Retro Karters Get It Up @ Albury

from Kev ‘The Noise’ Davies

The Retro Karting Australia 2024 season got underway at the Albury Wodonga Kart Club nestled on the NSW/Victorian border on the weekend with the DPE Kart Superstore Victorian State Championships.

The usual classes were offered once again in the best retro karting scene in the country, Clubmans Light, Heavy and Super Heavy, plus F100 Light & Heavy. Race format was qualifying, two heats, pre-final then a Final on which the outright result was based.

The Retro Racers were getting plenty of grip, Aaron Jackson gets it right up!

Chris Sandrone once again showed his pace and speed to take out the Clubman Light win with Ian Beeraz running him very close. Hey hey it’s Conner Hey couldn’t quite keep the front runner pace going and came home a well deserved 3rd Special mention should go to the girl racer Chloe Potter bringing the #25 kart home in 4th. Dad Euan Potter didn’t finish the final but would have been super proud of his daughter’s efforts.

The Clubman Heavy class saw drivers from all over the country doing battle. First mention goes to the Queenslander Brock Plumb securing 3rd after a great battle between the top three. Making the trip over the ditch for round one were several Tasmanians! One of them, Trent Palmer, did a magnificent job all weekend and brought the #97 kart home in second. It was just a 0.091 second margin that secured the win for the ever popular figure of Stephen Roffe. Spectators witnessed some of the best racing all weekend in this class.

Clubman Super Heavy was expected to give us some of the best racing throughout the weekend but what we didn’t expect was the drama and tension of two roll overs. On reflection everyone was happy to report that both drivers walked away from their respective incidents uninjured, but it certainly added an element to retro which no one is really used too. Ross and Jude Preen (our officials) addressed all drivers at the start of day two and all the action returned to what we love best – “fast close racing” – in the super heavy class.

A well deserved win went to Brett Jenkin with his team mate third, the Queenslander Phill Straughen. The meat in this team mate sandwich was the one and only Bruce Otter, who spent most of the weekend on two wheels through a couple of corners. Rumour has it he and preso Aaron Jackson are both trying to save rubber…

Bruce Otter gives the left-side tyres a rest

Time to celebrate with the Tasmanians again because the team secured the win in the F100 Light class, the #97 of Jackson Evans taking victory ahead of the fast charging Paul Kendall. In the end the margin was just 0.088 of a second and Paul had secured the fastest lap of the final in the chase putting together a 42.026 second lap. Anthony Mrhar put his best suit on for finals day, by that we mean the good race suit, and it spurred him on to some very very fast laps. For half the race he was a chance for a win, but just didn’t have the legs in the end to go with the two out front.

Last but not least was the F100 Heavies. Early leader Jason Pringle unfortunately suffered a mechanical failure whilst leading. Another fancied driver with a heat win under his belt from Saturday was Greg Ritter, but he too didn’t finish. Eventually after a lot of shuffling of the pack it was the likeable number #127 of Aaron Rintoul that brought the key home In 4th just missing out on the podium. Time for another Tasmanian celebration, Danton Evans securing a fabulous 3rd place for the team meaning the team got the full house from the weekend a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd!

But in this class, and he was all class, 2nd place going to Danny Wright, who worked at it heat by heat until the final where it all came good! Arguably that very same strategy worked even better for the winner. Seemingly off the pace a little with qualifying getting him 6th quickest, heat one he was 5th, heat 2 he was 3rd. By the pre final he looked to have it dialled in with a 2nd place and quickest lap of the weekend 41.996 and then the final once again quicker than anyone by 0.200 of a second to take a fabulous victory. Who? Well it was Ryan Aitken!