Inter City Group 2009 ROTAX ICC, Round 3

press release

Across the weekend, the Lismore Kart Club played host to a waterlogged field in the 3rd round of The Inter City Group 2009 ROTAX ICC, proudly presented by French Connection and Playboy Time.

The 2009 Rotax Inter Club Challenge is running in place of last years Queensland Rotax Series and is run under the same qualifying format as last year.   This year the event has expanded to include an over 35’s division running at 170kg and Jnr Max category that is now an official championship class.

For 2009 the Rotax ICC will visit 5 tracks and will run alongside the Clubman Gladiators ICC. Each of the Senior classes has prize money up for grabs at each round and some seriously cool prizes for Jnr Max.

Round 3 was a stand alone event for the Rotax and Clubman drivers. The event, rescheduled from earlier in the year by flooding rain, was again plagued by heavy rainfall but club organisers were determined to hit the track. Organisers were quite surprised to see the amount of people who where prepared to brave the wet conditions. And although the numbers were considerably down on previous rounds those who did stay had a cracker time and learnt alot about preparing and driving in the rain.  Due to the tight timing between the weekend event and the Pro Tour round in Victoria the Jnr Max class was scratched from the weekends racing.

In Rotax Light, Damien Ward continued in good form, fresh off the back of his State title victory up in our top end.  Damien showed he can put it down in the wet as well as in the dry securing pole with a 38.253, Abbey Kellie locked in P2 with a 38.927 and Andrew Gatland, a rising star of Queensland karting qualified 3rd with a 38.99.  After a blistering drive at round 2 Kyle Ensbey threw a chain in the opening lap of qualifying relegating him to the rear of the grid.  Ensbey worked hard all day posting the fastest times in all heats and the pre final from the rear to secure a P2 start for the final alongside Andrew Gatland.  Gatland and Ward got the jump on the start for an early lead and Gatland was very quick in the opening stages and managed to hold Ward and Ensbey at bay.  Ward then took the lead and looked set to open up a convincing gap, however Ensbey had other idea’s putting his head down he closed the gap on Ward.  A crucial error from Ward, 3 laps from home, by running a little wide allowed Ensbey to come through to take the win. The final result was Kyle Ensbey 1st, Andrew Gatland 2nd, Matthew Sinkins 3rd.  Matthew Sinkins was the quiet achiever all day managing to keep himself in striking distance of the lead group which paid off for him in the final with a 3rd and 100 cold ones in his hand.

Above: Rotax Light podium

In the Heavy field, The Moore Brothers continued their domination with Trent and Lane snatching the front row of the grid with a 38.76 and a 38.807 respectively, Chris Board followed closely with a 38.901.  The final saw Lane Moore clear out early and opened a pretty healthy lead but Trent Moore put down the chase and managed to get back within striking distance and get a pass on Lane.  There was no way that Lane was giving up without a fight and the pair changed lead over 5 times until Trent went a little hot into the top corner parking his kart in the bark chips.

Making the Final result Lane Moore 1st, Joel Allingham  2nd and Jonathan Dwyer 3rd.  Highlight of the day was Jono Dwyer’s presentation speech, very funny and good to see that everyone had a sense of humour after spending the day up to their ankles in water.

Above: Rotax Heavy podium

Rotax over 35’s saw Robbie Daniels on pole, Ron Klinger off P2 and David Rotstein off P3. All the boys put on a great show all day and there was lots of close racing action and plenty of spills.

In the end the final result was David Rotstein 1st , Mal Walker  2nd, Graham Acreman 3rd.  Highlight of the day was watching teammates Mal Walker and Graham Acreman sledge each other over the bragging rights for the weekend.

Above: Rotax Over 35s podium

As Jnr Max did not run at this round the Organisers have taken the decision to accumulate the points for the Challenge for this class over the best 3 rounds instead of the best 4 rounds. We believe this is the fairest option for all competitors who are registered in the ICC.

Points for the Inter Club Challenge will be published shortly (they have been posted in Thursday's News - ed) - keep an eye on www.kaoskarting.com.au and www.totalkarting.com.au. The delay on the points is due to certain competitors not finalising their ICC registration.  If you are one of these competitors please contact Ken Bensley at Kaos Karting and sort out your registration.

Co-ordinator Ken Bensley said “It was great to see such a great turn out in the face of extreme weather conditions and supporting the Rotax Class.  The racing was fast and furious in the wet and it was really great to see the drivers enjoying themselves on and off the track, and in turn delivering awesome racing action for the supporters and spectators. I would personally like to thank Robbie Daniels for all of his work on sponsorship for this years event and without him there would have been no Over 35’s”.

The next rounds of the Inter City Group Rotax Inter Club Challenge –

Round 4            Toowoomba Kart Club               19th July
Round 5            Ipswich Kart Club                      2nd August

A big thanks to all our series sponsors Inter City Group, French Connection and Playboy Time, Kaos Karting, Work Force International, Custom Decals, Rotax, Totalkarting.com.au, Concrete Pumps Online, Sensational Surfers, Innode Joinery, Aurora Racing, BPM Construction, the drivers and the members of the Lismore Club for a great weekend.

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