Tasmanian Statewide Series - Round 3


by Johnathan Males 8 April 2014
 

Round three of the 2014 Tasmanian Statewide Series on the weekend was once again held in perfect weather conditions. On this occasion it was the Southern Tasmanian Kart Club’s turn to host the Apple Isle’s best karters at their Andrew Walter Constructions Orielton Raceway, all vying for the honour of being crowned Tasmanian Champion in their class.

This meeting had it all and the action wasn’t confined to the race track with Junior competitor Justin Murphy’s kart trailer breaking the drawbar and parting company with the tow vehicle on the journey home, landing a fair distance off the road in a paddock. It was good to see his fellow karters all pitching in to extricate the trailer and get them back and their equipment home safely.

Clubman Light looked to be another clean sweep for Nathan Zuj as he took reasonably comfortable wins in the three heat races. Behind him Bradley Hobden had his hands full keeping a much more competitive Callum Mitchell at bay. That was until the final when Hobden found the little bit extra required to break away from the pack and chase down Zuj, getting past right at the end of the race and holding on to take a popular home track win. Zuj crossed the line in second, followed by Mitchell. Zuj goes into the final round with a comfortable thirty six point buffer over Hobden who holds a similar thirty two point advantage to third placed Shane Bray.

The racing in Clubman Heavy was extremely close as normal with Evan Livingston, Alastair Lee, Jonathan McDonald and reining State Champion Brody Appleby all nose to tail throughout the day. McDonald and Appleby shared the race wins with two apiece, the final going in McDonald’s favour. Behind him was Appleby, and Alastair Lee had a very consistent day taking third place in all four races. The title chase sees Appleby thirty three points clear of McDonald who in turn is forty points clear of Livingston. It’s likely this will be how they finish in the series but as they say anything can happen, and probably will.

Jairus Holmes has been the surprise packet in TAG Restricted Light all series with the Topkart pilot figuring prominently at the front of all three rounds held so far. The racing between himself, Keenan Slater and Jordan Smith has been entertaining to watch, along with the vastly improved Joel Toon aboard his Praga kart. Slight technical difficulties meant it wasn’t until the last two races that Holmes could show his outright pace and he certainly did that taking convincing wins in both races. Following him home in the final was Keenan Slater, just ahead of Jordan Smith. This will certainly be one of the classes to watch at the final round as Slater is only four points adrift of Holmes for the title.

TAG Restricted Heavy saw the return of defending champion Jason Close after he missed the first two rounds. He had an immediate impact taking second placing’s in the heat racing, however a DNF in the final ended his strong showing. Series leader Brodey Lovett had a consistent day taking four third placing’s. His main title rival Matthew Clark had a very good day however, taking three wins, including the final. This has narrowed Lovett’s lead from thirty eight points over Clark to just sixteen. Second on the day, and strengthening his grasp on third in the series was James Fitch. He had a mixed day of results, a second race DNF was well and truly made up for by taking his first race win in seniors in heat one and recovering for second in the final.

Callum Bishop used his home track advantage to great effect taking wins in all four races in the Rookies class. The Wyllie Tiles/Renshaw Stone backed Tony Kart driver was simply too good for his opposition. The only person to come close to matching his pace was Lachlan Dalton, and he followed him home in the final race to take second on the day. William Reeve had yet another consistent day and he took third placing in the final. Things have gotten interesting in the chase for the title in this class with runaway points leader Tate Frost suffering a DNF in the final. This means he now only has a slender three point margin over Bishop, with Dalton twelve points further back.

Going on Saturday practice form it looked like any one of seven drivers had the outright pace to challenge for the honours in the Senior National Heavy class. Race one looked like Johnathan Males would prevail until a last lap pass saw Jake Rice take what would ultimately turn out to be his first win of four for the day. Rice had just enough pace to gap the rest of the field in the ensuing races to ensure he took a well-deserved clean sweep. Behind him though the rest of the field battled it out with some great racing between Males, James Pinfold, Kyle Young, Mark Crocker, Daniel Newman and defending series champion Murray Dadson. In the final Males held on for second ahead of Daniel Newman in third. Going into the deciding round at Launceston, Males has a seventy nine point gap to second placed Newman, whose position in the series looks under some threat from the fast finishing Rice who has jumped to third on the back of his strong showing at Hobart.

Comeback kid Gemma Wyllie showed that not racing since winning her first open state title in November last year hadn’t slowed her down by taking all four races in Senior National Light in convincing style. Her times were extremely fast and should she be able to replicate them later this year should see her favourite to retain the blue plate. Bodie Reading was the only other driver to come close to Wyllie and he took second on the day, along with a handy points haul towards the title. Kelsey Sapwell came home in third place and in doing so narrowed the point’s deficit. Reading appears to have the title well within his grasp as he has a ninety eight point lead, however the battle for second to fifth is going to be a cracker at Launceston. There is only sixteen points separating Jade Waddington, Keenan Slater, Timothy McMaster and Kelsey Sapwell. No doubt the spectators will be lining the fences to see how all this unfolds.

Only five points separated Ethan Wyllie and Jesse Keeling in the Cadets class going into the third round, but a DNF to Keeling in the first heat saw Wyllie heading home at the end of the day’s racing with a thirty eight point advantage over Keeling. Not to be denied Keeling worked his way back to the front of the pack by the final race and he took the honours on the day. Wyllie came home in second, closely followed home by the much improved Zoe Eisentraut who even managed to take the win in the second heat.

Junior National Heavy is yet another class where the battle for the lead in the series will go down to the wire at Launceston. Only six points separate Johnah Slater from Lachlan Newman after the latter narrowed the gap by thirteen points at Hobart. Strongest showing on the day though went to Samuel Jackson who took two second placing’s and two wins including the final. In doing so he has moved himself into third in the series ahead of Justin Murphy. Second place in the final went to Slater just ahead of Newman in third.

Junior National Light promised to be an epic battle between Statewide Series leader Jackson Callow and local hotshot Zevie Eisentraut. These two kids certainly know how to get the best out of their machinery and they simply drove away from the rest of the field. Eisentraut took close wins in the heats, and followed that up with a commanding win in the final. Callow banked the one hundred points from four second placing’s and he now enjoys a twenty three point gap to Andrew Lee in the battle for the title. Lee aboard his Hadspen Excavations CRG had a consistent day taking four third placing’s ahead of local Toby Maass with four fourth placing’s.

Episode three of the Sheahan Show took place in Senior National Over 40s Super Heavy with brothers Allan and Troy once again battling it out at the front. On this occasion Allan was able to reverse the Burnie result and he took the win in the final. His day’s points haul saw him turn a one point deficit to a twelve point advantage over his brother. Troy finished second in the final ahead of Terry Pinfold who had the best result of his series so far. Unlucky on the day was Shane Toon who was able to mix it at the front with the Sheahan’s, however he dropped down the order in the final and had to charge back through the field, eventually coming home fourth.

Senior National Over 40s Pro saw the new kids on the block, Stuart Wells and Adrian Harper taking on Steve Crocker on his home turf for the first time. Crocker is one of the most successful Over 40s drivers the state has seen and is a very formidable opponent on his home track. The racing these three produced, along with Anthony Butler was of the highest calibre, with all of them going wheel to wheel and all excepting Butler taking race wins. In the final Wells had just enough to stave off the charge by Harper who held second for the majority of the race only to have it wrestled away from him by Crocker in an entertaining last few laps. Across the line it was Wells, Crocker, Harper and Butler all in quick succession. Harper now has an eighty three point advantage over Wells in the championship with Andrew Walter third.

The final round of the 2014 Tasmanian Statewide Series will be held at the Launceston Kart Club’s Archerville Kartway on May 3rd and 4th. Whilst some drivers have almost unassailable leads in their classes there are going to be some very intense and close battles in the majority of the other classes that are going to go right down to the wire. At the completion of the days racing the annual McDonald’s Young Guns race will be held. The past winners list of this event reads like a who’s who of Tasmanian Karting and is open to all Junior National competitors at a pro weight of 130kg, drawn grid format. With the pressure of the Statewide Series over no doubt the gloves will be off and we should see a new name on the much sought after trophy.

  • Progressive points after the third of 4 rounds HERE (PDF)

Cadets
1st        Jesse Keeling  
2nd        Ethan Wyllie
3rd        Zoe Eisentraut

Rookies
1st        Callum Bishop
2nd        Lachlan Dalton
3rd        William Reeve

Junior National Light
1st        Zevie Eisentraut
2nd        Jackson Callow
3rd        Andrew Lee

Junior National Heavy
1st        Samuel Jackson
2nd        Johnah Slater
3rd        Lachlan Newman

Senior National Light
1st        Gemma Wyllie
2nd        Bodie Reading
3rd        Kelsey Sapwell

Senior National Heavy
1st        Jake Rice
2nd        Johnathan Males
3rd        Daniel Newman

Senior National Over 40s Pro
1st        Stuart Wells
2nd        Steve Crocker
3rd        Adrian Harper

Senior National Over 40s Super Heavy
1st        Allan Sheahan
2nd        Troy Sheahan
3rd        Terry Pinfold

Clubman Light
1st        Brad Hobden
2nd        Nathan Zuj
3rd        Callum Mitchell

Clubman Heavy
1st        Jonathan McDonald
2nd        Brody Appleby
3rd        Alastair Lee

TAG Restricted Light
1st        Jairus Holmes
2nd          Keenan Slater
3rd        Jordan Smith

TAG Restricted Heavy
1st        Matthew Clark
2nd          James Fitch
3rd        Brodey Lovett

 

 

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