Ipswich Round 8 Club Races
Tweet| 13 November 2012 |
from John Goddard
The King or Queen / Prince or Princess meeting is done and dusted for another year, the fields were exceptional as was the talent on display with the feature J classes hotly contested to the last lap.
The stage was set for a great meeting with 120 at practice on Friday night. Glen Plumb arrived at the track for practice and said “it was like a state title, there were people everywhere”.
Above: The entire Junior Pro field - all 38 of them
pic - by Nick Ross's mum!
Saturday saw 217 competitors going hard all day. TAG 125, while it wasn't meant to be, was also a feature with a field of 32 of some of the best racers in the country. Other than a title event or the pro tour, you would not see better racing. We can fit another half dozen on the grid so let’s fill it up next time.
A big thanks to the pro tour guys who made the effort to come and race at club level on MG Reds. It was great to see you there and hope you can come back for the December meeting - just get those starts right next time please.
People came from far and wide to be part of one of the biggest meetings held at Ipswich in years. It was like the good old days, most classes had large fields including 38 runners in Junior Pro, and 19 in Senior National Pro.
Don’t even think about getting rid of J’s, that’s what this meeting was all about, the fact that we had 57 J’s over 2 classes at this meeting just shows what a backward step it would be and how many Karters would be affected.
NSW Senior National Light State Champion Sean Butcher agrees when he said “This meeting brings out the best in all J guys, it’s the best racing you can have anywhere, better than a State Title!”
A big thanks to Gail Antrobus and a few other people who came from nowhere to fill in when the grid marshal and a few other volunteers put in a DNS (did not show).
Gail in particular did a great job which was much appreciated by the committee and the Karters, it is typical of the community spirit regularly shown by the Antrobus’s and it made the difference, it meant that 217 competitors were able to have their days racing.
We are all in awe of Club Secretary Donnelle Waldon’s dedication to her racing, when her husband Nathan injured his shoulder and was on the track for half an hour receiving treatment after a nasty 100k an hour accident at the end of the back straight, Donnelle was quickly there by his side providing him with the comfort only a devoted wife can.
As Nathan was getting put in the ambulance he told her to stay and keep racing and then later back in the pits Donnelle said "I was hoping that he wanted me to stay instead of going to the hospital with him." Nathan is battling some serious pain, his injury is a grade 4 AC joint separation. I know the feeling and hope you heal quickly mate.
Junior National 130kg
This field was probably the biggest field seen at Ipswich in years with 38 Junior Pro youngsters turning up ready to rumble.
Ben Wilcox poled it and had a second in heat 1 to the soon to be crowned “Prince of the Nationals” in William Brown, Wilcox won heat 2 and the pre final from Brown but it was to be Browns night when he won a fought battle over the 15 lap final from Thomas Steel with Joshua Davey not far away in third.
The day was a real battle with the front runners all doing well, Brown, Steele Davey, Wilcox and Jordan Kidas were all up there fighting it out.
There were also a couple of great performances from Kevin Sinclair who started the pre final from 25th after an earlier DNF and Greg Gallagher who started from 24th after he had a DNS in heat one. They finished the day in 7th and 8th respectively, great work lads, it won’t be long before you are up the front with performances like that.
The great photo at the top of the report was taken by Nick Ross’s mum and shows the entire field. Nick showed plenty of improvement during the day moving up from his qualifying position of 23rd to 15th in the final. It won’t be long before he is knocking on the door.
1st Ben Brown, 2nd Thomas Steele, 3rd Joshua Davey.
Above: Junior Pro Winner Ben Brown
pic - Apex Photo
Cadets
Josh Radford was dominant in the Cadets winning all four races in convincing fashion. From 2nd to 6th was a different proposition with Bayley Douglas, Riley Le Garde, Oscar Comley Tomas Gasperak and Austin Wells all very competitive during the course of the meeting.
The clear winner on the day was Radford Second and Le Garde third.
Harrison Hoey was running at the SA State titles where he did a fantastic job to end up second after winning the pre final, it won’t be long before he stacks up a few Blue plates. Jack Doohan was also doing well until he had a DNF in the final.
Above: Jett Tippett in action.
pic - Apex Photo
Junior Max
10 Junior Max turned up to race with a couple of famous V8 racing names there in Seton and Ellery.
They were very well behaved and closely followed the Drivers Brief instructions in regard to the starts when they showed some of the senior guys a thing or two about discipline.
Lachlan McHugh was too good with 3 wins including the pre final and the night final. Russell Whitaker was second for the day, he also took out heat two and Mitchell Maddren third. Aaron Seton was fourth after a great 2nd in the final.
Rookies
Watching the first heat of Rookies made me think that Cameron Shields was going to take the meeting out easily after winning heat one in emphatic fashion but Harrison Oddie and a few of his mates had other ideas. It was a very competitive class with Randy Morgan winning heat 2, Oddie the pre final but Shields prevailed with a great win in the final to take the big trophy. Others to do well were Jayden Gollan, Ryan Shule and Jace Matthews with some good results from Jarrod Costello.
1st Cameron Shields, 2nd Harrison Oddie, 3rd Randy Morgan.
Above: Jasper Winnett in Action
pic - Apex Photo
Senior National - 150kg
The Senior National class was always going to be extremely competitive. With all the regular boys and girls, as well as some blokes that got pulled out of the wood work, and even one making the trip down from Mackay. With 20 J’s lining up, with the likes of Etter, Plumb, Farkas, Dimmock, Butcher, Foster, Schrodter, O’Farrell, Stevens the list goes on. It was always going to be close and intense racing.
Pole position went to the in-form Oliver Etter, with the ever consistent Richard Dimmock joining him on the front row, then Schrodter, Plumb and Farkas to round out the top 5. The heat racing was always going to be borderline, out of control, with some of the fast guys spread all throughout the field.
Heat one was taken out by Oliver Etter, with Brock Plumb pushing him all the way to the finish. Behind them was a 4-way battle, with Farkas, Schrodter, Dimmock and Butcher; finishing in that order.
Above: Winner Brock Plumb & Kyle McGlinn
pic - Apex Photo
Heat 2 saw Etter take the win over Plumb once again, with Dimmock, Butcher and Farkas chasing them down. Although, the top 9 went across the line nose-to-tail with merely 3 seconds covering the lot of them.
The start of the pre-final was chaos, with Richard Dimmock failing to make it around the first turn, and Todd Stevens and Sean Butcher dropping back to last. The tear-away race leaders, once again, were Oliver Etter and Brock Plumb, with Plumb coming out on top this time, followed by Etter, then a gap to Farkas, Foster, Whitley and Schrodter.
At the start of the final, karts were flying everywhere, with 6 people not making the first corner; one of those being front row qualifier, Richard Dimmock. After the first lap, the top 3 had broken away, with James Foster taking the lead over Brock Plumb, and Oliver Etter. Just a few kart lengths back was Chris Farkas, Ethan O’Farrell and Defending ‘king’ Sean Butcher. The lead group broke away from the rest of the field, until a mid-race incident saw James Foster take no further part in the final race. From there, Etter and Plumb battled all the way to the end, with Brock Plumb eventually taking the win, from Oliver Etter and Sean Butcher charging home for the final podium position.
The King/Queen of Nationals always brings out the best in the J racers, with each year becoming more and more competitive. So if you have an old ‘J Banger’ dust it off and get some practice in for next year’s event and let’s make it even bigger and better!
Good luck to Brock at the Tassie State titles next week and hope to see you back at IKC for our 1st December meeting.
Sean Butcher
Above: The Senior J Banger field
pic - Apex Photo
Tag 125 Light
What a great day, what a fantastic field, amazing for a club day, Tag open 125 just improved 100%. Normally fields of around 20 were our average turn out but no one expected an outstanding field of 32 great competitors on the day.
There where impressive drives from the Pro-tour team, guys like early favourite Jaxon Evans and RK Team mate James Macken, return appearances by almost the entire Pacific Motor Sports team of Troy Morrissey, Luke Baldry, Troy Bretherton, we also had Mitchell Gee, the eventual winner Scott Sorensen and the Dorn Boys, Jason and Josh who all added to the mix.
There where the return drivers to the pack such as Daniel Sirvent, Holly Patrizi and Aaron Rabjones who have been absent for some time.
Our regular championship drivers Jordon Conder, Thomas Pomroy and Ryan Sponseller all had moments to mix it with the Pro Tour drivers but as they say, the cream risers to the top for the final. The front row consisted of Troy Morrisey and Holly Patrizi but they where overtaken by eventual winner Scott Sorensen with Bodine Antrobus in hot pursuit resulting in them crossing the finish line together.
Outright winners for the day Scott Sorensen 1st, Troy Morrissey 2nd, Jaxon Evans 3rd with Bodine Antrobus 4th and Holly Patrizi 5th.
I hope you can all come back for the big December meeting where you get 45 laps for your money. The competition will be strong again in December with Dual State Champion Ben Stewart already committed to race and Brock Plumb a big chance.
Les Antrobus
Tag 125 Heavy
After qualifying it was Klinton Hancey and Scott Howard off the front row. The first heat saw Klinton show a clean pair of heals with Scott Howard 2nd and Nathan Waldon in 3rd. Heat 2 saw a red flag come out after a lap 4 incident where Nathan Waldon rolled over and had to be taken away for some X-rays. After a short break there was a restart and once again Klinton took the win. After another close pre final and final it was Hancey taking out the round win with a clean sweep, he was very fast and switched on. Scott Howard finished second and after a few troubles early in the day it was club President Ash Waardenberg holding down a close 3rd place overall. We all wish Nathan Waldon a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on track soon.
Scott Howard
TAG 125 HEAVY Footnote: Scott Howard proved that the wellbeing of his fellow competitors is more important to him than winning a race or a meeting when he stopped to give Nathan assistance after his accident. Great work Scott. JG
Above: Do I have your attention?
pic - Apex Photo.
RESULTS
| CLASS | FIRST |
SECOND |
THIRD |
JUNIOR NATIONAL 130KG |
William Brown |
Thomas Steele |
Joshua Davey |
CADETS |
Josh Radford |
Bayley Douglas |
Riley Le Garde |
JUNIOR MAX |
Lachlan McHugh |
Russell Whitaker |
Mitchell Maddren |
ROOKIES |
Cameron Shields |
Harrison Oddie |
Randy Morgan |
SENIOR NATIONAL 150KG |
Brock Plumb |
Oliver Etter |
Sean Butcher |
TAG 125 LIGHT |
Scott Sorensen |
Troy Morrissey |
Jaxon Evans |
TAG 125 HEAVY |
Klinton Hancey |
Scott Howard |
Ashley Waardenberg |
CLUBMAN LIGHT |
Nicholas Dalton |
Michelle Attard |
Luke Lane |
CLUBMAN HEAVY |
Paul Baxter |
Peter Bossons |
Dale Robinson |
TAG RESTRICTED LIGHT |
Ryan Kennedy |
Domenic Mesiti |
Christopher Orders |
TAG RESTRICTED LIGHT |
Craig Holmwood |
Kerry Allston |
David Douglas |
Above: Justin Smith with Robert Mortensen tracking him down in TAG 125 R Light
pic - Apex Photo.
