Local Drivers Set Practice Pace At CIK Opener

press release

Australian karting’s finest took to the Ipswich Kart track for practice today ahead of the opening round of the CIK Stars of Karting Series being held at the Queensland venue this weekend.

With more than 120 drivers lining up for the event, today’s practice sessions gave the drivers and teams the opportunity to fine tune their highly impressive machinery to gain a head start on their opposition.

Above: The high level of presentation by the teams in the CIK Stars of Karting Series continues to improve
pic - Kart X/Budd

In the three Pro categories - Pro Light (KF1), Pro Gearbox (KZ2) and Pro Junior (KF3) – it was Gold Coast’s James Macken, Ipswich’s Scott Auld and Sydney’s Pierce Lehane who finished the day with the fastest times around the 1080-metre circuit.

Auld, who is making his return to top level racing this weekend in the Pro Gearbox (KZ2) category, was fastest ahead of defending series champion Matthew Wall while fellow local Brock Plumb was fourth in the Pro Junior (KF3) category.

“Three weeks ago I wasn’t even sure that I was going to be racing after injuring my ribs, so to go out and be the fastest today it an amazing feeling,” said Auld.

“We’ve still got a long way to go in the weekend, and there are a lot of high quality drivers competing this weekend, but it is a great start and I’m confident that I be inside the top five tomorrow.”

Above: Scott Auld, fastest in KZ2 today
pic - Kart X/Budd

After finishing equal runner-up in the Pro Junior (KF3) Championship last year Macken was delighted to enter tomorrow’s opening day of competition as the fastest in his category.

“I’ve been hanging out for the start of the series this year and make my senior debut, so to kick it off by being fastest in the opening practice is a great feeling” said Macken.

“The quality of drivers has improved once again with some great drivers competing across all three pro categories and the racing should be really close all weekend.

“We’ve started on a good note and I was one of the fastest all throughout the day, now the challenge is to stay on top of the timesheets for qualifying tomorrow.”

Above: Gold Coaster James Macken set the pace in Pro Light
pic - Kart X/Budd

Qualifying will be held from 9am tomorrow followed by three heat races. The finals will begin on Sunday morning at 9am.

The Ipswich Kart Club is located on Champions Way at Willowbank, just outside of Ipswich.

To read some of the behind the scenes news from today’s practice session please click here.

CIK STARS OF KARTING SERIES
Practice Times – Top Five

Pro Light (KF1)
1. James Macken 47.867
2. Jake Spencer 47.898
3. Joel Smith 47.905
4. Adam Hughes 47.931
5. Matthew Waters 47.974

Pro Gearbox (KZ2)
1. Scott Auld 47.453
2. Matthew Wall 47.461
3. Troy Woolston 47.468
4. Kyle Ensbey 47.471
5. Lee Mitchener 47.510

Pro Junior (KF3)
1. Pierce Lehane 48.541
2. Joseph Mawson 48.705
3. Mitchell Gee 48.717
4. Brock Plumb 48.801
5. Jaxon Evans 48.820

Yamaha Clubman Challenge
1. Chris Farkas 50.906
2. Terry Cobb 51.159
3. Aaron Borg 51.219
4. Sam Lumsden 51.347
5. Alex Baker 51.377

Yamaha Junior National Challenge
1. Callum Walker 55.269
2. James Abela 55.329
3. James Duckworth 55.353
4. Thomas Randle 55.444
5. Stefan Stankovic 55.639

TaG Light
1. Scott Sorensen 49.574
2. Bodine Antrobus 49.876
3. Aaron Paul 50.390

TaG Heavy
1. Steven Lintott 50.990
2. Luke Turner 51.012
3. Patrick Mather 51.144

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