Action Aplenty At Twilight Go-Kart Nationals

press release

From the eight classes that were running as part of last Saturday’s (November 29) 2008 running of the Twilight Go Kart Nationals down at Wollongong City Raceway it was Jason Varley, Michael Lia, and Alicia Whealan whom managed to dominate after they topped the time sheets in qualifying, won both heat races and then the final in their respective classes.

The Twilight Nationals was fought out in both wet and dry conditions around the 600 metre Wollongong City Raceway circuit as  both qualifying and the opening heat races were held in dry conditions, while the remainder of the meeting was held in tricky wet weather conditions.

Aside from the Twilight Nationals dominance of Varley, a former duel Australian AKA Champion, and Whealan in the Clubman Heavy and Light classes: other drivers to figure predominantly in their respective classes included Joshua Acuri (Juniors), and Dan Starling (Shifter). Both Acuri and Starling managed to win both of their heat races and then the final, but they were unable to emerge on top in their earlier qualifying sessions. In the battle for Clubman action Varley, who is regarded as a wet weather master, was unable to shake off the pressure of Whealan throughout all the races in what was a great effort by the female competitor.

The Clubman Light class saw a number of strong results in second and third behind Whealan in the final. Jack Bennett, who was having his first run in the Senior classes out of Juniors, finished the final in second place and Matthew Southwell placed third. Both Bennett and Southwell are based on the South Coast of NSW.

Another successful driver from the Twilight Nationals was Michael Lia. He emerged on top in the wet conditions to take out the TAG Restricted final in both the Heavy and Light classes and went through the meeting with a perfect scorecard.

In the Midget / Rookie class Michael Loannides took out the final in fine style defeating Andreas Chronis, who had qualified on pole position and won the opening heat race, in second and third place was filled by Drew Friend. Interesting to note, Loannides is the current NSW ProKart Title holder in the Rookie class, while Chronis is the current NSW AKA Title holder in the class too.

Despite not figuring in any of the wins earlier in the event, Alex Henry won the Senior J final by outpacing Paul Hodges and Anthony Bradshaw. It was Hodges that was one of the form drivers leading into the final after taking out qualifying and the opening heat race. Aaron Grech took out victory in the second heat race but was unable to score a place on the podium in the final.

Formula Vee front runner, Ryan Stott, made a cameo appearance behind the wheel of a Go Kart and celebrated it by winning the TAG Heavy final. Stott was kept honest by youngster Brendan Long all meeting and he finished in second behind Stott. Third place went to Stephen Owen.

The final class of the Twilight Nationals, TAG Light, saw the final won by Kurt White, a regular Endurance Kart competitor, and he was able to defeat Mitchell Hewitt and Grant Gaffa. White’s success was made even more impressive considering he was unable to record a qualify time due to a transponder malfunction, but he fought his way through the heat races to gain a front row start in the final. In the final White was simply untouchable and raced away to a commanding victory.

Leading into the Twilight Nationals there was some great pre race coverage from the Illawarra Mercury in both the sport and motoring sections and also on the day the WIN Television crew came out to cover the event.

Home