Tasmanian Statewide Series - Round 1Tweet
words - Johnathan Males Near perfect conditions greeted competitors for the Southern Tasmanian Kart Club Titles and Round 1 of the 2013 Tasmanian Statewide Series on February 2nd and 3rd. 112 competitors faced the starter at the Andrew Walter Constructions Raceway. Many of the competitors have changed class or moved up an age group since last year and some of these drivers showed they were going to be a force to be reckoned with this year.
Both the Slater brothers had a memorable weekend with both joining the rollover club. Keenan rolled his kart in the first heat of Senior National Light at Muskett’s corner and Jonah on the Sunday shortly after the start of the third heat. Both were able to continue racing later on and fought back to score good finishing positions in the finals. STKC member Zevie Eisentraut made his debut in Junior National Light after moving up from Rookies and put on quite a display. Not only did he claim pole position in qualifying he won every race. What made this all the more impressive was that he did it in a 13 year old chassis that his father bought off gumtree! Jonah Slater recovered from his third heat roll to charge back to second place in the final and was followed home by the much improved Bree Hobden, who was fresh back from racing at Lithgow the previous week.
Nathan Zuj chose to retire his much cherished and very successful BRM chassis at the end of 2012 and turned up to defend his title in Clubman Light in a brand new Kosmic. After some sorting out early in the race meeting he was back to his old pace and recorded a strong second place in the Final. However it was young Brad Hobden who showed everyone how it’s done by taking his first win in Seniors aboard his Toyworld sponsored Monaco. Zuj was second and Brody Appleby came home in third. Troy Stone was keen to defend his title from last year in Clubman Heavy and he nearly got off to the perfect start. Stone took wins in all four of the races and the only thing missing was the 5 points on offer for pole position. That honour went to Trent Palmer who also took second on the day ahead of Mitchell Evans.
Morgan Jakobovski took the spoils in Junior National Heavy in his new Tony Kart. He was never really challenged and took a clean sweep with pole position and four wins. Wade McLean moved from light to heavy and took second on the day from Jairus Holmes who finished third in the final race of the day. Brock Lamont and Lachlan Dalton were simply dominant in Cadets and put on a very polished display of fast, clean racing. Dalton took the pole position and the first heat honours but Lamont fought back to take the next two heats and Final. Both swapped positions regularly whilst still managing to pull away from the rest of the field. Dalton’s performance was all the more impressive considering his new kart hadn’t turned a wheel up until first practice Saturday morning! Third on the day was the fast improving William Reeve.
The pressure was on Mitch Evans in TAG Light. He was making his debut in the class and the Kosmic kart he was using for the event had won one national title and two state titles in the karts only three previous race meetings! Jade Waddington had also made the switch to the brand and between them they took all the race wins and Evans the pole. Waddington won the final but Evans’ luck ran out after being crashed out by another competitor. Luke Wilton came through for second and Steven Wrigley recovered for third. Kelsey Sapwell made it hard for herself by entering late and had to start from the back of the field in the first three heats of Senior National Light. In her absence her teammate Gemma Wyllie took over and took the pole and two race wins. However nobody could stop Sapwell in the final and she narrowly held off Bodie Reading in second and Wyllie in third. Both Reading and Wyllie were debuting in seniors and showed they’ve got what it takes to run at the front of the class.
Danton Evans took pole position in Senior National Heavy by 0.133 of a second over Johnathan Males but that was as close as anyone got to him until the final. Evans took relatively untroubled wins in the heats but he had to work hard for the win in the final. Evans, Males and Mark Crocker were nose to tail by half race distance and things were shaping up for a typically close J race. Unfortunately the trio got caught up in a dice with some of the Light class competitors late in the race and the result was a DNF for Males and Crocker going “bush” to avoid the incident. This left Evans to take the win and maximum points from Robert Pike and Murray Dadson.
Brock Evans followed on from his strong form from last year and took pole position and two race wins in the Rookies class. One of those wins was the final where he led home Samuel Gala and Tayla Heath. TAG Restricted Heavy saw Jason Close take control with a dominant performance. The Tax Centre sponsored driver took another clean sweep for the weekend with pole position and four race wins. Andrew Wagner came home in second and Brodey Lovett brought his Intrepid home in third. Wagner, Lovett and Matthew Clark are all tied in second place in the title chase on 98 points. This should prove to be tight tussle over the ensuing rounds.
Senior National Over 40’s Pro is usually all about Steve Crocker but he was seriously challenged by fellow Hobartian Anthony Butler at this round. Butler took pole and a race win off Crocker before Crocker got into top gear and took the win in the final. Butler took second on the day with the father of R360 Driver Training’s Chris Schofield, John Schofield taking third. Scott Wrigley seems to have met his match in the Senior National Over 40’s Super Heavy class with Troy Sheehan demonstrating that he has what it takes to take it right up to the current State Champion. After narrowly losing to Wrigley at Burnie last year Sheehan stormed to pole position and took two race wins. However in the final Wrigley once again got the win from the resurgent Rod Bender and Sheehan in third.
The series now moves onto round 2 to be held at the Circular Heat Kart Club’s Titles to be held at the Briant Park Raceway on February 16th and 17th. With strong entry numbers already received this should prove to be every bit as exciting as the first round. Cadets Rookies
Junior National Light Junior National Heavy
Senior National Light Senior National Heavy Senior National Over 40’s Pro
Senior National Over 40’s Super Heavy Clubman Light Clubman Heavy
TAG Restricted Heavy TAG Light
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