Rotax Pro Tour - Adrenaline 100 at Raleigh

press release

Bathed in magnificent winter sunshine, Raleigh International Raceway’s Adrenaline 100 welcomed some new faces into the Rotax Pro Tour victory circle in Gerry Brookes and Brinley Gread, whilst David Sera’s dominance of the Australian karting scene continued unabated. Meantime, Ben Jurczak and Jason Pringle added to their Rotax Pro Tour win tallies.

FORMULA J-MAX
In Formula J-MAX, Ben Jurczak took his Redspeed to a second successive Rotax Pro Tour victory, but had a tough fight to get the win – with CRG driver, Pierce Lehane keeping him honest the entire 24 lap distance. Although Lehane threw everything at him, Jurczak had an answer each and every time, the two of them trading fastest laps throughout the race.

Greeting the podium for the first time in this year’s Rotax Pro Tour was Queenslander Christopher Hays. Jack Howard – who set his first Pole Position in a major event on Saturday – recorded fourth spot, whilst Matthew Hart put in a barnstorming drive from the back of the pack to record fifth.

Hart was the benefactor from an exciting series of events around a third of the way through the race, when he, Josh Hunter, Max Johnston and Jaie Robson tried to put four into one heading into the final chicane – thankfully all made it through to the finish.

Howard won the opening heat race in dominant fashion, Lehane took heat two, before Howard struck back in heat three. Lehane took pole for the final by winning the Pre-Final, besting Jurczak in the process.

 ROTAX HEAVY
Jason Pringle searched for the appropriate setup all weekend and got it right, taking his Pro Karting CRG to a strong victory in the Pre-Final and Final. Pringle didn’t look to be the likely victor throughout heat racing, but got it right when it counted.

Strong all weekend was Jonathan Dwyer. He took his Tony Kart to the heat two win and pushed Pringle all the way, closing right down in the closing stages of the final. Lane Moore held on for third, holding out his elder brother, Trent to take his Intrepid chassis to the podium.

After qualifying on the pole, Simon Meyer took both the opening heat and heat three, but drifted backwards in the final, before withdrawing with a mechanical issue with five laps to go. It was a shame for Meyer who was putting together a really strong run.

The big talking point was an incident with Rick Pringle during heat racing on Saturday – the young Melbournite suffered a brake failure at a high speed section of the racetrack. Given the runoff at the Raleigh International Raceway, Rick speared off the track and travelled some 150 metres across the grass, coming to rest by the forest that borders the racetrack!

It was Jason Pringle’s second Rotax Pro Tour victory, having taken the win at Newcastle as well.

ROTAX LIGHT
As he has done at all Rotax Pro Tour events held to date this year, David Sera proved that he is Australia’s leading kart racer, showing a clean set of heels to the opposition in qualifying, every heat race and the final. He led an Arrow quinella, with Bart Price showing some outstanding form throughout the weekend, coming home in second placing.
From opening practice the national Champion was on the gas. The improved performance of several competitors was the real talking point of the weekend.

Tyler Greenbury chased setup on his Tony Kart all weekend and the Queenslander was rewarded with a third placed finish. He bested Damian Ward, with Jessica Golding crossing the line in fifth in her Intrepid.

It was Golding’s first kart race in nearly 12 months, as she now lives in the United Kingdom where she is studying. Adding to her story of the weekend was the fact she was covered in fuel during the eventful Pre-Final and had to fight through the pain barrier to record the fifth position.

The Pre-Final featured a big crash at the opening corner, which accounted for five competitors, including former National Champion, Josh Arandt and another fast femme – Abbey Kellie. Kellie had put her best Pro Tour performance in across the weekend and deserved better.

Whilst the race remained green, the drama continued a few laps later when Brett Davidson rode out a vicious roll. The Pre-Final was redflagged before the resumption saw Sera take the win. Davidson was able to repair his Arrow chassis and finished the final in sixth, advancing from the rear of the grid.

ROTAX OVER-35s
Rotax Over-35s featured some fierce competition throughout the weekend, with Queenslander, Gerry Brookes coming out on top. After setting the pace in qualifying, Brookes took out the first heat, before bizarrely drifting back through the field in heat two to finish fifth.

His weekend long nemesis, Nicholas Crawshay took the second and third heats. Brookes recovered for second in the final heat.

In the Pre-Final, it was all Brookes, who took a dominant victory over Crawshay and repeated the dose in the Final.
The biggest drive in the final was Robbie Daniels, who fought all the way to record third position. Throughout the weekend, Daniels had been a mid-pack runner at best, however the setup dialled into his kart by the Kaos Karting team had the desired effect, displacing Western Australia’s Greg Dicker in the dying stages of the race.

A notable late race DNF was Troy Brown. Brown fought hard all weekend and was hoping to use his local knowledge to take the win. He was on target for a podium finish before he pulled out. Luke Wall from the New South Wales Central Coast was another to impress.

ROTAX DD2
The Rotax DD2 class was a story of both agony and ecstasy – with Brinley Gread taking a superb victory. Up until the final, Queenslander Kyle Ensbey had dominated proceedings in his Kaos Karting machine, qualifying on pole, winning all three heats and the Pre-Final.

Nevertheless, the Sydney-sider, Gread, had other things on his mind and took his maiden Rotax Pro Tour victory – sweeping past Ensbey early in the 24 lap final. Ensbey stuck with Gread, however the margin of victory in the end was 0.8 of a second.

Todd Road winner, Travis Millar struggled to come to grips with the Raleigh circuit, however still bagged significant National Rotax Rankings points finishing in third place.

Canberra’s Paul Hamilton had his best Rotax Pro Tour weekend, coming home fourth. He was competitive right throughout the weekend. Fifth was Tony Prendergast, meantime James Reynolds – elder brother of Bundaberg Red V8 Supercar driver, David, withdrew from the final in his first taste of Pro Tour competition, whilst Samantha Millar (sister of Travis) was making her DD2 debut on the challenging circuit and unfortunately collected the tyre barrier at turn three. Although it was her first event, she will benefit from more testing.

The next Rotax Pro Tour event will be conducted on the final weekend in October (23-25) at the Ipswich Kartway, Champions Way at Willowbank.

The television coverage from Rotax Pro Tour III at Raleigh International Raceway can be seen on August 26 at 3pm on Fox Sports 2 and again on August 29 at 10:30am on Fox Sports 2.

All results are available on HERE

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