NSW Yamaha Junior Pro Clubman Series Round 3
Tweetfrom Dennis Sandrone
“Why go slower when you can go faster”
Newcastle Kart Racing Club kindly hosted Round 3 of the NSW Yamaha Junior Pro Clubman Series on the 18th & 19th August which also doubled as the Newcastle City Cup.
This time the format was over 2 days, which didn’t seem to be has popular compared to the one day format. Saturday’s windy cold weather certainly was testing however the Sunday on the other hand was glorious.
Another 2 juniors joined the series in round 3 bring the total to 23 now registered. Considering the class could barely raise a grid of 6 in 2010, all indications are the class is arguably the fastest growing in NSW in 2012. With 11 starters for round 3 the Newcastle area was well represented with Reagan Angel, Caitlin Wood, Jake Gleeson, Damon Schofield and Joel Robertson. Brodie Tilbrook travelled up from Canberra fresh from his formula vee debut. While series leader Dimitri Agathos along with Mitchell Kennedy, Scott Harris, Nick Becker and Chris Sandrone travelled up from Sydney.
Above: Mitchell Kennedy followed by local Damon Schofield
pic - Pam Matthews
The 4 min qualifying saw Dimitri Agathos returning to his round one qualifying form to take pole. Caitlin Wood showed what girl power can do locking out the front row. Ever improving Reagan Angel was third and in only his second JC meeting Damon Schofield locked out the second row. Sadly Chris Sandrone failed to start the qualification round hence relegated to last place for the 3 heats.
Heat 1 Agathos took full advantage of pole to show a clean pair of heals, followed by locals Reagan Angel and Damon Schofield second and third respectively followed by Chris Sandrone and Scott Harris also in only his second JC outing. This heat featured a tight battle between Schofield, Harris and Wood.
Heat 2 Agathos again remained unchallenged however this time Mitchell Kennedy came to grips with the conditions for a solid second with Chris Sandrone third showing pace from the back of the grid to hopefully challenge Agathos come day two. Locals Angel, Schofield and Wood followed the Sandrone home in a hard fort battle.
Heat 3 Agathos was first with Angel returning to form for second followed by Wood, Sandrone, Harris and Schofield. Tilbrook finally finished a heat after 2 unfortunate DNF’s in the previous heats.
Day 2 saw a welcome change in the weather for the better for the all important prefinals and finals. Points from both races are all important not only for the series in 2012 but also for qualification points towards the 2013 closed state titles.
Above: The only girl doing battle with the JC Boys, Caitlin Wood, sporting the series' sponsor shirt.
pic - Pam Matthews
Prefinal Agathos lead from start to finish with Sandrone second. The interesting feature of this race was the battle for second and third with both Sandrone and Angel doing there up most to place third with .003seconds splitting the pair. Newcastle in the reverse direction rewards few that start on the outside row. The rest of the order was Wood, Kennedy, Tilbrook, Harris, Gleeson, Becker and Robertson. Unfortunately local hero Damon Schofield’s race ended on lap 5. Both Agathos and Sandrone circulating in the mid 50’s 50.479 and 50.613 respectively. The question was could Sandrone challenge the undefeated Agathos in the final.
Final. The grid formed up well with clean tight start at the acceleration line. The tight pack converged on the first corner, unfortunately Sandrone fell victim to a concertina under braking dissolving the anticipated battle with leaving Agathos to complete the clean sweep for the weekend. A great battle developed for second and third between Angel and Kennedy with Angel gaining the upper hand over the distance. Schofield drove an excellent race from the back of the grid to finish fourth followed by Wood around out the top five.
Special thanks to Round 3 sponsor Kart 1 Superstore Karting and series sponsors Yamaha Superiorrubber, Top Gun racing academy and Boxalls Automotive for supporting the series.
Round 4 will be a 1 day event at Wollongong 14th Oct.
Anyone interested in joining the series please contact Dennis Sandrone email: sandrone@bigpond.com.
