Lithgow Race Report - Col's Castle Meeting
Tweetfrom Russell Grimson
And again almost 160 entrants enjoyed 16 classes, 3 heats a pre-final and a final, which were run with extended laps, and all over by 3.00pm on Sunday this is just becoming a regular feature of the racing that the Combined District Kart Club is providing on their home circuit in Lithgow.
This continuing success is due to a well oiled team of club members and officials who are intent on providing top class racing with smooth operational procedure and professionalism that is appreciated by all who participate and race at the club.
And again the club can boast a very well presented evening meal on the Saturday night, prepared by that famous renowned CDKC Kitchen staff, available at a small fee for all who wanted to participate and join in the real fellowship that karting can provide.
This meeting known as the “COL’S CASTLE” Meeting was to celebrate the efforts of the late Mr Colin Becker a very respected karter and CDKC Member of years gone by, a person that was responsible for many of the features of the Lithgow Track, and the clubs current facilities, facilities that provide all who race at Lithgow with a truly marvellous place to race, receive fellowship, and enjoy our chosen sport.
The presentation of the trophies was made by Col’s son, Mr Russell Becker, a National champion in a number of classes over past years, a major contributor to the CDKC, and someone who is still extremely competitive, and devotes his time to pass on his skills to all our Junior drivers, and this year provided valuable assistance to Jason Varley at our annual Junior development camp.
When you analyse the above it is not hard to understand why this club continues to grow, and is so much appreciated by all who have come to enjoy the racing and facilities provided.
Now down to racing, the heavy divisions seen 8 classes contested, and some really great racing was the order of the day.
Junior National heavy saw Samuel SCHWARZ lead home Scott HARRIS and Mitchell KOVAL in an exceptionally tight final that remained undecided until the very last lap.
The Big Boys were at it again in the National Super Heavy Class, and it was great to have Laurie DORAN from the Wagga club down to join with us for this event. Our usual front runner Tom Hearn found himself with some very real opposition with all the field keen to see he did not do his usual runner, and Ben PIPER, was able to lead home Niven RICHES in front of Tom after and extremely hard fought final, the rest of the field led by Bens father Maurie PIPER was not that far behind and this class is really providing some great spectacular racing.
The Senior National Over 40’s are not giving any hint of their performance before they arrive in Coffs Harbour, and so some very cagey racing is evolving, and I am not sure the final placing reflect the true performance of some who I am sure will come to light in Coffs! However you can’t take away for the performance of Ian THORNTON who did a great job to lead home Glen EGAN and Peter PONTELLO, but then John HORSBURGH and Warren HODDER, who followed the leaders home I am sure will improve on that performance when the flag falls up north!
The TAG restricted Classes are building up to some very real numbers and are providing a great racing for all who participate, in the TAG RESTRICTED HEAVY Division a Brightly attired Phillip MIDDLETON, sporting his new ESPRIT racing Gear was hard pressed to lead home Simon KENDRICK and Christopher WHITE in a reasonable sized field, while in the TAG RESTRICTED LIGHT Division Michael SIEDERS continues to be the leader of this class and led home Mitchell WEBSTER and David BOYD in another hard fought final.
In the CLUBMAN HEAVY Class David KERMOND provided another of his usual polished performances to lead home Aaron BORG and Micheal HAZELTON, however Craig THORNTON and Russell BECKER were right behind and close enough to displace any of the first three that let their guard down, and again a very big field provided some top class racing all the way through the entire field.
One of the fastest growing classes in Australian Karting appears to be the CLUBMAN OVER 40 Class and so with a concerted effort by a few of our regular members this class is now to be a part of our program at all future meetings and they are keen to see anybody that fits the class to come and join them and make the class grow at Lithgow. For their first attempt 7 entrants faced the starter and some great racing was the order of the day, Michael O”BRIEN outpaced Neil BACKHOUSE, with Glen EGAN right in there and filling a menacing third place which there is no doubt Glen will work at improving in the near future, it was great to see a very accomplished Karter from the Past in Steve MOXOM in among the field and you can bet on his improvement in the coming months.
SENIOR NATIONAL HEAVIES completed the heavy divisions, and the guy who is always a top performer, Craig THORNTON led home Jeremy ATKINS and Peter HARTLAND, with the ladies Amanda ABBOTT and Simone SEAL right behind them ready to pounce should the guys make any mistake. It is just great to see that our ladies are now gaining enough confidence to get amongst the guys and you can count on them getting further up the finishing order sooner rather than later!
This is a real credit to the CDKC Executive who had the foresight to start, and continue to provide a ladies class where the ladies can gain their confidence to make the step into the open competition.
Then the LIGHT CLASSES were set to do battle, and in CLUBMAN LIGHT Joshua SEIFFERT, a regular CDKC member enjoyed his win and is just going from strength to strength ever since he joined the senior ranks, Ryan ELDERIDGE after leading 2 heats and the Pre Final followed Joshua home IN THE FINAL, and Ian BEERAZ, after destroying a chassis in an earlier heat, had to be content with third place.
Our SPORTSMAN LIGHT and HEAVY Classes need some more entrants to lift the enjoyment of the class, however in this case Christopher GOODMAN scored the Light trophy, while Benjamin RITCHIE took home the heavy trophy. The point here is that the club will always provide a place for those who make the trip and while both these classes lacked entrant numbers racing was still provided and was enjoyed by the people who did arrive.
ROOKIES had a huge field of some very accomplished, certainly championship quality drivers, the final podium contained, Joshua CARR, Ziggy VACCARELLA, and Zac RADDATZ who really did need to keep their best A game going to stay in front of Timothy COLOMBRITA Jack WINTER and Jessie ATTARD and lots of other very keen rookies, it needs to be said that the quality of driving in this class is a credit to all who participate and while exuberance sometimes gets the better of some, the overall performance of all our rookies is very good, and to see them in parc ferme after the final all shaking hands and congratulating one another is just a credit to all who are involved.
The SENIOR NATIONAL LIGHT Field provided some surprises, No Doubt that Brayden PRITCHARD who is always hard to beat deserved his win but Darren HARRIS and Michael CASSAR made sure he did not get it easily however amongst the rest of the field our young lady Alexandra LAWRENCE is always among the leaders and continues to make the boys respect her performance, while Aaron GIUNTINI was a worry, not one of his usual good performances, and while Kieran DORAN made the journey from Wagga he had more mechanical problems than he usually experiences leaving him at the back of the field in the final count.
Our LADIES, as usual had a great time, with the MILLMORE Girls again leading the way, Monique continues to have the better of Sister Sarah, and Simone SEAL who ran two classes for the meeting ran a good third placing.
20 entrants faced the starter in the JUNIOR NATIONL LIGHT Class, and just to be in the first group was a major achievement, a great performance by Blake TAUNTON seen him take the win from Nathan ROURKE and Glen ORMEROD but any one of the next 6 could have very easily been on the podium.
And finally our flying HELMETS!!!! The CADETS All the way from downtown Grenfell, Tomas SARGENT kept Travis WORTON and Tane SCOFIELD behind him to score a well deserved win, Tomas is showing great dedication and ability and just keeps on improving with every outing. This field had some really great drivers including Tommy HARRIDINE, Tyler EVERINGHAM, Zachary HEARD and many others all of who are really close to scoring wins.
And Finally as we have come to expect of the CDKC, the P PLATE CADETS had sufficient numbers for them to be split off and run their own final, David SHERWOOD delighted, not only himself, but his parents to score the very first win of his career, with Sharnay SEAL, Paige RADDATZ, Joshua SARGENT and our littlest competitor Kristoff WISKICH filling the minor placings.
The next meeting at the Lithgow Circuit is scheduled for the 21st and 22nd APRIL 2012 this meeting will feature a full round of the TAG SUPER SERIES on the Saturday and as usual a meal will be available at the conclusion of Saturdays proceeding for those who want to enjoy some fellowship.
For this it is essential that we present our facility in first class order and so a WORKING BEE will be conducted on the 14th and 15th APRIL and all members are asked to provide some time to ensure the work is completed and any visitors can really see how the facility, overall is the very best available.
VINTAGE KARTING ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA Will provide their annual New South Wales demonstration on the 11th / 12th / 13th MAY 2012 at the Lithgow circuit and with nominations already received from Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, and of course New South Wales it is shaping up as an event worth considering for just a look at our past heritage. On display will be the Kart that Graeme BARWICK Raced at the ADAMS Event in the USA in January of this year, and will also feature THE GREAT VICTA CHALLENGE ........(Not sure how many lawn mowers are going to be cannibalised for this event but gotta be worth a look????)
The COMBINED DISTRICT KART CLUB, operates PRACTISE at the circuit on almost all days when racing is not happening, Give RICK a call on 02 63514356 or GRAHAM on 0428275485 if you need to do some sorting, or improve your skills with some practise.
