Carnival of Karts

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from Sean Phillips

The inaugural TKC Carnival of Karts will go down as one of the most memorable events ever run at the famous Cockburn International Raceway. Over 230 entries and only 12 classes ensured huge fields and some fantastic racing from WA’s best drivers kept the massive crowd entertained all day.

Some wild weather really spiced up the action with most of the 2nd heats and pre finals being run in heavy rain but thankfully all of qualifying, 1st heat and Finals ran in the dry making it a real test of driving skill.

Above: The Sportsman 125 Heavy class drivers line up for one of their wet races
pic - TKC

The meeting was run superbly by the dedicated team of volunteers and officials ensuring each class had over 40km of racing. The track looked spectacular with banners and flags flying everywhere with a massive amount of work done prior to the meeting to ensure the whole facility looked first class. Thank you and well done to all the volunteers who helped to make it happen

It was great to see huge fields of karts greeting the starter with most classes fielding well over 20 karts and in particular the Sportsman 125R guys lining up with 37 entries. Each class had a full qualifying session followed by 2 heats a pre final and a Nationals level winner takes all 16km final.

It was amazing to see the crowds cheering and shouting as the last laps counted down, the Carnival of Karts had all the atmosphere of a National Championship event. 

Above: Ben Van Ryt won the Open Class and set a new 'reverse direction' lap record for the Cockburn circuit
pic - TKC

Sportsman 125R were first class out and although most of these drivers are relatively new to our sport and had never raced in a field this size before they all drove extremely well with nice clean starts and some close action packed racing. Kevin Offer was the star driver over the weekend with a great win followed by Daniel Worth, David Pagoda, Benjamin Spencer and Chris Unstead taking 5th. Big thanks to all the 125R guys for showing up in huge numbers, we are sure next year this class will max out the track at 44 entries and what a site that will be!!!

1 Kevin Offer, 2 Daniel Worth, 3 David Pagoda

Jnr Clubman fronted up with 16 drivers and as expected Australia # 1 Jessie Elliot took the win but was pushed all the way by Nicholas Rowe and Jake Burton. Austin Pearson and Thomas Howe collected the final places in what is a super competitive group of young drivers and a big thanks to Shane McPherson from Kart Magic who put in so much effort to get all the Jnr Clubbies together and also help sponsor the class.

1 Jesse Elliott, 2 Nicholas Rowe, 3 Jake Burton

Above: Bayley Mickler, Junior Clubman
pic - TKC

JMax was a late addition to the meeting with quite a few drivers away running the pro tour event it was good to see them get to the 10 entries needed to field a class. With some more planning in place we expect the JMax field to be around 20 karts next year and it’s great to see both high performance Jnr classes really gaining momentum in WA. Taylor Dicker was just awesome to watch as she ran out the deserving winner over Josh Wood, Maverick Cuthbert, Zac Vassallo and Taylor Thomas.   

1 Tayla Dicker, 2 Joshua Wood, 3 Maverick Cuthbert

Cadets as usual put on a real show and the crowd - including many mums, dads and grandparents - were on their feet giving them a huge cheer in support. The main thing is all the drivers raced safely and everyone had a great time. Keb Evans took out the win followed by Aaron Love, Damon Papasergio, Jack Cattalini and Bart Horsten in 5th. The future of karting in WA is in safe hands with such a great bunch of kids and lets not forget the hard working parents who put in so much to make sure these very lucky kids can enjoy this great sport.

1 Keb Evans, 2 Aaron Love, 3 Damon Papasergio

Above: Some of the kids eager to race at the Carnival of Karts
pic - TKC

Sportsman 125 Heavy also had an excellent field of 19 karts with some of the top guns coming out to race in the big event. Australia # 2 Brad Fitch was always going to be the man to beat and along with Lloyd Bilick gave the new Lotus Karts Team a 1, 2 finish to start their campaign in WA. Matt Davis came back in the final to take an excellent 3rd place with Australia # 1 CSH driver Stuart Verco running 125 for the first time picking up 4th and Sean Phillips rounded out the places in 5th.

1 Brad Fitch, 2 Lloyd Bilick, 3 Matt Davis

Jnr National Light fronted the starter with over 20 entries and usual for the Jnr National classes the racing was very close right through the huge field. Jake Kostecki will be a name to watch in the future as he took a great win over the always spectacular Nikola Mitic with a very solid drive by Brook Redden in 3rd. Thomas Schou was 4th and Josh Wood came home 5th, well done to all the drivers a great days racing.

1 Jake Kostecki, 2 Nikola Mitic, 3 Brooke Redden

Rookies class at the moment has one of the best fields of young drivers this state has ever seen. By the time these kids get into Jnr’s were sure quite a few green plates will be heading west over the coming years. Top of the class at the moment are 2 stand out drivers in Brock Kenny and Sam Dicker. The last few laps in the final were epic with these 2 top guns going absolutely all out for the win. The crowd was going mad as they diced inside and outside but it was Brock that just got over the line to win from Sam Dicker with another great drive from Jordan Love in 3rd. Jesse Thomas and Henry Lake got the final spots but again all the kids in this class are driving superbly and all of them deserve a trophy for there efforts.

1 Borck Kenny, 2 Samuel Dicker, 3 Jordan Love

Clubman Pro showed up with 28 entries and as normal this class featured some of Australia’s best drivers. Australia # 1 Kip Foster took a back seat for this meeting letting his wife Kerry and son Scott take to the track in what would probably be a first for WA with mum and son racing in the same class. If we can entice Kip to race next year that would absolutely have to be a first with the whole family racing in one class.  Adam Levi also had the benefit of Kips help for this weekend as Adam has had to crew for Kip at a few of last years events so Kip took a back seat for this meeting to turn the spanners and it showed with Adam taking a convincing win in the final. Nathan Davis drove very well for 2nd and a great effort from Scott Foster to pick up 3rd in his first year as a senior driver. Brad Fitch seemed to have missed the set up in the final as he was a real contender until then taking 4th with Brenton Magri bringing it home in 5th place.

1 Adam Levi, 2 Nathan Davis, Scott Foster

Clubman Super Heavy was a mixed bag over the weekend with lots of different drivers up the front depending on track conditions. The CSH top gun Lee Foster didn’t have it all his own way with Anthony Higgs really taking it up to him. “Higgsy” was untouchable in the rain and blitzed the field. Come the final though and with the track dry Foster did his usual smooth run through the field and passed Higgsy about mid race then went on to open a gap in the later stages and cruise through for the win. Trevor Gaynor once again quietly went about his business keeping out of the chaos and picked up a fantastic 3rd place with a great drive followed by Glen Owen and Simon “FURZ” Furzer in 5th.

1 Lee Foster, 2 Anthony Higgs, 3 Trevor Gaynor

Above: Anthony Higgs ahead of Lee Foster, CSH
pic - TKC

Jnr National Heavy was once again dominated by the ever cool Taylor Dicker. She has already become one of the best female drivers in Australia and is absolutely showing the boys how it’s done. Those of us who have been around a while would remember how good Leanne Tander (nee Ferrier) was in a kart and with the family support of Greg and Sharlene Dicker owners of Flat Out Karts right behind both kids you don’t have to be smart to work out both Taylor and Sam Dicker have a very bright future in what ever they choose to do. Nicholas Rowe backed up his 2nd in Jnr Clubman with 2nd in Jnr Heavy so a very good result from another future champion getting one over on Jesse Elliott in 3rd place. Aaron Grossman and Dion Hounsfield rounded out the field.

1 Tayla Dicker, 2 Nicholas Rowe, 3 Jesse Elliott

Above: Taylor Dicker took the honours in Junior National Heavy
pic - TKC

Sportsman 125 Light fronted up with an astounding 25 entries and the biggest field of these karts outside the Nationals last year. A group of 3 broke out from the field in the final and put on what can only be described as a magical display of kart driving at the absolute limit. Jake Klarich, Lewis Shugar and Adam Garnaut represent probably the most in form WA drivers at the moment and seeing all the of them dicing every lap of the final is something to remember. Jake fresh off the CIK round the week before proved too good in the end and took a great win with Lewis 2nd and Adam 3rd. The crowed gave the drivers a standing ovation in what was an amazing race to watch with Luke Gabbin and Ryan Sherman taking the well deserved 4th and 5th places.

1 Jake Klarich, 2 Lewis Shugar, 3 Adam Garnaut

Open Class was the star of the show beginning with a V8 Supercar style 2 lap single kart qualifying shoot. The very professional Ben Van Ryt took out the official track record for reverse direction with a 48.134 sec lap and picked up the $250 Westvolt Electrical Super Pole prize to go with it. Ben dropped the record again in the 1st heat to run almost into the 47’s with a 48.06 lap and locked the new record into the history books. Wayne Bell was expected be right up there with his 60hp twin 125cc X-30’s but some gremlins got into the kart (including a spectacular wheel flying off in qualifying) and he struggled to hold things together. So in the final Ben just walked away from the field and collected a cool $1500 while Lewis Sutherland drove in his usual smooth ultra fast style to pick up 2nd place and $750 with Simon “gumby” Gwilliam driving a great race to come home 3rd pocketing $500. Simon had the speed to run right up the front but his engine was giving some issues all weekend that held him back from challenging for the win. Matt Morton was the first of the twin engine karts in 4th place with the sound of his 20,000RPM TM engines something to behold at the end of the long down hill straight, he drove well all weekend and the kart performed faultlessly. Jarrod Bishop rounded out the place getters in 5th.

1 Ben Van Ryt, 2 Lewis Sutherland, 3 Simon Gwilliam, 4 Matthew Morton, 5 Jarrrod Bishop

Above: Matt Morton's double-TM powered machine was the first twin-engined kart home in 4th place
pic - TKC

That’s the racing out of the way but the best was yet to come!!! The random prize draw had something for everyone with a massive crowd staying back for presentations and a chance to take home some unbelievable prizes.

Cadets Jacob De Cerqueira won 2 sets of tyres and 2013 club membership.
Rookie’s Brock McGregor won a set of tyres, strike starter and 2013 membership
Jnr Nat Mika Nicholas took home a new Arrow X-1 Jnr kart HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!! 
Jnr Clubby Courtney Gough won a brand new Yamaha KT 100S
Jnr Max Mathew Coombs and Taylor Thomas won $500 worth of Caltex prizes
Clubman Pro’s Chevy Cosh took home a brand new Yamaha KT 100S
Clubman Super Heavy ex Australian champion “Higgsy” won a suit, gloves and boots kit
Sportsman 125 winner was Matt Davis with a brand new ROTAX!!!!
Sportsman 125R Daniel Worth won 2 sets of tyres and 2013 membership

In total the drivers got to share in over $15,000 worth of cash and prizes, what a great event for WA karters….

• Full results on AKA CM:s HERE

So that was the 2012 Tiger Kart Clubs Carnival of Karts, a big thanks to all our sponsors Kostera Tyre Service, Revolution Race Gear, Kart Mart, Kart Force, Flat Out Karts / Arrow Karts, Ace Karting, Kart Magic, Strike Products, Caltex, Rotax / IKD, Yamaha, MG Tyres / REMO Racing,  Westvolt Electrical and Car Craft

Without their support the event would not happen, thank you all so much and we look forward to an even bigger and better event next year, make sure the Carnival of Karts is locked in as a must do karting event for 2013, it’s going to be HUGE!!!!!

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