KartSportNews - karting news and features | go kart racing results, news, photos, tech and more...

Testing Weather At Pro Tour II

press release

Despite changeable weather conditions in Canberra today making life difficult for pit crews and drivers alike, the outstanding racing from yesterday’s Rotax Pro Tour II continued and once again, Bruce Otter proved dominant in his Stable Karting Tony Kart in Rotax Over 35s.

Other winners on the day included Tyler Greenbury (Rotax Light), William Yarwood (Rotax Heavy), Travis Millar (Rotax DD2), Alex Griffiths (Formula JMA Heavy) and double National Champion, Joseph Mawson (Formula JMA Light).

Wet weather blanketed the Fairbairn Park complex just as racing was due to get underway and hung around all day long, nobody quite sure what the correct tyre choice was to be right up until the very last moment. The wet weather driving from all competitors was exemplary and in the 30 lap finals, lapped traffic proved to be crucial in many of the races.

Otter is the toast of Canberra tonight after a superb drive in the final of Rotax Over 35s. Fellow Canberran, Robert Amess took the charge to Otter early, however a spin dropped him into the clutches of the battle for the final podium position between John Bailey and Andre Morse. Amess was able to get on with the job though and pull away, whilst Morse sat on Bailey’s crash bar for 20 laps before finally making the decisive move. Otter set the fastest lap on the very last lap, and took victory by over 13 seconds.

The first final of the day –Formula JMA Heavy - featured a couple of awesome performances. After Tony Anthony spun early whilst leading, Dale Corbett from the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales assumed the lead. Meantime, he wasn’t anticipating a challenge from Alex Griffiths. Griffiths, from Orange in NSW, managed his race beautifully, grafting his challenge lap after lap, taking small chunks out of Corbett. Corbett held an advantage entering the final lap, but made a small error coming out of turn two. Griffiths didn’t need a second invitation and got past with only a couple of corners left remaining to take a sensational win. The other top drive for Formula JMA Heavy was Rotax Pro Tour I winner, Jaymee Frampton. The lady racer battled hard and got past Ben Cooper late in the race to secure the final podium placing.

As the track dried in the first final, opinion was split among the Rotax Heavy ranks as to what tyres to run for their final, roughly half the field were on wets, the other half slick tyres. Wet proved the best option, with William Yarwood getting in front early and taking off. Some rain coming in at two-thirds race distance helped the front half of the field. The battle for second went literally to the wire between Simon Meyer and Daniel Stein. Stein was gone for all money after the heats, starting the Pre-Final in 19th. He rocketed through to second in a wet Pre-Final and showed some real courage fighting against the vastly experienced Meyer. They swapped second at will, with the placing ultimately going the way of Meyer.

The Rotax DD2 final was without doubt the best race of DD2’s history in Australia. Wet conditions meant all drivers had to be on guard with the supremely powerful two geared, direct drive karts. Kyle Ensbey established a lead early, but Travis Millar was keeping him honest for the whole way. Having established a lead, Ensbey succumbed to the conditions with 12 laps remaining, spinning at the top end of the racetrack. That handed the race lead to Millar, but 16-year-old Max Johnston had other ideas – and chased down his fellow Tony Kart pilot. Johnston had the pace to get past Millar, however with just two laps to go, Johnston went for the lead at turn one, got all crossed up and spun. He had a lead over third placed, David Whitmore and was able to hold the position to the flag, Whitmore coming home third. Fourth place went to Brinley Gread after a DNF in the Pre-Final saw him start from 18th, whilst one of the drives of the day came from Craig Stauner in the Pre-Final, coming from down the back to finish fifth.

It’s said that winning Championships builds confidence and Sydney-sider Joey Mawson is the personification of that. The youngster, coming off his double National Championship weekend in Victoria set the lead in Formula JMA Light and drove a masterful race, despite having Jonathan Venter stuck to his crashbar for the latter stages of the race. Mawson was the early leader, whilst Venter battled with CRG Pilot Pierce Lehane and Queenslander, James Macken. Macken drifted backwards, whilst Lehane had punished his MOJO wet weather tyres to the extreme. Venter, once clear, set out after Mawson and chewed into his lead lap after lap. On the final circulation, Venter had an opportunity, but Mawson proved too strong for his career-long rival. Lehane brought it home third after a solid performance. Macken didn’t walk away empty handed, setting the fastest lap of the race.

The final race of the day, Rotax Light was conducted in dry conditions and promised to be a bare knuckle fight between Tyler Greenbury and David Whitmore. Lapped traffic had a fair bit to say in the outcome, both drivers commenting after the race on how difficult it was throughout the 30 lap distance. It was lapped drivers that gave Whitmore his biggest opportunity, but the Sydney Kosmic driver couldn’t capitalise on Greenbury’s misfortune. In the end, Greenbury was able to open an advantage, the margin of victory over three seconds. It was a battle of the fittest for the minors. Early in the race, Victorian Christopher Pratt went with Greenbury and Whitmore. His CC Racing Intrepid expired on the 19th lap whilst he was looking good for the podium. This opened it up for Ryan Rannard to slot himself into that position. Despite a big battle happening behind Rannard between Paul Hamilton, Mitchell Bink and Geoff Connell, they weren’t able to close up – Rannard taking another opportunistic podium. CC Racing’s Josh DeMaio once again was fast but struck poor luck. He had an issue in the rollups in the Pre-Final, meaning he would start from the back of the pack. He scythed his way through to seventh placing – a Pro Tour win surely not far away. Another to impress was Newcastle Energy driver, Dylan Lindgren. He was having his best run in the Pro Tour, sitting in fourth placing until the kart expired around one-third race distance on the main straightaway.

Overall, the racing throughout the weekend was without doubt the best the Rotax Pro Tour has seen. All competitors were challenged by the difficult 730 metre layout, not to mention the changeable weather conditions during today’s racing.

All results from this weekend’s action are due to be loaded to www.mylaps.com.

The Rotax Pro Tour will return in early June at the Todd Road facility in Melbourne for Rotax Pro Tour III.

Home

Home
	Testing Weather At Pro Tour II press release Despite changeable weather conditions in Canberra today making life difficult for pit crews and drivers alike, the outstanding racing from yesterday’s Rotax Pro Tour II continued and once again, Bruce Otter proved dominant in his Stable Karting Tony Kart in Rotax Over 35s. Other winners on the day included Tyler Greenbury (Rotax Light), William Yarwood (Rotax Heavy), Travis Millar (Rotax DD2), Alex Griffiths (Formula JMA Heavy) and double National Champion, Joseph Mawson (Formula JMA Light). Wet weather blanketed the Fairbairn Park complex just as racing was due to get underway and hung around all day long, nobody quite sure what the correct tyre choice was to be right up until the very last moment. The wet weather driving from all competitors was exemplary and in the 30 lap finals, lapped traffic proved to be crucial in many of the races. Otter is the toast of Canberra tonight after a superb drive in the final of Rotax Over 35s. Fellow Canberran, Robert Amess took the charge to Otter early, however a spin dropped him into the clutches of the battle for the final podium position between John Bailey and Andre Morse. Amess was able to get on with the job though and pull away, whilst Morse sat on Bailey’s crash bar for 20 laps before finally making the decisive move. Otter set the fastest lap on the very last lap, and took victory by over 13 seconds. The first final of the day –Formula JMA Heavy - featured a couple of awesome performances. After Tony Anthony spun early whilst leading, Dale Corbett from the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales assumed the lead. Meantime, he wasn’t anticipating a challenge from Alex Griffiths. Griffiths, from Orange in NSW, managed his race beautifully, grafting his challenge lap after lap, taking small chunks out of Corbett. Corbett held an advantage entering the final lap, but made a small error coming out of turn two. Griffiths didn’t need a second invitation and got past with only a couple of corners left remaining to take a sensational win. The other top drive for Formula JMA Heavy was Rotax Pro Tour I winner, Jaymee Frampton. The lady racer battled hard and got past Ben Cooper late in the race to secure the final podium placing. As the track dried in the first final, opinion was split among the Rotax Heavy ranks as to what tyres to run for their final, roughly half the field were on wets, the other half slick tyres. Wet proved the best option, with William Yarwood getting in front early and taking off. Some rain coming in at two-thirds race distance helped the front half of the field. The battle for second went literally to the wire between Simon Meyer and Daniel Stein. Stein was gone for all money after the heats, starting the Pre-Final in 19th. He rocketed through to second in a wet Pre-Final and showed some real courage fighting against the vastly experienced Meyer. They swapped second at will, with the placing ultimately going the way of Meyer. The Rotax DD2 final was without doubt the best race of DD2’s history in Australia. Wet conditions meant all drivers had to be on guard with the supremely powerful two geared, direct drive karts. Kyle Ensbey established a lead early, but Travis Millar was keeping him honest for the whole way. Having established a lead, Ensbey succumbed to the conditions with 12 laps remaining, spinning at the top end of the racetrack. That handed the race lead to Millar, but 16-year-old Max Johnston had other ideas – and chased down his fellow Tony Kart pilot. Johnston had the pace to get past Millar, however with just two laps to go, Johnston went for the lead at turn one, got all crossed up and spun. He had a lead over third placed, David Whitmore and was able to hold the position to the flag, Whitmore coming home third. Fourth place went to Brinley Gread after a DNF in the Pre-Final saw him start from 18th, whilst one of the drives of the day came from Craig Stauner in the Pre-Final, coming from down the back to finish fifth. It’s said that winning Championships builds confidence and Sydney-sider Joey Mawson is the personification of that. The youngster, coming off his double National Championship weekend in Victoria set the lead in Formula JMA Light and drove a masterful race, despite having Jonathan Venter stuck to his crashbar for the latter stages of the race. Mawson was the early leader, whilst Venter battled with CRG Pilot Pierce Lehane and Queenslander, James Macken. Macken drifted backwards, whilst Lehane had punished his MOJO wet weather tyres to the extreme. Venter, once clear, set out after Mawson and chewed into his lead lap after lap. On the final circulation, Venter had an opportunity, but Mawson proved too strong for his career-long rival. Lehane brought it home third after a solid performance. Macken didn’t walk away empty handed, setting the fastest lap of the race. The final race of the day, Rotax Light was conducted in dry conditions and promised to be a bare knuckle fight between Tyler Greenbury and David Whitmore. Lapped traffic had a fair bit to say in the outcome, both drivers commenting after the race on how difficult it was throughout the 30 lap distance. It was lapped drivers that gave Whitmore his biggest opportunity, but the Sydney Kosmic driver couldn’t capitalise on Greenbury’s misfortune. In the end, Greenbury was able to open an advantage, the margin of victory over three seconds. It was a battle of the fittest for the minors. Early in the race, Victorian Christopher Pratt went with Greenbury and Whitmore. His CC Racing Intrepid expired on the 19th lap whilst he was looking good for the podium. This opened it up for Ryan Rannard to slot himself into that position. Despite a big battle happening behind Rannard between Paul Hamilton, Mitchell Bink and Geoff Connell, they weren’t able to close up – Rannard taking another opportunistic podium. CC Racing’s Josh DeMaio once again was fast but struck poor luck. He had an issue in the rollups in the Pre-Final, meaning he would start from the back of the pack. He scythed his way through to seventh placing – a Pro Tour win surely not far away. Another to impress was Newcastle Energy driver, Dylan Lindgren. He was having his best run in the Pro Tour, sitting in fourth placing until the kart expired around one-third race distance on the main straightaway. Overall, the racing throughout the weekend was without doubt the best the Rotax Pro Tour has seen. All competitors were challenged by the difficult 730 metre layout, not to mention the changeable weather conditions during today’s racing. All results from this weekend’s action are due to be loaded to www.mylaps.com. The Rotax Pro Tour will return in early June at the Todd Road facility in Melbourne for Rotax Pro Tour III. Home
© kartsportnews.com