Junior Top Guns Round 2 - The Grand Finale

(Round 2 results on mylaps.com HERE. Overall Top Guns series points and placings HERE.)

Words: Luke Dickson and Steve Polak

After a hectic start to the racing year the previous week, the Top Gun ‘miniseries’ was concluded on January 24 with some great racing and almost a lap record or two. Here are some of the highlights.

Formula JMA
For the second week in a row, Matthew Brabham showcased his dominance of Formula JMA after again qualifying on pole. Brabham went on to take both races in fine style and clench the Top Guns title – a fantastic way to start your 2009 racing campaign. Josh De Maio was fast in the prefinal and looked to challenge Brabham early and possibly set up a great duel in the final. However a rough start bumped De Maio back in the pack and he was only able to recover to 3rd position after Tim Holowell drove to second place.

Above: Matthew Brabham leads Josh De Maio, Junior MAX.
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Junior Clubman
Junior Clubman saw Jarrod Egan resume where he left off last week; at the front. After a superb battle with Aaron Johnstone and Hayden Renshaw, Egan took the prefinal by the smallest of margins and set up what was sure to be an enthralling final. Come finals time Johnstone had other ideas leaping to the front and staying there. Whilst the margins were close the lead never really changed hands with Johnstone taking the final from Egan and a fast finishing Cameron Waters who almost set a new lap record in the chasing process. Hayden Renshaw drove smart and consistently over both weeks to take the title for Junior Clubman after his fourth place finish in the final.

Above: Junior Clubman Rd 2 winner Aaron Johnstone
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Junior National Heavy
Junior National Heavy got under way in fine style producing some exceptional racing in the prefinal with Aaron Johnstone, Macauley Jones, Tim Holowell and Hayden Dodman providing all the action with lots of lead changes and passing taking place. Dodman and Johnstone came together entering canteen corner with two laps to go resulting in DNFs for both drivers and giving Holowell a good gap to take the win. Macauley Jones took second place, but was pressured all the way to the line by Brittany Hall in what was one of the best drives to date from her. The final provided more great action with a carbon copy of the prefinal results, Tim Holowell holding on for the win by the smallest of margins (0.034s) over Macauley Jones and Brittany Hall. Aaron Johnstone recovered to 4th position after starting the final from the rear of the grid.

Above: JNH Rnd 2 winner, Tim Holowell
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Junior National Heavy C & P
After a strong showing last week, Anton De Pasquale clearly found some extra speed during the week to take the spoils in both the prefinal and final. During the final De Pasquale was only pressured after dropping a wheel late in the race but still managed to keep Thomas Allen and Belinda Graham at bay. In the final De Pasquale came under attack from Allen which unfortunately resulted in contact and Allen relegated to third. Last week’s final winner Tom Martin capitalised on the mishap to take control of second place.

Above: Anton De Pasquale ahead of Thomas Allen, Tom Martin and Belinda Graham
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Junior National Light
Junior National Light was all about Liam Morey after another faultless driving performance. Pole, two race wins by large margins and almost a new lap record left the rest of the field to scrabble for the minor positions. Brad Jenner, Jordan Nicolaou and Cameron Waters all featured prominently in the fight for the minor positions in both races. Waters started back in the pack for the final, but drove a brilliant race and nearly smashed the lap record (Cameron was an agonising 6 thousandth of a second off!).

Above: Liam Morey racked up another win
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Junior National Light C & P
The Curt Sera and Matthew McLellan show resumed where it left off last week with the two Arrow pilots driving away from the rest of the field to then have their own battle for the lead. Sera took the first blow but Mclellan returned fire to take the final. Daniel Valentini took third place in both races which was good enough to give him third place in the series.

Above: Curt Sera leads eventual winner Matthew McLellan with Daniel Valentini giving chase.
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Midgets
In the prefinal Tom Hughes was on fire, blasting away from the field to take a very easy win by over 5 seconds. Unfortunately Tom’s luck was to later change after initially winning the final he was later disqualified. Blake Graham and Jordan Holowell made contact early in the prefinal which ended Graham’s chances for the night and allowed Jorden McGregor to take second from Brayden Flood. Come finals time there was action aplenty! Giulian Dichiera took the win in both the final and the series after Hughes’ disqualification. Jarrod Dwyer finished a close second with Jordan Holowell third after charging from the rear of the grid.

Above: Midgets winner Giulian Dichiera.
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Rookies
Once again there was another capacity field of Rookies action and the early predictions were that it may have been the Dixon and Klein show again, but the prefinal proved otherwise after Liam Mclellan took a strong win over Cameron Hill with Klein and Dixon following. Come finals time no one knew what to expect. After the lights went green it was evident that Dixon and Klein had found extra speed in the break which was enough to challenge Mclellan, but some clever driving allowed Mclellan to hold on for another race win. Dixon and Klein had to settle for second and third respectively. Look for this battle to be resumed at the Victorian State Championships in a few weeks time.

Above: Rookie winner Liam McLellan
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

So with the Oakleigh Top Guns proving yet again a popular meeting, bring on the Vic Open we say! We’ll be in the central commentary position for that weekend and we can’t wait.

Steve ‘Donuts’ Polak and Luke ‘Dicko’ Dickson.

 

---

A word from the Club President:

Top Guns has been run and Won for 2009, those that attended had a great 2 nights with some fantastic racing. The 2 meetings went well, and with NO rain either night (we think for the first year) both nights finished reasonably early.

Congratulation to Alex Desouza who took away the new Arrow Midget/Rookie chassis that was sponsored by DP Karts DPE/Arrow and the OGKRC. There was also an ARC Motor given away, 2 helmets and 2 Race suits and all the winners were very happy.

The OGKRC would like to thank all the sponsors for this years event, ARC engines, Australian Go-Kart spares, Baron Engines, Concepts Karting DP Karts, DPE, Dunlop Kartsport tyres and Melbourne Kart Centre. A special thank you goes to all the helpers that help make the meetings one of the best ever run, and to see the crowd on the hill on the second night was fantastic.

We hope to see you all next year in 2010 especially as a warm up for the Victorian Open.

Adam Bourke
OGKRC

Above: Tim Holowell, 2nd JMA
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Pre-Final DNF for Cameron Waters, Junior Clubman
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Brittany Hall grabbed 3rd in JNH
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Tom Martin, JNH C&P
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Cameron Waters almost grabbed a new lap record in the JNL final.
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Midgets in trouble
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Midgets - Jordan Holowell ahead of Brayden Flood (24) and Jorden McGregor (7).
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: Jake Klein was second in Rookies on the night
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Above: 2nd in the final of Junior National Light, Jordan Nicolaou
pic - Andrew Daley, www.akdphotos.com

Home