Saturday Report - Rotax Pro Tour Melbourne
Tweetpress release
The first day of Rotax Pro Tour Todd Road was action packed from the first to the last heat race, with each of the six categories competing providing a teaser for what is to come in the Finals stage of the event.
Above: Pierce Lehane leads national champ David Sera
pic - IKD
The headline act was Rotax Light. With 50 karts officially entered, the class was split into four groups with each round of heats split into two and it was dominated by those who shone brightly at last year’s Rotax World Finals. CRG’s Pierce Lehane was the standout driver from the heat races, winning each of the three heats contested and will start the Pre-Final from pole position, with Arrow Kart’s David Sera finishing second in the standings with one heat win to his credit followed by Josh De Maio in third who finished in the top three in each of his heats. Also impressing was Macauley Jones, son of V8 Supercar team owner Brad Jones. He will start fifth in the Pre-Final. Joey Mawson will start seventh, whilst Carrera Cup young gun Nick Foster will start 26th.
Only 39 of the 50 drivers entered qualified for the Pre-Final and Final in Rotax Light, which meant the 11 that failed to make the cut would go home. However, as an act of good faith, a B-Main Final was created for those 11 that failed to make the cut and will be contested over 20 laps.
Rotax Heavy was Troy Woolston’s domain, with the Australian champion taking out all three heat races to claim the pole for the Pre-Final. Behind Woolston, Daniel Richert, Aaron Rintoul and Rick Pringle fought intense for the minor placings whilst attempting to keep Woolston within reach. Richert starts the Pre-Final from second with Rintoul in third and Pringle in fourth.
Junior Max was equally as hard fought as their senior counterparts, with the likes of Liam McLellan, Mitchell Gee, Andrew Kahl, Jaxon Evans Joseph Burton-Harris and James Golding all fighting very hard to claim the top spot for the Pre-Final in each of the three heats. Eventually, it was McLellan who would claim the Pre-Final pole by winning all three heats. Golding will start second after a fifth, third and second, with Kahl starting third by virtue of his two fourth and a fifth in the heats.
Rotax Over 40s saw a mixed bag of results with Footscray’s Darren Day taking the first heat win before Steven Johnson, no relation to the V8 Supercar driver of the same name, winning the remaining two heats. But it was Shane Karandrews who will start Over 40s from pole in the Pre-Final, by virtue of his two seconds and a third in the heat races. Day will start second and Dean Penrose will start third.
Tony Kart’s Hamish Leighton, who won all three races and will start from pole in the Pre-Final, dominated DD2 Masters yesterday. But it was behind Leighton that the real racing was happening. Rotax World Finalist, Brent Coghlan was showing his rivals he wasn’t afraid to mix it with them and against Jose Ruiz, Tony Prendergast and Cameron Harch, the heat races were entertaining. Prendergast will start the Pre-Final second with his two seconds and a third, with Coghlan to start third after finishing fourth in the first two heats and a third in the final heat.
DD2 was just as fascinating with Intrepid’s Tyler Greenbury and Top Kart’s Kyle Ensbey making the class a two horse race between them. Jason Pringle also made an effort to throw himself into the battle, which kept the fans on their toes. Greenbury would eventually dominate and take out all three heats to take the pole for the Pre-Final from Ensbey and Pringle. Rotax Pro Tour Canberra winner Troy Woolston initially struggled after a poor qualifying run but managed to fight his way up the order and will start seventh in the Pre-Final.
Racing starts at 9am with the Pre-Finals for all six classes over 16 laps, the B-Main for Rotax Light over 20 laps and then the Finals for all classes over 24 laps. Entry is free for the public at the Todd Road Karting Complex.