by Mitchell McLellan, MMS Media & Commentating
Three hundred and thirty-one karters took on the Victorian Kart Championship over the weekend at the Eastern Lions Kart Club. With entries across eleven classes making for the biggest Victorian state championship in over a decade, the racing was going to be thick and fast.
With eleven blue plates to hand out on Sunday, the gloves were off and the superstars of this season were ready to do battle.
- full results are on speedhive HERE
- scroll down for a photo gallery of images from Sunday
- extra photos on Karting Victoria Facebook HERE
- if you have a subscription, video of the live stream is on mysportlive HERE
Cadet 9
Archie Bristow started his weekend with a bang putting his Parolin kart on pole position over regular front runner Jackson Brasher and Energy Corse Australia driver Jack Larsen. Bristow took a clean sweep of super Saturday with James Flynn, Sebastian Tander and SP Tools Australian Kart Championship leader Cruz Kelly all moving into contention.
After Bristow hadn’t dropped a race up until the final, the race turned on its head early with Brasher on the side lines by turn two and Kelly leading the race. Kelly showed why he was one of the best in the country taking his maiden state championship by nearly three seconds. Bristow was able to come home in second spot with James Flynn rounding out the podium. Sam Sidwell was able to come through into fourth spot with Carter Lamperd rounding out your top five.
Cadet 9
1 Cruz Kelly
2 Archie Bristow
3 James Flynn
4 Sam Sidwell
5 Carter Lamperd
TaG 125 Heavy
TaG 125 Heavy was an exciting class all weekend with former national champion Leigh Nicolaou taking out pole position over Billy Westerveld and Matthew Wall. Wall and Nicolaou shared the heat wins on Saturday with Jason Pringle moving into the battle, coming away with second spot in heat three.
Wall, Pringle and Nicolaou all had their moment in the sun leading the final and being a chance to take out the Victorian title. Nicolaou was able to hold his nerve and taking out the state championship over Pringle and Paul Rodgers rounding out your podium. Wall came home in position four with Pulse Tuning driver Glenn Riddell rounding out the top five.
TaG Heavy
1 Leigh Nicolaou
2 Jason Pringle
3 Paul Rodgers
4 Matt Wall
5 Glenn Riddell
KA4 Junior Heavy
Cooper Stapleton had his first meeting in KA4 Junior Heavy and was able to qualify on the front row of the grid with former state champion Zach Findlay pinching pole position. Stapleton was able to dominate the racing on super Saturday with local driver Grace Riddell, Denzil Sargent and Findlay trying to close the gap.
In dominant fashion, Stapleton was able to clean sweep the meeting and take out his first state championship of his karting career. Riddell was able to come home as the runner up in second spot with Sargent rounding out the podium. Findlay came home in position four with Liam Thomson rounding out your top five.
KA4 Junior Heavy
1 Cooper Stapleton
2 Grace Riddell
3 Denzil Sargent
4 Zach Findlay
5 Liam Thomson
Cadet 12
Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi continued his rock-solid start to season 2022 with pole position in Cadet 12. Alpha Motorsport entry Hamish Campbell and Energy Corse Australia lady racer Lana Flack were chasing the Queensland star. Parolin racers Baxter Jarrett and Eskandari-Marandi were able to share the heat wins with the Alpha Motorsport duo of Hamish Campbell and Joseph Bianchini in the battle as well.
Campbell, Bianchini and Jarrett all had shots in the lead in the final with Eskandari-Marandi starting down in position four and dropping to seventh off the start. Sebastian was able to make his way through and in a champion drive get to the front and take his first state championship in the Cadet 12 ranks. Campbell was able to come home in second spot with Cooper Folley making his way onto the podium. Bianchini and Jarrett were able to round out the top five of the field.
Cadet 12
1 Sebastian Eskandri-Marandi
2 Hamish Campbell
3 Cooper Folley
4 Joseph Bianchini
5 Baxter Jarrett
TaG 125 Light
TAG 125 Light had a nearly full grid of karters to hit the track with interstate driver and Tyler Greenbury Racing’s Thomas Gallagher taking pole position over Shamick Racing’s Harrison Hoey. Dylan Drysdale who qualified in third, took the opening heat win with pole sitter Gallagher levelling up in heat two. Hoey took the third heat of the weekend on Sunday setting up a fascinating final race.
Hoey won the start and never looked back adding another state championship to his ever-growing resume with Victorian Troy Alger and Tom Williamson Motorsport’s Zachary Heard to round out your podium. Gallagher came home in position four with Will Harper rounding out the top five in fifth spot.
TaG 125 Light
1 Harrison Hoey
2 Troy Alger
3 Zachary Head
4 Thomas Gallagher
5 Will Harper
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KA3 Senior Light
KA3 Senior Light was hotly paced event with the MFK pairing of Joel Macpherson and Nicholas Sacco locking out the front row over recent SP Tools Australian Kart Championship round winner Benito Montalbano. Sacco was able to take first blood on super Saturday with Robert Graham out of the Tom Williamson Motorsport team jumping up to take victory in heat two. The top four were only separate by three tenths in heat three, setting up an exciting final.
Sacco and Montalbano battled at the front in the final with Kurtis Tennant on their heels and Macpherson charging back through the field after dropping to position seven off the start. Montalbano was able to hit the front and hold on to take his second major title within a week over the fast-recovering Macpherson. Sacco rounded out your podium over Tennant and South Australian driver Jacob Dowson in fifth.
KA3 Senior Light
1 Benito Monatlbano
2 Joel MacPherson
3 Nicholas Sacco
4 Kurtis Tennant
5 Jacob Dowson
KA3 Senior Medium
KA3 Senior Medium was one of the races of the weekend with Zackary Thompson taking pole position over regular front runner Braden Clark and Gerry Westerveld. Thompson and Westerveld took the heat wins on Saturday with Clark, Ben Mouritz and Remo Luciani all making their way forward. Thompson took out the win in heat three and Luciani, after being disqualified from qualifying, was into the top three.
Thompson and Westerveld battled hard in the final and starting the final lap, Thompson looked likely to claim his second state championship. In dramatic fashion, Thompson and Westerveld came together and allowed the sixty-two-year-old Luciani to come through and take victory! Mouritz was able to move up to second spot with Clark rounding out your podium. Defending champion Taine Venables came home in position four with young Ethan Briggs rounding out your top five.
KA3 Senior Medium
1 Remo Luciani
2 Benjamin Mouritz
3 Braden Clark
4 Taine Venables
5 Ethan Briggs
KA3 Junior
KA3 Junior was one of the most completive classes of the weekend with Leo Iannella taking out pole position over Pro Karting’s Oliver Wickham and DJM Race Engineering’s Nathan Emmins. Iannella and Isaac McNeil shared the heat wins on Super Saturday. McNeil, after qualifying down in position ten, took out his second heat win in heat three, to set up a fascinating final.
Iannella looked like he had things under control in the final, until a late full course yellow brought the field back together. Iannella, Mcneil, Alexander Yoannidis and Mika Lemasurier all had the shot in the lead on the final few laps of the race. McNeil was able to emerge from the final corner on top and take the Victorian State Championship over Daniel Quimby and Yoannidis in third. Jack Wells came home in position four over Ryan Macmillan with Lemasurier and Iannella dropping to position six and twenty-three after leading throughout the final.
KA3 Junior
1 Isaac McNeill
2 Daniel Quimby
3 Alexander Yoannidis
4 Jack Wells
5 Ryan MacMillan
X30 Light
X30 Light was one of the highest calibre classes across the weekend with Shamick Racing’s Jesse Lacey taking pole position over Australian champion and Melbourne Kart Centre’s Bradley Jenner and current SP Tools Australian Kart championship leader Jace Matthews. Harrison Hoey was able to take out heat one with Matthews fighting forward to take heat two with Jenner and Lacey right in the battle.
Matthews took out heat three and then had a battle royal in the final with Hoey and Australian champion Jenner. Matthews was able to take the win and claim another state championship over Hoey and Jenner rounding out the podium. Gianmarco Pradel moved up to position four by the finals end with Jacob Dowson rounding out the top five.
X30 Light
1 Jace Matthews
2 Harrison Hoey
3 Bradley Jenner
4 Gianmarco Pradel
5 Jacob Dowson
Combined Masters
Victorian Combined Masters was another tough ran battle with Anthony Pethebridge taking pole position over current state champion Phil Smith and Neil Mcauley. Pethebridge and Smith were able to take the heat wins on Saturday with Clayton Groves and local driver Ian Branson moving into contention.
Pethebridge couldn’t be stopped on Sunday taking the third heat and the final becoming Victorian state champion. Phil Smith and Phillip Stradbrook rounded out the podium with Peter Gigis and Alan Roberts rounding out your top five.
Vic Combined Masters
1 Anthony Pethebridge
2 Phil Smith
3 Phillip Stradbrook
4 Peter Gigis
5 Alan Roberts
KA4 Junior Light
KA4 Junior Light was a full forty kart field with James Anagnostiadis setting the pole position lap time over former national champion Ky Burke and Xavier Avramides. Anagnostiadis took all three heat wins with Avramides really taking it to the former state champion in the final heat setting up for a fascinating final.
Avramides was able to take the lead in the early stages of the final but a crucial battle for the minors allowed Anagnostiadis to break away from the field. James was able to take out his maiden junior state championship with Pro Karting’s Benjamin Munro and Alpha Motorsports Samuel March rounding out the podium. Avramides came home in position four with Burke rounding out your top five.
KA4 Junior Light
1 James Anagnostiadis
2 Benjamin Munro
3 Samuel March
4 Xavier Avramides
5 Ky Burke
A Big thank you to Karting Victoria and the Eastern Lions Kart Club for putting on the fabulous title event! All racing can be watched on the My Sports live app with full commentary for all races included!
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