DD2 Does Canberra
press release
Front runners turn up the heat in a cool Canberra at the ACT Challenge as they compete for valuable Rotax
ranking points.
Canberra Kart Racing Club offered a level 3 ranking round for DD2 on 21st/22nd May. A field of 17 top ranking drivers turned up to a fresh morning of 1˚ for Fridays practice and soon realised that in Canberra’s cool and dry climate, getting some heat into their tyres would be a difficult task.
By Saturday mornings early carby session, it became clear that everyone was equally keen on securing some championship points. Travis Millar set the fastest qualifying time of 30.849, ahead of Damien Ward, Jack Lindgren, Kyle Ensbey, Mark Flood, Kayne Hughes, Brinley Gread, Jason Pringle, Thomas Macdonald and Mitchell Bink.
Heat one knocked the pack down with a crash early in the race on turn one. Damian Ward had a convincing win over Travis Millar and Jack Lindgren secured a third placing.
Damian Ward continued his form to also take heat two ahead of Travis Millar and Thomas Macdonald.
A clean start to Heat three saw Damian Ward cross the line in first place again, setting him up for a super start to Sunday’s pre-final. He was closely followed by Kyle Ensbey and Travis Millar.
The pre-final grid was rearing to go on the Sunday morning for the 15 lap pre-final, Damian Ward preparing for the onslaught from the rest of the grid behind him. Ward declared his intentions early in the race, getting a great start and taking the lead by three seconds after turn one, ahead of Kyle Ensbey and Travis Millar. The rest of the pack formed a closely knit train behind the leader, the track proving very difficult to pass on for the 2 speed gearbox class.
In the 18 lap final it was a little more difficult for Ward who was shuffled back at the start and nudged out by Travis Millar who took the lead and opened the gap early in the race. The top 10 continued to maintain their lap times through out the rest of the race until light rain with only three laps to go, however Travis Millar held on to comfortably take first, followed by Damian Ward, Kyle Ensbey, Jason Pringle and Mark Flood rounding out the top five.
The highest finishing Masters driver on the day was Eddie Ruiz in 12th place.
The Rotax DD2 class will meet again at the Rotax Pro Tour in Ipswich on 22-24th July.
Dubbo Kart Club will also be offering a DD2 ranking round (level 3 points) at their Gold Cup on 13/14th August.
More info on www.rotax.com.au/upcomingevents.
TOP 10 - HOW THEY FINISHED
1st - TRAVIS MILLAR
2nd - DAMIAN WARD
3rd - KYLE ENSBEY
4th - JASON PRINGLE
5th - MARK FLOOD
6th - THOMAS MACDONALD
7th - JACK LINDGREN
8th - KAYNE HUGHES
9th - GRANT DONLEY
10th - BRINLEY GREAD