Arrow & Monaco Shine at Stars Of Karting Round 4
| press release | 2 August 2013 |
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Both the Arrow & Monaco brands enjoyed success at the recently held CIK Stars Of Karting round at Eastern Creek NSW. Fantastic weather for event was a blessing for the flock of Victorians that could break out the shorts & shirts. Although the mornings were exceptionally fresh to say the least.
KF Pro Junior young gun Will Hawkes was upbeat after a 2nd place finish at the previous round at Geelong. Unfortunately, the weekend started horribly with Will missing the gate for qualifying after detecting an engine issue. As this young gun has proven before he is very head strong and accepted his hand and went about turning his misfortune into fortune throughout the heats on Saturday. Starting dead last in 20th position, Will returned an 8th, 5th and 7th placing to start Sunday’s pre final in 5th position. Will got involved in an early race incident that shuffled him back to 12th position but he worked himself back to 6th place but after a late challenge Will finish in 7th place.
Above: Arrow/Shamick Racing’s Will Hawkes finally takes the chequered flag in 2013
pic - AF images/Ash Budd
In the all-important final Will worked his way to the lead by lap 6 and was never headed over the remaining 19 laps holding a one second gap to possibly the best junior field racing in Australia at the moment. Names like Liam McLellan, Andrew Kahl, Callum Walker, Jake Klein, Damon Strongman & James Abela cemented what a great memorable victory it was by Will and his Arrow/Shamick Racing kart.
KF Pro Senior Brock Plumb proved again that he is up to the challenge by qualifying his Arrow X3 in 3rd place. Brock was handed a 10 second penalty in Heat two which resulted in a 7th place start for the pre final on Sunday. Brock was running as high as 4th but finished the pre final in 13th after a racing incident midway through. Still optimistic of a good result from P13, Brock got a fantastic early start and got his Arrow up to 8th place before engine issues finished his weekend.
Above: Arrow Kart’s Brock Plumb
pic - AF images/Ash Budd
TAG Light, Epic Karts/Monaco driver Mitch Hewitt showed everyone early that his switch to Monaco has agreed with him with a practice time three tenths quicker than the field. His pace carried over to Saturday qualifying on pole position from where Mitch took out the 1st Heat, second in the 2nd heat before a DNF in the final heat. Sunday’s pre final had Mitch starting from fifth place where he worked his way to 2nd Place. An outside start at the creek is not the ideal starting spot and this proved critical with Mitch losing a spot which gave the eventual winner enough of a break.
Above: Monaco/Epic Karts' Mitch Hewitt in his Monaco M3 which he took to pole position & 2nd place overall
pic - AF images/Ash Budd
Overall, a great result for Mitch, Epic Karts and Monaco. Mitch’s team mate and Epic Karts owner Laurie Fooks battled hard and belied his mature age with a strong Top 10 finish in qualifying and the final.
Pacific Karts trio Ben Stewart, Adam Mercer and Adam Rabjones all mixed it up over the weekend. Ben & Adam qualified well on Saturday with 4th & 5th respectively. Adam got the better of Ben in the heats with two 3rd’s and 2nd compared to Ben’s 4th, 5th & 3rd placing’s. Sunday was not so kind to Adam with a DNF in the pre final and final which was unfortunate as he drove his Arrow into a strong position.
Ben battled hard but ultimately did not have the outright pace to challenge for the win but as the true professional he drove hard and brought home a strong result for Arrow/KTEQ & Pacific Kartsport.
Above: Pacific Kartsport/KTEQ/Arrow driver Ben Stewart on his way to a 3rd place finish aboard his Arrow X3 CIK Kart
pic - AF images/Ash Budd
Aaron Rabjones competed in his first major open meeting and showed improvement over the weekend with “grippy” track conditions. Aaron was a hit off the track with his humour and laid back Aussie “Queenslander” attitude.
Tag Restricted Light, Arrow/ Stones Kartsport driver Michael Sieders was untouchable over the entire weekend putting his Arrow kart on pole position, clean sweep of the heats and finals.
Above: Arrow/Stones Kartsport Michael Sieders dominated the field
pic - AF images/Ash Budd
