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NSW Speedway Kart Titles

press release

After torrential rain washed out the race meeting only a week before and with continued rain all week leading into last weekend event, the question was “will the State titles get run?”.

Well, the answer turned out to be yes - albeit under threatening skies and passing showers all day.

Given the forecast and the bitterly cold weather, the club was happy with the turnout and drivers from 6 classes battled it out to take home the 2012 state honors.

Whilst some results were predicted, a number of surprise and first time State Title podium positions made the end of day presentation special for the crowd on hand.

The drivers turned up and found a superbly prepared Nepean circuit in front of them which had the meeting set up to be special and the passing showers during the day kept the track moist and provided the best track seen at the venue in some time. During the day, three - and at times four - wide racing on the newly banked race track was witnessed by the crowd on hand.

The first class on track was the Junior National Light field. In heat 1 of the day, Jake Baines came from starting position 5 to take victory from Luke Sayre in 2nd and Jordan Binskin in 3rd place. Heat 2 again saw Jake take the win from again Luke Sayre in  2nd place and this time the youngest driver in the field, John Gillespie, came home in 3rd. Heat 3 had the highest points scorer start form P1 and Jake Baines had no problem leading the field home to take his 3rd victory of the day. Jordan Binskin chased Jake hard to finish 2nd and Luke Sayre again featured finishing 3rd. The final heat of the day had the fast drivers gridded to the back of the field. Making it a clean sweep for heat wins, Jake rounded the field on the high side of the track and  drove to victory from lady racer Taylor Rietdyk in 2nd and John Gillespe in 3rd.

In the all important final race, the current Australian Champion for the class, Jake Baines, lead home the field to make it a clean sweep for his title campaign claiming State Champion status. The pleasing and surprising result was Taylor Rietdyk who in her first title race as a junior drove a great race to finish 2nd and John Gillespe also in his first title race came home in 3rd place.

The big boys of Clubman, the Clubman Heavy class, were next to hit the track and going into the event Gary Slarke had been in great form and was listed as favorite. However in heat 1, regular bitumen racer Michael Saller got his title challenge off to a great start and lead home the Australian Champion Daniel Selmes in 2nd and Gary Slarke in 3rd after a great drive coming from P8 on the grid. Heat 2 was a reverse grid and Gary started from P2 and lead home the field easily from that position. Back in the pack there was spirited racing and former club Champion Nathan Camilleri held off the field to run 2nd and Saller found his way through from the back the finish 3rd. So heat 3 had Slarke and Saller on the front row as the 2 high points men. At the drop of the chequered flag it would be Gary finishing 1st with Micheal 2nd, Selmes home in 3rd. Now the focus was on both lead drivers as they gridded to the back of the field in heat 4. In a superb drive, Saller cleared the field to take the win and assured himself  pole in the final. Matthew Elliott was 2nd followed by Tim Baker in 3rd.

In the final Saller showed his class and was never in doubt taking the victory and title honors. Back in the field however, the racing was hard fast and clean and when the racing had finished, Nathan Camilleri was placed 2nd with Daniel Selmes 3rd.

The biggest field at the meeting, the KT Modified Light class, was next up. The class was dominated by Micheal Jordan who showed some of the best racing of the day. In heat 1 Michael started P5 and was in the lead early and lead home veteran racer Brad Cunneen in 2nd and defending champion Dan Morris in 3rd. In Heat 2, Central Coast driver Mitch Brien showed good speed to take victory. New driver to the class, Leighton O’Brien, was 2nd after sgtarting from P8 and was followed through the field by James Melling starting from P10 to finish 3rd. In Heat 3 Michael again showed his class and drove the field home followed again by Cunneen and Mitch Brien in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The last heat of the day was the drive of the meeting. Michael Jordan, starting from the back in P13, drove to the outside of the field and took victory and pole position for the feature in the process. Home in 2nd was David Boyd and 3rd Tim Beattie.

The final was never in doubt, such is the skill and driving ability of Jordan. He took the lead from the drop of the green and was never challenged. Taking the 2nd place for the title was James Melling who had  a great race with Brad Cunneen who came under late race pressure but was able to hang onto 3rd place.

Junior National Heavy  made the show this year and a small but talented field raced hard all day. Heat 1 was won by Jordan Binskin as he sent a message to the field that he meant business. Second in the race went to Daniel Sayre and in 3rd was John Gillespe doing double duties. In heat 2, lady racer Katelyn Hickey showed she was here to race and lead the field home to take the win from Daniel Sayre in 2nd and Jordan Binskin in 3rd. The high points to the front race heat 3 had Sayre reverse the heat 1 result taking the win from Binskin and Katelyn was 3rd. The points were tight heading into heat 4 and with the contenders at the back of the field all eyes were on who would get through first. When the race finished the answer was Jordan Binskin as he claimed the win over Daniel Sayre and a fast finishing Amy Shute in 3rd.

This final was the race of the day Jordan Binskin and Daniel Sayre both started on the front row and had a fantastic race for the entire distance with the outcome not decided until the drop of the chequers. However, at the race end Jordan Binskin stood up as NSW State Champion, Daniel Sayre hung on for 2nd and Katelyn Hickey, with one of her best race meetings for some time, finished a very creditable 3rd place .

The Clubman Light class was next to hit the circuit. This year Cameron Ware has been in great form and went into the event a clear favourite. In heat 1 Cameron didn’t disappoint those marking him favourite showing the field a clean pair of heels to win the race. Two ladies filled the minor placings with Lindsay Jones and Natalie Genner 2nd and 3rd. The heat 2 result was Mitch Brien 1st, Cameron found his way to 2nd place and Lindsay Jones again found the front of the field finishing 3rd. Heat 3 had Ware from P1 and Jones from P2, and after 8 laps that’s how they finished the race with Dan Morris taking 3rd. Heat 4 saw an impressive drive by Cameron from P11 as he drove his way to 2nd place, however he couldn’t catch Jade Pollock who drove a great race to take victory and  a fast finishing Dan Morris picked up 3rd.

So with the final lining up, Ware was on P1 and Jones with her best ever qualifying on P2 however it was P3 that took everyone by surprise as Alana Onley lined up as 3rd highest qualifier. At the drop of the green as predicted Ware took the lead and left the field to battle it out. Onley settled into 2nd and set out after Ware. Mid race had Nat Genner in 3rd and battling to hold off  Dan Morris. As the race started to run out of laps, Ware was getting loose and Onley was coming on strong the more the race went. Would she have enough laps? The answer was no and Cameron held onto take Title honours. Alana Onley had a personal best result finishing 2nd with Dan Morris just getting Genner on the last lap the take 3rd.

The last class to stake their claim on State glory was the KT Modified Heavy class. Former 2-times State Champion John Watton went into the event as one of the favourites along with Donald Stevens after both men have had some good results at race meetings leading into the event.

Starting his campaign in great style with a race win was Donald who was followed home closely by Tim Beattie in 2nd and Cameron Coghlan taking the 3rd place . Heat 2 saw the 2 favourites feature in the results with Donald again taking a win with John placing 2nd and Cameron picking up another 3rd placing. With high points gridded to the front of heat 3 the drivers lined up with Donald in P1, Cameron P2 and John P3 and  by race end Donald had made it 3 from 3 with Cameron moving up one position to take 2nd and Wayne Baines came from P7 to take 3rd. The last chance for points race, heat 4, saw only 3 karts finish after a mid race indecent took out the majority of the field. The drivers that hung on for placings were Greg Coghlan 1st, Cameron Coghlan 2nd and recently returned to the sport driver Craig Johnson 3rd.

Come feature time Donald Stevens had done enough in his early heats to hold onto pole position, with Cameron starting beside him on the front row. Once the green flag dropped it was all Donald as he raced to victory in a class of his own taking victory by more than half a lap on the rest of the field. Cameron, starting in position 2, held on to take that place and John Watton came home 3rd after qualifying 4th for the race.

The final raced finished just as the rain started to fall but it didn’t dampen the presentations to all the victorious drivers and a big crowd stayed to help celebrate. At presentation, newly elected president Keryn Evans hailed the meeting a success and thanked all the drivers, volunteers and officials for making it a great days racing.

The next meeting for the NSWSKC will be held on the 1st July and no doubt all the newly crowned champions will proudly display their blue number plates which signifies they are the champions .

 

The NSWSKC would like to acknowledge and thank all their corporate partners for their continued support throughout 2012:

Hopping’s Mowers,  On Track Automotive,
Pa-Formance Motors,  C&A Mobile,  Fire Service Plus,  Wescranes, 
  ST Signs & Designs,  Hoosier Tires Aust,
Fullscope Electrical Services,  Morgan Family Motorsport,
Tyrepower Sydney Speedway.

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