Big Turnout For Ipswich October Races

from John Goddard

With karting numbers on the decline in Queensland, it was fantastic to see a big turnout at Ipswich on Saturday with 147 karters competing across 14 classes. It was heartening considering the NSW State Titles were on at the same time. The big numbers are testament to the new “pro active and karter friendly” IKC committee.

Above: A big field of TaG Restricted Light

SUB COMMITTEE
The IKC committee has come up with an innovative idea to set up a Sub Committee with one person to represent each class. The objective of setting up this sub-committee is to promote interaction between the management committee and the karters.

The task for the sub-committee will be to canvas the drivers and members to see what they want and then report to the sub-committee chairman, who in turn will report to the committee.

Anyone interested in representing a class should email Ashley at president@ipswichkartclub.org.au.

This is a great way for those members who don’t have time to attend meetings, to get their message across.
The sub -committee members can also provide a race report on each class, this will help give the competitors recognition for their effort.

The sub -committee positions currently filled are TAG 125 Light and Heavy, Senior National Light and Heavy and Clubman Light and Heavy. The Ipswich website will list the sub-committee members contact details as they become available. Please don’t hesitate to contact them with your ideas.

IKC President Ashley Waardenberg said he was “pleased with the numbers” on Saturday. He said he was “looking forward to a huge rollup” for the day/night meeting on the 5th November with the feature event being The King & Queen and the Prince & Princess of the Nationals.

Many ex J racers come out of retirement and dust off their old J’s for this iconic annual event which is run at Pro weight for both seniors and juniors. The prestige and trophies for this Title are incredible, all current and ex J racers are welcome so put this one on your calendar.  

Above: Relaxing in the pits at Ipswich

Race Report
Due to track conditions on the day and with competitor safety foremost, race officials decided to make a small change to the track layout. The result was a later than planned start to racing but once it was underway, the meeting went like clockwork.

There were some dominant performances with Rookie Damon Ash taking out 3 of the 4 races. A special mention to John Finch who set the quickest lap in heat one and Nicolas Lane who won heat 2 and had an unlucky DNF in the final.

Senior National light always provides close racing and Saturday was no exception. Richard Dimmock has been dominant in this class for many years and while challengers have come and gone, once again Richard came out on top.  Keishi Ayukai gave Dimmock a run for his money and in the second heat, passed Richard under brakes at the end of the straight on the last lap to take the win. Dimmock came back strongly in the pre final and final to take home yet another first place trophy and virtually stitch up another club championship.

After a DNF in the first heat, Clubman Light racer Luke Lane finished on top of Kathleen Sinclair in the next 3 races setting his fastest time in the night final. The ladies did extremely well with Bianca Herne third. The benefits of night racing are evident with 7 of the classes setting fastest times at night.

In Clubman Heavy, Matt Goddard also set his fastest time in the night final and turned the tables on the evergreen Gary Scott, winner of the September meeting. Goddard has found some pace and went on to win all four races in emphatic style. Craig Amundsen was also very fast all day.

Above: Clubman Heavy prepare for their pre-final

The Clubman Heavy guys would like to thank the over 40 drivers who nominated for Clubman Heavy to bolster the numbers and provide a good level of competition.  Calling all Clubman Heavy drivers, let’s get to the last few meetings and make it interesting.

TAG Restricted Light had a big field of 26 with John Tatnell winning three from four.  Ashley Lester, who has been working hard on a setup for his new chassis, gave Tatnell a run for his money winning heat two and setting the fastest time in the pre final and final. Matthew Klein was ultra consistent in third place.

The Midgets gave us some close racing with Ryan Suhle taking out the event from reigning club champion, Harrison Hoey.

It was a dominant performance by Bodine Antrobus in TAG 125 Light when he blitzed the field in the first three races to win the day.  In the final Bodine had a “coming together” with Holly Patrizi just after the start which put Antrobus back to the rear of the field. That didn’t stop him from posting his fastest lap of the day in a fast finishing third to Terry Leerentveld and Patrizi.  Antrobus had a well deserved win with Patrizi, who has just come up from Juniors, a solid second and the Dalby entrant, Terry Leerentveld third. Well done for travelling from Dalby to race at our club.

 RESULTS

CLASS	FIRST	SECOND	THIRD
ROOKIES	Damon Ash	Nicholas Lane	Gregory Gallagher
JUNIOR MAX	Jordan Condor	Jamie Grohman	Ashlon Gardner
CLUBMAN LIGHT	Luke Lane	Kathleen Sinclair	Bianca Herne
CLUBMAN OVER 40	Shane Minon
SENIOR NATIONAL LIGHT	Richard Dimmock	Keishi Ayukai	Andrew McKenzie
SENIOR NATIONAL HEAVY	Paul Brackam
TAG RESTRICTED LIGHT	John Tatnell	Ashley Lester	Matthew Klein
JUNIOR NATIONAL LIGHT	Mitchell Maddren	Jamie Grohman	Michael Fabri
TAG 125 HEAVY	Klinton Hancey	Ashley Waardenberg	Scott Howard
MIDGETS	Ryan Suhle	Harrison Hoey	Nathan Herne
TAG RESTRICTED HEAVY	Carl Kerswell	Nathan Waldon	Daniel Creed
JUNIOR NATIONAL HEAVY	Jack Wood	Nicholas Andrews	Matthew Kennedy
TAG 125 LIGHT	Bodine Antrobus	Holly Patrizi	Terry Leerentveld
CLUBMAN HEAVY	Matthew Goddard	Gary Scott	Craig Amundsen

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