Nelson 3rd In Qld Championships

press release

The X-treme Racing Apparel supported Harrington Doyle Kartsport driver, Brendan Nelson took a hard fought 3rd place in the Queensland State Open Karting Championships in today’s Finals, after a week of racing in Mackay.

Nelson, the fastest Clubman Heavy class Qualifier around the 765m concrete track on Friday, was one of the highly favoured drivers to take out the prestigious State Title against a strong field of 24 interstate and regional rivals.  He set a new Lap Record of 38.973 seconds for the class around the recently upgraded venue, shocking his nearest competitors more than 0.276 seconds adrift.

brendan nelson
Above: Brendan Nelson
pic - Ash Budd, www.photowagon.com.au

The 18yo Sports Management Student again set the pace on Saturday with an opening Heat win and 3rd place in Heat 2.  Racing under lights in the warm North Queensland Winter conditions, Nelson featured prominently in the 15 lap Saturday evening PreFinal race.  Dicing with NSW’s CRG Factory Pilot Jason Hryniuk, Mackay’s Justin Garioch and Maroochydore’s Shay Mayes, Nelson and the other Clubman Heavy drivers brought the crowd to their feet and the fence, as the Top 4 Karters swapped positions no less than 10 times in the 15 lap race.  Ultimately Mayes greeted the chequered flag ahead of Garioch, Nelson and Hryniuk.

Starting from Position 3 on Sunday’s grid for the longer 21 lap Final, Nelson knew that his competition was going to come from those around him on the first 2 rows.  With his recent CIK Stars of Karting Round win fresh in his mind, he was confident that he had the hardware to do the job, but the racing would be extremely close.
The Top 4 again took a dominant strangle hold on the race from the onset.  Nelson, Garioch, Hryniuk and Mayes all took turns at the front, with the lead changing several times even within a single circuit of the short 765m lap.  This intense battle between the 4 endured for the entire 21 laps, with a passing manoeuvre by Garioch eliminating him on the last lap.  In a great swooping finish Shay Mayes came from 3rd to 1st on the final corner to win ahead of Hryniuk 2nd and Nelson 3rd.

So tough was the competition, that even though Nelson set the fastest lap of the Final mid race on lap 10 with a 39.352 second blinder, (0.147 seconds quicker than CRG Factory Pilot Hryniuk and any other competitor), it wasn’t enough pace to make a break on the leading pack.

“Our Monaco Karts have been strong in the past few weeks.  I think that we have a good set-up at the moment and with James [Greenwood] debuting another new Monaco at Townsville in the Supercheap Auto Kart Series later mid week, I think that our Team will begin to develop even better results in Clubman Heavy as the year goes on”, said Brendan. “Although we were the fastest qualifier this weekend, the competition in Clubman Heavy is always tough and you’re usually looking for hundredths of a second to be at the front.  The first 20 Karts were separated by less than a second in qualifying on Friday.”

“Whilst this has been another tremendous result for Brendan, I just want to also acknowledge his younger Team mates Mitchell Gee, who qualified on Pole in Junior National Heavy this weekend, and Callum Walker, our newest recruit who continued to improve throughout the weekend in Junior National Light”, said Doyle’s Racing Team Manager, Craig Doyle. 

“The State Championships are a big commitment for the young guys and our Team families, with weeks of preparation and then a full week trackside.  Special thanks must go to our entire Crew for making this all possible and we’ll certainly celebrate Brendan’s State Title Podium finish.”

The young Harrington Doyle Karters don’t get much rest after his journey home Sunday night from Mackay, with less than a week to prepare for Round 2 of the regional Southern Stars Karting Series at Gympie on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th July.

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