CIK Stars of Karting, Round 3The CIK Stars of Karting rolled into Melbourne on the weekend. Pierce Lehane won both KF3 finals, Jake Spencer and Cian Fothergill shared the Pro Light wins while Macauley Jones and David Sera triumphed in KZ2.
Pro Light Daniel Rochford put his Gillard on pole for the heats, winning the first before Adam Hughes won the other two. Polesitter Hughes led the early running of Final One with JAM team mate Jake Spencer riding shotgun. Spencer eventually grabbed the front running and established a gap to take an easy win over Hughes, a consistent Joel Smith (off grid 7) and a recovered Fothergill. Having started P2, Rochford was the first DNF with a flat tyre due to a leaking valve.
Not in contention for the series, Joel Smith said in the driver introductions prior to Final Two that he could afford to be more aggressive. He was true to his word, trying to make a gap down the inside of poleman Spencer into turn one, but contact sent the first two rows scattering. Ironically, it was Smith’s brother Grant who ended up in the lead, but after a grabbing a strong 5th in Final One, he later DNF’d Final Two with a seized engine, causing him to fall a position in series points. The turn 1 shenanigans dropped Fothergill, Spencer and Hughes well down the field. After finishing seventh in the opening final, Queenslander James Macken made the most of his opportunities aboard his Oakley-backed Exprit kart to lead for the majority of the second 27-lap final and secure a career-best finish in second place.
Like his championship rival, Spencer charged back through the field following the lap one fracas to finish third and maintain the lead in the chase for the James Courtney trophy. “We had a bit of a hiccup at the start, came back on the track and was sitting 18th on lap one, however, I never doubted that I could make it back towards the front,” said Fothergill. “The next two rounds are at venues where I was very strong at last year, so I’m full of confidence heading into the final part of the series and hopefully I can bridge that gap to the championship leader. “Every round the competition is getting harder in this series, coming into this round there was realistically no less than ten drivers that could have won here.”
New Zealand Champion Arie Hutton (Auckland, NZ) endured a troublesome run in qualifying on Saturday and as a result started from the rear of the grid for all three heat races. Despite this setback Hutton manoeuvred his Tony Kart towards the front and looked set for a podium finish in the final race, only to edged out by Spencer. Rochford had a solid run to 5th ahead of Jason Hryniuk, who was happy to have finally finished some CIK finals in 2011! As a result of a first and a third in the two finals, Spencer secured the Victorian State Championship for the category.
Pro Gearbox A pair of 16 year-olds nearly stole the show in the Pro Gearbox (KZ2) ranks with Macauley Jones (Albury, NSW) and Chris Hays (Gold Coast, QLD) showing superior speed over the field in the two Finals. KZ2 qualifying came down to tyre choice with most of the field electing for wets. Up until the final two minutes of the session, the treaded tyre brigade was on top, but then the slick-shod karts found some grip. Matt Wall (BRM) took pole ahead of gearbox debutant James Sera (FA Kart), Daniel Richert (Kosmos) and William Yarwood (Exprit).
David Sera was sixth, but came through to win all three heats to line up ahead of Wall, Scott Taylor (DR Kart) and Jason Pringle (CRG) for Final One. Starting out of 5th, Macauley Jones (Top Kart) chased down and passed round two winner Sera in the opening final of the day. Taylor was 3rd ahead of Hays, Pringle and Kyle Ensby. Wall DNF’d with an engine problem. In the second Final it was Hays’ turn to shine as he replicated Jones’ feat, however, there was heartache to come for the Vodafone-backed Tony Kart pilot.
Holding a commanding lead over Sera and Jones (who had recovered from a sluggish start that dropped him from first to ninth), Hays experienced an issue with his front brakes late in the race, admitting he “almost binned it” before backing off and falling out of contention in the final laps. Sera acknowledged he’d “done a Bradbury” with the demise of Hays. Jones was next but without the pace he demonstrated in Final One, while South Australian Taylor picked up yet another strong podium. Sera was full of praise for the youngsters on the podium. “Chris Hays had a lot of speed in the final, it was unlucky for him that he had some brake issues and I was fortunate enough to end up with the win,” said Sera. “Macauley (Jones) has certainly improved his game since last round and was very fast here in a test day the other week. He’s a young kid of the future.” Taylor’s third placing was enough to elevate him into the championship lead by a mere one point over Kel Treseder (Bundaberg, QLD) with Jason Pringle (Essendon, Vic) a further nine points back.
Despite missing the opening round due to commitments in America, Sera has rocketed up the order to now be in fourth place, defending series champion Matthew Wall is fifth, one point adrift of Sera. Second in points heading into the round, Tyler Greenbury struggled for ultimate pace, his 11th in Final Two the highlight of a tough weekend.
KF3 While the results show that Pierce Lehane claimed his second round win of the 2011 series, this weekend’s victory was far from a domination by the CRG pilot. Joseph Mawson and Cameron Hill (both Top Kart) filled the front row for the heat races, with Lehane 3rd ahead Victorian Thomas Randle (FA Kart) and Kiwi Aaron Marr (Exprit).
Mawson then won two heats, Lehane getting to the front in the third. Lehane then won the first final ahead of Jake Coleman (CRG, who had qualified 19th) and Hill. Lehane was challenged by surprise packet Joseph Burton-Harris (Exprit) during the early running of Final Two. While Lehane eventually pulled clear of the Smart Device-backed driver, it was Mawson who was the late race charger. Mawson showed great speed to pass Burton-Harris in the late stages of the 27-lap affair before closing in on his archrival. Unfortunately, for Mawson he couldn’t quite make the pass for the win on the final lap and was forced to settle for second. “It was an extremely tough race, I had my head down trying to break away but I just couldn’t shake them, it was a long 27 laps,” said Lehane. “The competition level has been raised immensely this year with new additions on the grid. It’s getting tougher with every round.” Burton-Harris secured his maiden podium finish by crossing the line third ahead of Brock Plumb (Forest Lake, QLD) and CRG driver Jake Coleman (Glenmore Park, NSW).
Supports In the Yamaha Challenge categories the action came thick and fast. After winning two heats and the pre-final, Jordan Ford led for a significant period in the Clubman final, only to have Leigh Nicolaou make a last lap pass for the win. The move by Nicolaou mixed up the top four, which were later altered again following a post-race stewards hearing. When the dust settled, Ford was credited with second place ahead of Sarron Caddy, Jordan Nicolaou and series leader Lydon Dodge.
Junior National was another hard fought affair with local drivers Jake Klein and Damon Strongman mixing it with South Australian Luke Marquis at the front of the field. In the end it was Strongman who claimed the win ahead of Klein and Marquis. In the Restricted TaG 125 support category it was Jake Meyland who took the overall honours ahead of Scott Cole and Mikhali Triantafillidis.
The next round of the five round series will be hosted by the North Shore Kart Club at the Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway in Sydney, NSW on July 30/31. 2011 CIK STARS OF KARTING SERIES, presented by Castrol EDGE Round Results – Top Five (full results here, then select Victoria followed by the Go-Kart Club of Victoria) Pro Light (KF1) Pro Gearbox (KZ2) Pro Junior (KF3)
Yamaha Challenge Clubman Yamaha Challenge Junior National TaG Restricted 125
CIK STARS OF KARTING SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS Pro Light (KF1) Pro Gearbox (KZ2) Pro Junior (KF3) YAMAHA CHALLENGE Clubman Junior National
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