Huge Fields At Ipswich's November Meeting
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from John Goddard
Who said the AKA should can 'J racing? The competitors say “bring it on”! This was evidenced with 61 entries in Junior National and Senior National Pro at the November 5 meeting at Ipswich. It was absolutely huge and reminiscent of the good old days.
Above: Close to 200 karters at drivers' briefing
J racing is without doubt, the most affordable kart racing available and almost always provides the closest contests as it did during Saturday’s feature events: the King or Queen and Prince or Princess of the Nationals.
With 193 entries across 13 classes there was never a dull moment. The pace of the meeting kept the race officials and the big crowd on their toes. It was all go from start to finish.
Ipswich members turned out in force, there was even one representative all the way from South Australia, great work mate!
30% of competitors came from other clubs, including interstate, with all local clubs represented; but the biggest numbers were from Cooloola Coast. They came to race and they did it well, taking home 5 first place trophies including one of the feature events, Junior National Pro.
Above: Close racing!
It demonstrates the brotherhood and camaraderie among the local kart clubs and Ipswich members should reciprocate by attending their meetings when possible.
The competition was so close and with huge fields combined with a hot day, it was inevitable that some incidents would occur over the course of Saturday’s racing; some being your typical racing incident but some were not.
IKC Club President Ashley Waardenberg said “let’s not mince words here, It is unfortunate the unsportsmanlike behaviour displayed by these few only leads to retribution and disappointment and that’s not what karting is all about.
"Fortunately, this unwelcome behaviour was only displayed by a small minority. Predominately, the competition on Saturday was hard, fast and fair."
Ipswich Kart Club, take a bow. It is a great track where people from all over Australia love to come and race. The club has excellent amenities and is situated in the Ipswich area run by one of the most admired Mayors in Queensland, Paul Pisasale.
If numbers keep turning up like they have for the last two meetings, even better racing and facilities will only be a matter of time.
Thanks to all the competitors from other clubs for your contribution in making this a great meeting. We hope to see you all back for the last event of the year, round 9 on December 3.
SENIOR NATIONAL PRO
There were many old J racers who begged, borrowed or stole some gear so that they could race their mates from days gone by.
A great field of 24 lined up with veterans Terry Sheedy and Norm Trost, TaG racer Bodine Antrobus, Clubbie guys like Troy Morrisey and Matt Goddard all came back for this meeting and acquitted themselves well against the stars of J racing, such as Sean Butcher, Chris Farkas, James Foster, Terry Cobb and Richard Dimmock. It was a State Title class field with many current and former champions taking part.
For some it was a real test of fitness, as Terry Sheedy commented while sweating profusely all over the in grid; “Geeze I’m buggered”, and that comment was after only 5 minutes of qualifying.
It was terrific racing all day with battle packs at the front, the middle and bringing up the rear.
Chris Farkas was extremely fast all day qualifying on top but had an unfortunate “coming together” in the final and failed to finish the race. The hard chargers award goes to Bodine Antrobus and Terry Cobb who came from 21 and 22 to finish 6th and 7th respectively. The “old” boys have still got it, that’s the beauty of this great sport.
Toowoomba’s Sean Butcher prevailed in a close fought final from Alexandra Whitley who came back strongly after some early misfortune getting tangled up with the boys and Senior National club champion Richard Dimmock a great third. Sean was thrilled to add the prestigious “King or Queen of the Nationals” title to his Queensland Blue Plate won at Warwick earlier this year.
Above: Senior National Pro podium
JUNIOR NATIONAL PRO
Junior Pro had a massive 37 entries. Local racer Brock Plumb nailed it in qualifying and looked set for a great day when he went on to win the first heat by a massive 4 seconds from Nicholas Andrews.
Plumb led heat two for 4 laps but was unfortunately hit from behind, the result, a bent axle, a dropped chain and a DNF. Andrews went on to win heat two from Cooloola Coast’s Brody Chardon who came back to win a hard fought pre-final with Milne, Maddren, Whittaker and Sharples in the mix.
The final was extremely close with only a few tenths separating the top three, but Chardon came out on top in the nail biting 15 lapper from Milne second and Maddren third. The unlucky Plumb rattled through the field from 35th to 6th in an incredible display of determination and skill.
JUNIOR CLUBMAN
On the subject of Plumb, he showed some real foresight to line up 5 of his mates to come and race Junior Clubman as there are not many of them around these days. Brock won all four with Lachlan McHugh second and Matthew Jones third.
TAG RESTRICTED
TaG Restricted classes are a major success story with a total of 47 karters throwing their hats in the ring in Lights and Heavy.
Ashley Lester, the recent winner of the QLD C&D grade titles held at Toowoomba, went one better than last meeting winning 3 from 4 while in Heavies, Carl Kerswell and Daniel Creed finished equal on points. Nathan Waldon, also the TAG-R Heavy winner of the QLD C&D grade titles, was not so fortunate, running out of gas in the final!
MIDGETS
With 13 entrants for the Midgets class, there was always going to be some very close racing and the random draw grid provided that. It was not a nice welcome for our newest Midget pilot, Bayley Douglas. He had an unfortunate incident on the first lap that ended his debut meeting early.
The racing was tight all day with Jarrod Costello, Jai Brown, Cameron Shields and Ryan Suhle the main challengers to Harrison Hoey who was the “standout” performer taking a clean sweep and leading the final from start to finish. Special mention goes to P-platers Jaydon & Ethan Wilcox and newcomer Austin Wells; they will all be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Great racing by all the Midgets and we hope to see you all at Round 9.
~ Troy Hoey
ROOKIES
Zane Goddard was at his best in a 16 strong field of Rookies winning all 4 races running away.
There was some great mid-field racing between John Finch and Joshua Davey, Kevin Sinclair and Gregory Gallagher which was thoroughly enjoyed by the large crowd. Jack Smith had a great day with 3 minor placing for second overall with Joshua Davey coming in third just ahead of Sinclair. P-platers Marc Tullock and Myer Smith drove very well as did Lismore visitor Natasha Hearne. All the Rookies set a great example to the more senior classes with their display of excellent sportsmanship.
~ Martin Sinclair
Above: Alf hard at work
CLUBMAN LIGHT
Troy Morrissey looked likely in this class after winning the first two heats convincingly but Alexandra Whitley had other ideas. She won the races that counted being the pre-final and final to take the victory from Morrissey. Pete Nolloth, who has just come back to racing after taking a long break, was fast all day with two seconds and two thirds.
Where are all the Clubby Light racers? There were 6 at this meeting but we need more for the last meeting of the year. It is always one of the premier classes at any title meeting. Club racing is the grass roots of karting so get your gear out of mothballs and turn up and support your local club.
TAG 125 HEAVY
With a solid field made up of 14 quality drivers it was always going to be an exciting days racing. Heats one and two saw a few drivers retire early through racing incidents but once the pecking order was sorted the pre-final and final saw some of the best racing of the day. Throughout the field “every” position was fought over and usually swapped many times.
The only position not as hotly contested was that of 1st place won by Kris Walton. Kris showed his years of experience in kart craft and set up, winning all races of the day and consistently setting the fastest lap times.
Congratulations goes to our club president, Ashley Waardenberg, after a DNF in round 2 to finish second overall and to Malcolm Walker for a close third.
Overall it was some of the most enjoyable racing this year. Bring on round 9.
~ Pete Virgulti
CLUBMAN HEAVY
This class was a close contest with Matt Goddard winning the first heat easily by 3.5 seconds from Lane in second and Kris Walton third.
Walton is a multiple state title holder and while the wily old fox was not the fastest on the day, his wins in the second heat and the pre-final and a solid second to Goddard in the final were enough for a thoroughly deserved 1st place trophy.
Above: Clubman grid up
TAG 125 LIGHT
It was good to see a large field of Rotax and Leopards again - keep it up there guys and girls.
Daniel Sirvent has been picking up the pace over the last few meetings. He had a quiet start in heats 1 and 2 but came home fast with pre-final and Final wins to narrowly take out the day.
Bodine Antrobus is always at the pointy end and was there again to take a close second with Dalby boy Terry Leerentveld, closing the gap every meeting with a great third. Good to see Ross Miller finishing fourth and Jason Lansell in fifth spot after scoring a good win in heat 2.
~ Les Antrobus
RESULTS
| CLASS | FIRST |
SECOND |
THIRD |
ROOKIES |
Zane Goddard |
Jack Smith |
Joshua Davey |
JUNIOR NATIONAL PRO |
Brody Chardon |
Daniel Milne |
Mitchell Maddren |
MIDGETS |
Harrison Hoey |
Cameron Shields |
Ryan Suhle |
JUNIOR CLUBMAN |
Brock Plumb |
Lachlan McHugh |
Matthew Jones |
JUNIOR MAX |
Mitchell Gee |
Jordan Conder |
Kyle McGlinn |
TAG RESTRICTED LIGHT |
Ashley Lester |
Evan Brannock |
Shawn McNamara |
CLUBMAN LIGHT |
Alexandra Whitley |
Troy Morrisey |
Peter Nolloth |
CLUBMAN HEAVY |
Kris Walton |
Matthew Goddard |
Lu Lane |
CLUBMAN OVER 40 |
William Donselaar |
|
|
SENIOR NATIONAL PRO |
Sean Butcher |
Alexandra Whitley |
Richard Dimmock |
TAG 125 HEAVY |
Kris Walton |
Ashley Waardenberg |
Malcolm Walker |
TAG 125 RESTRICTED HEAVY |
Carl Kerswell |
Daniel Creed |
Stefan Mortenson |
TAG 125 LIGHT |
Daniel Sirvent |
Bodine Antrobus |
Terry Leerentveld |
Above: Senior National Pro forming up behind some Clubmans
