South East Queensland Jmax Series, Round 4


from Rick Fabri 14 August 2013
   
 

Another great turn out of Jmax competitors, 14 in all, for round 4 of the South East Queensland Jmax Series, held at Warwick Kart Club on the 10th & 11th August 2013.

The word is certainly getting around with juniors moving from Junior National to Jmax. I was approached by several parents asking about the class, where to buy the engines, what kart is the best etc. All this is thanks to all the Jmax competitors for providing exceptional racing during the series so far, the camaraderie between the drivers is well and truly evident and there is a very friendly atmosphere on the grid.

The fourth round of the South East Queensland Jmax Series was run in conjunction with the annual Queensland Junior Top Guns meeting organised by the Warwick Kart Club.

Firstly, I must thank the Warwick Kart Club for their great support of the series; the improvement to the track facilities were excellent, with the new ablution block, upgraded canteen with their superb steak burgers, new spectators grand stand and numerous upgrades around the track made it a pleasure racing there. The hard work by the Warwick Kart Club members was so evident, thank you to all involved in providing this excellent racing facility.      

Jmax Teams were all looking forward to a great weekend of competition and all determined to capitalise on the increased series points on offer because of the particular race format of the meeting. The weekend race format entailed Qualifying, 2 x Heats of 12 laps, Pre-final 1 of 12 laps, Pre-final 2 of 14 laps and Final of 18 laps. The eventual winner of the event would be the driver with the lowest accumulated points from all Heats, Pre-Finals and Final. Podium positions would be first to fifth.     

Saturday commenced with a few hours of practice and then straight into a 5 minute qualifying session followed by racing Heat 1 and Heat 2. Again Nicholas Andrews (#7) proved to be the one to beat and posted the fasted qualifying time.  

Qualifying Top Five

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7) 44.054 sec
  2. James Litzow (#58) 44.248 sec
  3. Michael Fabri (#14) 44.261 sec
  4. Brock Lannoy (#67) 44.315 sec
  5. Daniel Plant (#12) 44.346 sec

Heat 1 – 12 Laps

After an unexpected race start, Nicholas Andrews fell back to fourth by turn 1 with James Litzow inheriting the lead. The entire inside field lost out because of the unexpected start, but it did make for good racing with Andrews, Plant, Fabri, Trenear and Brooks all fighting their way back up the field. 

But all eyes were on the first three, James Litzow, Brock Lannoy, and Aaron Seton. It was a great battle between the three of them, with Litzow and Lannoy swapping the lead until a determined Andrews came back to take hold of the lead from both of them.    

Heat 1 Top Five 

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7)
  2. Aaron Seton (#4)
  3. Brock Lannoy (#67)
  4. Daniel Plant (#12)
  5. James Litzow (#58)

Fastest lap of the race went to Michael Fabri with a 44.361 

Heat 2 – 12 Laps

This time Nicholas Andrews was not going to get caught out and made a brilliant start to lead from start to finish. The battle for second and third was hotly contested by Fabri and Plant with Plant finally taking a great pass on Fabri on lap 6 moving into second. Seton was quickly closing in on Fabri, but fortunately Fabri was able to defend the attack through to the finish of the race.         

Heat 2 Top Five 

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7)
  2. Daniel Plant (#12)
  3. Michael Fabri (#14)
  4. Aaron Seton (#4)
  5. Brock Lannoy (#67)

Fastest lap of the race went to Nicholas Andrews with a 44.129

Sunday 11th August 2013

Pre Final 1 – 12 Laps

Again Nicholas Andrews won the start and lead from start to finish. But this time the battle for second and third was contested by Plant and Seton. The hard chargers of the race were Zane Goddard and Michael Fabri with Goddard starting the race in position eleven and finishing an amazing forth and Fabri starting in position five and finishing in third place.

It was not surprising that the fastest lap of the race went to Zane Goddard with a brilliant time of 44.033 followed by Fabri with a 44.147

Pre Final 1 Top Five

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7)
  2. Aaron Seton (#4)
  3. Michael Fabri (#14)
  4. Zane Goddard (#93)
  5. Daniel Plant (#12)

Fastest lap of the race went to Zane Goddard with a 44.033

Pre Final 2 – 14 Laps

Nicholas Andrews won the start and lead from start to finish with Michael Fabri starting in position four and moving into second early in lap one. Fabri held second place for the remainder of the race. 

Again Zane Goddard put in a sensational drive starting out of position nine and carved his way up the field to take another fourth place. 

Pre Final 2 Top Five

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7)
  2. Michael Fabri (#14)
  3. Daniel Plant (#12)
  4. Zane Goddard (#93)
  5. Aaron Seton (#4)

Fastest lap of the race went to Zane Goddard with a 44.136

Final – 18 Laps

The final saw the top five grid positions taken up by Andrews, Seton, Fabri, Plant and Lannoy. Andrews won the start and was never challenged for the lead. Goddard had another great start starting in position eight and making his way to forth in lap three but unfortunately on lap ten he had to retire and entered the pits with a DNF.

Seton held a secure second place with Plant in third and Fabri dropping down the field to fifth. On lap five Litzow made a forceful move on Fabri relegating him back to seventh and Litzow taking fifth place.

Final Top Five

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7)
  2. Aaron Seton (#4)
  3. Daniel Plant (#12)
  4. James Litzow (#58)
  5. Michael Fabri (#14)

After a hard weekend of excellent competitive racing, congratulation goes to the eventual podium winners:

  1. Nicholas Andrews (#7) – Kart make - Esprit
  2. Aaron Seton (#4) – Kart make - Redspeed
  3. Daniel Plant (#12) – Kart make - Esprit
  4. Michael Fabri (#14) – Kart make - Esprit
  5. Brock Lannoy (#67) – Kart make - OK1

jmax podium
Above: The Jmax podium

The Hard Charger Award of $100+ a Commemorative Cap presented by Geoff Salmon from Sportsvoice going to Natasha Herne (#29) after a great weekend of racing. Geoff commented that his decision in awarding Natasha the Hard Charger Award was pure and simply because Natasha did not give up all weekend, her driving was superb. 

Another great round, the racing was excellent, fast and close with some first-class battles among the field. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ian Black from International Karting Distributors, Dale Verrall from Pacific Kartsports and Geoff Salmon from SportsVoice for their continuing support of the series and the great prizes they put on offer, Mark Wicks from KartSportNews for advertising the series and Ross Duffy from Apex photos, unfortunately Ross could not make it to this round, hopefully Ross will be at Toowoomba on the 15th September for round 5.  

I would like to thank all the drivers that have supported all rounds of the series so far, Raymond Jenkinson (#19), Blake Brooks (#18), Jack Ah Quay (#88), Sheridan Vroegop (#8), Thomas Steele (#83) and Nathan Trenear (#68). Without your support it would and could not be the successful Series that it is.

Finally, I would also like to thank Warwick Kart Club and the AKA officials for their tireless work and support of the Jmax series, without them we would definitely not have been racing. The biggest thanks goes to all the Jmax teams that participated, 14 racing drivers lining up on the grid was a fantastic result.

The SEQ Jmax Series will meet again for the fifth round of the Series at Toowoomba Kart Club on the 15th September 2013.

I hope to see you all there.

Rick Fabri
SEQ Jmax Series, Event Organiser
Email: rickfabri@yahoo.com.au

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