Newcastle Club Championship, Round 2


supplied via NKRC 16 March 2016

After an eight week break, Newcastle Kart Racing Club’s Championship burst back into life on Sunday, with the second of nine rounds for 2016.

One hundred and eleven entries were received across the eleven classes competing, on a fine and dry autumn day at the Cameron Park facility, and as was the case in Round 1, the meeting was run under the ALL POINTS COUNT format.

It’s a bi-directional circuit, which gives organisers the ability to run the track in either direction, and on Sunday, racing was run clockwise.

In Cadet 9, it was a brilliant display from Jett Cotter to win three of the four races and take victory from James Freeburn, who won the race not won by Cotter. Kamal Mrad was third overall, with Round 1 winner Brock Barber fourth, and Robert McTighe rounding out the podium.

Ryley Brunner won the opening three races in TaG 125 Light, meaning he only had to secure a top five finish in the final to win the round – he did that, by finishing second behind Benjamin Ford, who was second for the round.
Hudson Heath strung together four third-place finishes to secure the final spot on the podium.

TaG 125 Light and Heavy races were run together, due to the low number of entries in the heavy division, which saw Gregory Grattan take the win in all four races ahead of Robert Finch.

KA4 Junior Light delivered some of the best racing of the day, with a battle for the minor placings holding our attention over the fight for first and second.

Zac Crichton took a commanding victory – winning all four races on his way to maintaining his championship lead, with his second round win of the season.

Kurtis Read ran second all day long, and put in a great performance, as did Taylor Gill who secured third on points and fourth in the final.

The man that secured third in that final was Zachary Heard, and sadly, there always one, and on Sunday it was he who was disadvantaged by the ALL POINTS COUNT system. A mechanical drama at the start of heat 1 saw him slip from the front of the field to nearly last. He fought back to finish 10th, but did not start Heat 2. That affected his starting position for the pre-final, but, as he did in Heat 1, he fought his way through the field to finish seventh, and in the final, it was tough going for him, as those around fought hard to hold him off, but his overall pace was too strong, and Heard would finish third in the final, but it was only good enough for 10th overall.

Heard fought hard for his third, fighting off challenges from Taylor Gill, Thomas Hayman, Riccardo D’Este, Brayden Everitt. Gill, as mentioned earlier, secured third on points. Tom Hayman was fourth and delighted with his pace and speed in his first outing at the NKRC for 2016.

Riccardo D’Este scored fifth for the round, ahead of Brayden Everitt, who lost out in a battle with Harrison Hotties and Ryan Hughes in the final, but at various stages throughout the day, all the above mentioned drivers were dicing for position, and for those watching on, it was high entertainment stuff.

The thunder was stolen from KA4 Junior Heavy, by the KA4 Junior karters that were racing ahead of them. Sage Murdoch won the day from Jack Stocker, Finlay Burnett, who did well to finish there – she was in the wars all day long, but managed to finish every race, which is the key – consistency on ALL POINTS COUNT days is crucial to success. Alessio Tomaino was fourth, with Angus McLean rounding out the podium.

Jack Childs dominated round 1 in January, and it was no different in Round 2 for the Cadet 12 driver, who claimed victory in all four races, and extended his lead in the Class Championship in the process.

Harrison Mitchell ran second all day long, but the battle for third was on between Kyle Cotter and Christian Mansell all day long. Some confusion for Mansell led to retirement in the second race, in which Cotter finished third ahead of Cooper Griffiths… it was the retirement that cost Mansell in the long run – even with two third place finishes, he could only manage fifth for the round, while Cotter and Griffiths were third and fourth respectively.

As was the case in January, KA3 Senior Light and Heavy delivered the goods. Some quality racing across the course of the day, and a new winner in KA3 Light, with Thomas Davies clean-sweeping proceedings from Jason Paix and Charlotte Poynting. Poynting did defeat Paix in two of the four races, but as stated earlier, consistency is rewarded, and Charlotte’s sixth place finish in the pre-final cost her second for the day.

Poynting is a point of interest at the moment, with a lot of people excited to see how the young lady fairs when she debuts in the Aussie Racing Car Super Series at Phillip Island next month.

Liam Ferry proved on Sunday that he does indeed know this track backwards. He smashed the KA3 Heavy competition in January, and did the same again yesterday – winning all four races, and extending his lead in the championship in the process. Michael Lawrence was second, and Hayden Buchanan was third in class, after a day of racing where the three of them matched it with their light compatriots – a lot of chopping and changing for track position, which had little to no impact on their class classification.

The biggest field of the weekend came from TaG Restricted 125 Light and Heavy. Sadly, the one and only red-flag incident came from this class as well, when Andrew McKinnon speared off at turn 8 in Race 1. McKinnon was trying to avoid an incident in front of him, and lost control, sending the kart rolling into the waiting gravel trap.

McKinnon would play no further part in the day, as he was taken away to Hospital for scans.

Back at the circuit, Paul Renshaw and Luke Walsh scored two wins each in TaG Restricted 125 light, but it was victory in the final that saw the round go the way of Renshaw, while Dylan Neilson claimed third, after finishing in that position in all four races.

In Heavy, Wayne Bower claimed victory again – this time from John Avis and Peter Hendry.

Final class of the day was the KA3 Junior field, and I won’t say the best was saved for last, but they were certainly delivering some quality entertainment.

Jackson Burton, Zac Crichton and Jake Horsey were first, second and third on the day, but it wasn’t as straight forward as that, and in karting, it very rarely is.

Horsey bounced back from a retirement in race 1 to finish third, second and second in the remaining races, while Burton won the opening two heats, lost the pre-final after running into trouble early. He’d bounce back and restore order in the final, with a win that secured the round for him. The driver who capitalised on Burton’s misfortune in the pre-final was Zac Crichton, who scored his only win of the day on the way to finishing third on points.

Damien Hill was fourth, with Matthew Hill in fifth, ahead of Ryan Hughes, who finished last in the final, and lost the final spot on the podium to Hill in the process. Well done to Maddie Hill and Daniel Austin, who spent the majority of the day battling, and trying to fight their way into the top five, but to no avail – and it was no easy task, as this was one of the most closely bunched fields of the day, but at the end of the day, the win belonged to Burton.

Two rounds down, and just seven remain in the 2016 Club Championship. We’re back here on Sunday, April 10 for Round 3, and by that point, many of the cards will have been dealt – we’ll know who our favourites and title contenders will be in 2016… We look forward to your company then.

 

 

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