman Super Heavy guys seem to always make their way onto the track as the showers started, this made for some spectacular viewing for those watching on. Brett Cruickshanks made it look easy but he had to keep his kart on the drying line at all times so as not to slip off the track. Doug Penningh showed he was as precise as Brett, but just couldn’t bridge the gap that Brett seem to be able to maintain for each of the heats. Third in class was Adam Nicolls down from Townsville for the weekend, not a bad effort considering he had not seen the track before and then had to deal with the changeable track conditions.

The next Mackay meeting is the first of the Title meetings (the Sugar City’s) over the weekend of the 15/16th March. The committee hope that this will be a big weekend as it always brings lots of drivers from all over Qld here for the meeting.

Results From Mackay:


Results From Whitsunday:


 


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