Hurricane Hosts Western Cup Opener
Tweet| 14 February 2013 |
from Nicole McGregor
With the temperature in the high thirties during the afternoon, the opening round of the Western Cup Series hosted by Hurricane Go Kart club last Saturday was not for the faint hearted. Two-hundred and forty entrants braved the elements to keep the crowd entertained with some brilliant displays of driving. Hurricane Go Kart Club officials kept the event running on schedule so that racing was able to be concluded by 8.00 pm – quite an achievement with 15 classes.
Above: Blake Mills leads Joey Hansen in the KZ2 feature class
pic - Graeme Agland
SPORTSMAN 125 HEAVY
There was some close racing between these guys with no particular driver dominating. Guy Webster managed to make the podium, despite finishing seventh in the second heat and Ryan Barron still got fifth place after completing only three of the races due to an accident in another class which forced him to retire from the meeting.
1 Matt Davis, 2 Brett Starcevich, 3 Guy Webster, 4 Jed Grigg, 5 Ryan Barron
CADETS
These youngsters pleased the spectators with their skills, with the contest for first place being mostly between Damon Papasergio and Jack Harders, although Mason Patience achieved a second place in the final.
1 Damon Papasergio, 2 Jack Harders, 3 Memphis Knowles, 4 Bartholomew Horsten, 5 Mason Patience
JUNIOR NATIONAL LIGHT
“A” Grade driver Nik Mitic wowed everyone with a perfect score and Thomas Schou was right behind him all the way with a second place in each race. The stiffest competition in this class was for third place – Jono Ridden, Brock Kenny (doing his second open in Juniors following the Albany Junior Challenge) and Cameron Nash were vying for a podium finish. Cameron achieved two third place finishes but a DNF in the second heat put him back to fifth place overall.
1 Nik Mitic, 2 Thomas Schou, 3 Jono Ridden, 4 Brock Kenny, 5. Cameron Nash
Above: Junior National Light, Ethan Patience (88) leads eventual winner Nikola Mitic (96), Aaron Merritt (99), Thomas Schou (15) and Brooke Redden (61)
pic - Graeme Agland
SPORTSMAN 100 HEAVY
There were a number of DNF’s in this class with everyone hell-bent on making their way to the front of the field. The “A” Grade drivers (Brenton Magri and Rob Landsmeer) were dominant, although Bayley Mickler (“B” Grade) had two second places and Craig Ryan (“C” Grade) had one second place.
1 Brenton Magri, 2 Rob Landsmeer, 3 Bayley Mickler, 4 Craig Ryan, 5 Brody Noonan
Above: Rod Landsmeer, 2nd in Sportsman Heavy
pic - Graeme Agland
ROOKIES
This class had some fierce competition going. Keb Evans (2012 Cadets State Champion) had to work extra hard after dropping a chain in the first heat. He went on to finish first in the next two heats and second in the final, thus securing a podium position for the day.
1 Sam Dicker, 2 Brock McGregor, 3 Keb Evans, 4 Calan Williams, 5 James Howe
Above: Rookies winner Sam Dicker
pic - Graeme Agland
SENIOR NATIONAL COMBINED
There was a good mixture of age groups making up this class, ranging from some who have recently moved up from Juniors to at least one who is eligible to race in Over 50’s! With just 28 points separating first and second place for the day it was literally on for young and old.
1 Craig McKeon, 2 Thomas Gray, 3 Jordan Hounsfield, 4 Ken Power, 5 Nicholas Tester
SPORTSMAN 100 LIGHT
This class was one for the young adults and we saw some impressive racing, along with quite a few DNF’s (including half the field in the second heat). It was all of the “A” Grade drivers who finished in the top five.
1 Jesse Elliott, 2 Brenton Magri, 3 Nathan Davis, 4 Scott Foster, 5 Blake Stanton
Above: Nathan Davis, 3rd in Sportsman Light
pic - Graeme Agland
JUNIOR NATIONAL HEAVY
With 24 entries this was the second largest field of the event and created plenty of entertainment for the spectators. Mathew Combes won three of the four races and still managed to finish first overall, even with a sixth place in the second heat. Bayley Bell had won that heat but a DNF and a sixth place and a seventh place put him into sixth overall.
1 Mathew Combes, 2 Tayla Dicker, 3 Cory Hayes, 4 Shae Thompson, 5 Ben Harders
Above: Dion Hounsfuield, Junior National Heavy
pic - Graeme Agland
RESTRICTED 125 LIGHT
With almost half of the field racing on their home track, this group knew what they were doing and put on some serious racing. First and second overall went to Hurricane drivers and third went to a Bunbury member.
1 Kalen Barker, 2 Regan O’Brien, 3 Kerry Foster, 4 Brad Wilde, 5 Kimberley Owen
Above: Kerry Foster, 3rd in Restricted 125 Light
pic - Graeme Agland
SPORTSMAN 125 LIGHT
There was some intense racing amongst this field with results varying considerably in each heat. Unfortunately Ryan Barron was eliminated from the competition after a nasty rollover which he managed to walk away from but was obviously in a lot of pain. The No. 50 kart of Daniel Clark came out of the incident in very bad shape also.
1 Jesse Elliott, 2 Nathan Davis, 3 Peter Bergman, 4 Jace Daniel, 5 Joshua Merritt
Above: Jace Daniel (43) and Ryan Barron (4) ahead of Peter Bergman (15) and eventual winner, Jesse Elliott, Sportsman 125 Light
pic - Graeme Agland
OVER 40S
The old boys showed that they are still capable of putting in some great lap times, although the first heat resulted in only eight out of seventeen drivers achieving a place. Eight DNF’d and one was blissfully unaware that the weight for this class had been changed.
1 Rob Landsmeer, 2 Randle Beavis, 3 Roy Tester, 4 Craig Ryan, 5 Paul Hughes
Above: Trouble in Over 40s!
pic - Graeme Agland
RESTRICTED 125 HEAVY
With three P-Platers in the mix this field displayed some clean racing, although there were a few DNF’s along the way.
1 Andrew Freeman, 2 Benjamin Spencer, 3 Gregory Pettett, 4 Shane Weir, 5 Corey Johnson
Above: Second in the final was enough to make Andrew Freeman the top point scorer for the meeting in Restricted 125 Heavy
pic - Graeme Agland
JUNIOR MAX
Although there were only six entrants in this class, the racing was very competitive. We saw Maverick Cuthbert achieve a perfect score with a win in each race and the rest of the field were doing battle for second place.
1 Maverick Cuthbert, 2 Thomas Schou, 3 Tayla Dicker, 4 Nik Mitic, 5 Taylor Thomas, 6 Patrick Martin
Above: Thomas Schou, Jnr MAX
pic - Graeme Agland
JUNIOR CLUBMAN
A small piece of trivia which is totally unrelated to racing – 50 per cent of this field have a first name starting with “J” and six of them finished in the top 10! The places were spread out amongst this group which kept the points close. Jemima Thomas did her bit for girl power by coming first with a tidy 1000 points.
1 Jemima Thomas, 2 Thomas Howe, 3 Thomas McPherson, 4 Cameron Nash, 5 Jake Kostecki
Above: Nikola Mitic heads up a Junior Clubman conga line with Brooke Redden and Jason Betts in hot pursuit
pic - Graeme Agland
KZ2
These races were not to be missed, with 25 karts and drivers providing a spectacular display of what can be achieved at this level of karting. Current world champion Joey Hanssen dominated in this class but had to fight pretty hard with Blake Mills during the 25-lap final, which was exhilarating to watch so it must have been even more intense for those participating!
1 Joey Hanssen, 2 Blake Mills, 3 Daniel Currey, 4 Simon Gwilliam, 5 Jake Klarich
Above: Rob McLean leads Jacob Parsons, Open (KZ2) Class
pic - Graeme Agland
Above: Sportsman 100 Light winner Jesse Elliott
pic - Graeme Agland
Above: Third in Rookies, Keb Evans
pic - Graeme Agland
Above: Regan O'Brien (82) and Blaine Powell (75), Sportsman 125 Light. O'Brien would finish second for the day
pic - Graeme Agland
Above: Millsy leads eventual winner Joey H
pic - Graeme Agland
