All Star Series, Round 2 at Oakleigh

report by Steve Polak. Full results on mylaps.cm HERE

Even though it was predicted the heavens were going to open, Round 2 of the All Star series delivered cold, but mostly sunny weather for the field of over 250 entrants who attended the meeting. There were some star studded fields too with many a state title holder fresh from the Vic Open on hand to hopefully share in the spoils.

Midgets
The Midgets were out first and the field included Vic Open champ Reece Sidebottom and the young Arrow driver drove from 9th to second in what was a fairly busy first race. Local Monaco driver Nicholas Sims started the first heat on pole and held top spot for around half of the race only to be passed by Alexander Peroni. Sidebottom set the fastest lap with a 49.6 and while the times would tumble (Reece later set a .3 in the final), this omen was a telling one for the rest of the field. In race two Sidebottom drove well, staving off a challenge from Tom Hughes and this pattern continued with Reece winning the prefinal and final comfortably. The final wasn’t dull though as the four-way battle between Peroni, Dichiera, Dwyer and Carroll was a ripper.

Clubman Light
Speaking of excitement, the Clubman Light field was star studded with big name drivers taking up at least the first dozen or so places. The roll call of name drivers included the likes of McLaughlin, Scoble, Dean Foster, James May, Ryan Sanderson, Aaron Iverme,  Zeke Edwards, Adam Hughes and  David Sera. Indeed it was these last two, Hughesy and Sera, who battled for dominance with David prevailing, winning three out of his four races in the class. That said the second heat belonged to Zeke Edwards though as the young driver got a ripper of a start and was never challenged. Hughes had to do it the hard way having been knocked off the track in the prefinal and starting last in the final. In one of the drives of the weekend Adam sliced  through the field (grabbing seven spots on the first lap) to chase Sera as the laps wound down. Sera was quick too, setting a lap time of 41.381 in lap seven.  This was around two tenths faster than the rest of the field with the exception of Hughes who also posted a 41.400, .019 of a second slower! Dave took the day and a well deserved win.

Junior National Light
Junior National Light saw the trend from the Vic Open continue with the likes of Jordan Nicolaou and Liam Morey setting blistering times. Brad Jenner also popped up, winning the first heat. Morey passed the post first in the final and the other races though reversing the bad luck suffered at the Vic Open. Morey threw down a 44.8 in the final and kept almost a second between his kart and the hard charging Nicolaou.

Clubman Over 40s
The elder statesmen of the sport also delivered some entertaining action with Remo Luciani showing much pace, even if he pulled in once jumping to the lead in every heat. Peter Gooch was also fast early in the weekend, winning the first heat and the prefinal. However Gooch was unlucky in the race that counted, turning his kart around while attempting to pass Phil Straughen in the final. The Performance Karting Monaco driven by Straughen ended up winning with Neil Silke doing a great job to charge back to the front and take second and team Black Magic’s Phil Smith secured third in the event.

Leopard Light
Then it was time for the fast stuff. The Leopard Light field featured newly crowned Vic Open champ Adam Hughes and the Oakleigh local was in a class of his own winning all heats and the final. His Kosmic was on song in the final too setting a 39.756 lap time and winning by nearly eight seconds. Andrew Wiles did well to bring his Tony kart home in second and Ryan Sanderson snagged third in his Arrow X1.      

Rookies
The Rookies field delivered some of the most eventful racing of the weekend with James Golding proving competitive, but not being able to run away from the field as he had done at the Vic Open. Golding and Jake Dixon shared the podium with the advantage sea-sawing race upon race. Damon Strongman also did well getting into second and at one point matching the pace of the other pair.

Senior National Pro
The Js were worked hard throughout the weekend and the racing was close and competitive. Richard Muscat started in 4th and won the first heat while being closely shadowed by James May. The winner on the day was Tyler Cramer who won the prefinal and final while May grabbed the win in the second heat and came second in every race.

Rotax Heavy
There was only one question on the table when it came to RH. Could anyone beat Vic Open champ Rick Pringle? Luc Price was keen on the challenge leading in one of the heats and Paul Rodgers chased Pringle, taking tenths out of the CRG pilot at times. However at the end of the day Pringle ran out an easy winner taking the heats, the prefinal and the final. There may not have been much close racing, but Pringle’s display was an impressive one.

Rotax Light
Much the same could have been said when describing David Sera’s dominance in Rotax Light as it was virtually a carbon copy of Pringle’s effort with Jordie Lindstrom doing the chasing this time around. Jordie looked like keeping with Dave in the opening stages of every race and then the gap opened and it was all over. A solid win to Sera again.

Formula 100
It was great to see and hear the F100 beasts tear up the bitumen at Oakleigh, and Matt Hayes looked good and won every race he completed successfully. Hayes was stupidly fast in the final too and just drove from the back of the field (as a consequence of a DNF). Hayes laid down a 39.92 lap time, making the class the second fastest on the day, with Adam Hughes claiming that honour in Leopard Light as reported above. In the Heavy division Lachie Frampton showed the rest of the field a clean pair of rear MG Yellows, winning all of the heats and passing some of the Light drivers in the final.           

Junior Clubman
Some of the best racing all weekend was on offer in JC with Christopher Hays setting a blistering lap time of 41.7 seconds. Hayes got into the lead in the final and then gradually gapped his pursuers. In heat two there was huge attrition on the start as half a dozen karts (including Hayes) came off on Arrow corner.

Formula JMA
The Rotax Junior class was quite entertaining too and as an interesting fact the class was the fastest from the junior ranks with Josh De Maio hurtling around the track at 41.4. De Maio was not quite consistent enough to take the win though. There was plenty of position swapping with Tim Holowell and Luke Rochford who eventually won.

Tag Restricted
The fastest growing class in the sport delivered some great racing with three names figuring most prominently at the front. Phil Smith, Daniel Phivopolous and Hamish Leighton spent the weekend battling for line honours. Leighton was fast early winning a heat  and the prefinal, but Smith got the better start in the final and just managed to stretch his lead tenth by tenth with both Leighton and Phivopolous in pursuit. Leighton make a move to try and pass Smith, only to miss the apex of the corner at the end of the straight. He still managed to recover and come home third. Phivopolous was also on the charge and was almost in range of first place on the final lap. However Smith claimed the top spot on the podium, making his second trophy for the day.

Clubman Superheavy
Meanwhile in the super sized class there were plenty of new faces and quite a few locals battling it out. The first heat saw Ian McPherson do well on debut in the class but things changed as the weekend wore on with Richard Camilleri (running the class for the first time)  grabbing a win in the prefinal and Josh Brooker winning a heat, coming off and then winning the final. The times were pretty good with Brooker setting the fastest time with a 43.4 second lap.

Junior National Heavy
Many would have pegged class blue plate holder Aaron Johnstone, as the driver on track to win and indeed he did take a heat win into the final. However it was terrific to see the major open win go to Brittany Hall. After being a solid competitor in the junior category for so long, Hall showed serious pace (45.8) to start off second and eventually pass Johnstone and take the lead. Johnstone then had to contend with a hard charging Travis Kodric and Mitchell Wilmot who battled late in the race for trophy positions. However Hall did a superb job laying down consistent laps and taking a well deserved and exciting (her dad Tom was ecstatic) win.

Clubman Heavy
What a class! With the likes of Wall, Jace Lindstrom, Mitchener, Pringle, Luciani, Shane Price and Franky Costanzo competing, Clubman Heavy was one of the best fields to hit the track. The racing reflected this too with some extremely classy passing moves and plenty of close racing. Lindstrom won the first heat easily, but the next heat had Jason Pringle’s name all over it, as indeed did the prefinal. The stage was set for an exciting final and the Heavy drivers didn’t disappoint. Wall, Pringle and Costanzo were swapping places many times before Franky got away to a commanding lead and so the results would have reflected this, but for an off track incident that saw his result removed from the record book (a hearing is pending re this matter, but it has nothing to do with Frankie’s on track performance). Instead, Lindstrom was awarded the win ahead of Pringle and Mitchener, with Wall unfortunately suffering from a failed chain late in the race.  A superb drive by Costanzo nonethess and an interesting omen with the Vic Open coming to Oakleigh next year.

With such great racing and a meeting that was well run (14 lap final and still 16 classes finished by 3.30pm!) it looks like Oakleigh is getting ready for a terrific Victorian Open. See you there.

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