Four Fresh Faces Take Honours at Eastern Creek
| press release | 17 April 2016 |
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Finals day at ‘The Creek’ saw four fresh faces claim their first ever Rotax Pro Tour win, concluding Round 3 of the 2016 National Series.
Joshua Car (DD2), Lee Mitchener (DD2 Masters), Dylan Hollis (Junior Max) and Brodie Whitmore (Junior Max Trophy Class) all enjoyed the sweet taste of victory, while some of the more regular contenders battled to recover and salvage important series points as the season approaches its halfway point.
Micro Max
The early stages of Micro Max had the ingredients for an intense battle throughout the 14 lap event with the lead being changed on multiple occasions, however some minor incidents would eventually see the field spread out and subsequently Sebastian Ruiz move to the lead and claim a 5.1 second victory. Ruiz’s win came ahead of debutant Alex Ninovic and Ryan Tomsett with Macka Hazard and Xavier Renshaw.
Ruiz managed to come away with the win in the final, however the margin proved to be significantly less with the victory coming by just 0.1 seconds over Emerson Vincent with Ninovic finishing a close third over Tomsett and Harry Arnett.
Above: Canberra's Sebastian Ruiz takes his second win from three rounds this year
pic - Coopers Photography
Rotax 125 Heavy
The racing within Rotax 125 Heavy across both the pre-final and final proved to be a battle of six for the lead and the round podium. Queenslander Chris Farkas took the overall win in both races however on multiple occasions the lead changed with Lane Moore showing good pace in both races before taking third in both events. Shay Mayes continued his 2016 season form, recoding a second place result in the two races with the final being within 0.3 seconds of Farkas.
Damon Schofield managed fourth in both races while local Corey Lean claimed the final spot on the podium after being elevated due to a two place post-race penalty being applied to Clem O’Mara (6th place) due to passing under yellow flag conditions.
Above: Chris Farkas proved unstoppable in Rotax 125 Heavy despite multiple challenges from Lane Moore and Shay Mayes
pic - Coopers Photography
Junior Max Trophy
In only his second meeting in the Pro Tour, Travis Worton continued his from Saturday’s heat races to take a narrow victory in the Junior Max Trophy pre-final by 0.1 seconds over Brodie Whitmore. Kiwi Samuel Wright managed to set the fastest lap of the race with a 41.058 on his way to claiming third finishing 1.3 seconds behind Whitmore with his fellow New Zealander Callum Hedge taking fourth. Taylor Hazard would go on to finish fifth.
The battle of the top four in the longer 18 lap final proved to be ongoing throughout the race with multiple changes in the lead before a determined Whitmore fought his way to the front to claim the win by 0.09 seconds over Worton with Hazard and Wright finishing third and fourth respectively and Jaiden Pope claiming the final podium placing in fifth.
Above: Brodie Whitmore stepped it up in the Final to take his first Rotax Pro Tour win
pic - Coopers Photography
DD2 Masters
After starting on pole and securing success in the heat races, Queensland’s Scott Howard proved to be another challenger for the top spot on the podium in DD2 Masters. Running double duties yet again was Lee Mitchener who managed to spoil Howard’s party in the pre-final, claiming the win by 0.2 seconds over the sunshine state driver while Mark Flood and Klinton Hancey were involved in their own battle, separated by a mere 0.1 seconds at the fall of the chequered flag with Jason Hryniuk finishing a comfortable fifth.
Mitchener’s taste for glory acted as momentum in the final as he managed to again take the win, securing maximum points from the weekend with the victory coming over Howard with Flood and Hancey again finishing third and fourth, though on this occasion it was Troy Bretherton who would take fifth and the final spot on the podium.
Above: Lee Mitchener acquired maximum points winning both the Pre-Final and Final in DD2 Masters
pic - Coopers Photography
Mini Max
On the back of his clean sweep of success in qualifying and the heat races on Saturday in Mini Max, Kai Allen continued his upward trend of form by taking the win in the pre-final by 0.2 seconds. Both Allen and his team mate Wharton who finished second to Kai in both the pre-final and final had his time at the lead of the race however it proved to be Allen who would come out on top. In his first season in the series, Hugh Barter picked up third in the two longer races while Angus Giffin did enough to secure fourth. Jonathon Marcusson picked up the final podium placing in the final after Adam Tomsett who finished fifth in the pre-final, recorded a DNF in the longer race.
Above: Kai Allen bounced back to take his second round win for the yea
pic - Coopers Photography
Rotax 125 Light
The pre-final of Rotax 125 Light proved to be somewhat of calm before the storm with Pierce Lehane replicating his performance of Saturday by taking victory in the 18 lap event. Lehane’s win came by 1.8 seconds over Cody Gillis with Wayne Bourke and Brad Jenner completing the top four. Canberra’s Joshua Fife continued his recovery up the order to secure fifth over Liam Ford in sixth.
From the outset of the final, the battle stakes were high with Lehane snaring the lead from the start and Gillis following close behind. Contact mid-race between the pair would eliminate Gillis a few laps later into an early race retirement and drop Lehane down the order, promoting a whole new fleet of drivers towards the lead. Further contact at the difficult top end of the Eastern Creek circuit saw yet more changes in the lead and at the front end of the field. Pierce Lehane managed to pick his way back up the order to take second behind Brad Jenner who secured the win by 1.3 seconds. Troy Morrissey, Liam Ford and Kody Garland made up the remainder of the podium while Fife banked some more important series points picking up sixth.
Above: CompKart's Brad Jenner returned to the winners circle in an eventful Rotax 125 Light Final
pic - Coopers Photography
Junior Max
Finals day in Junior Max proved to be Dylan Hollis’ day as he claimed the win in both the pre-final and final with the latter being more significant to the tune of 2.2 seconds. A titanic battle for the minor placing’s throughout much of the race which saw a multitude of changes in position. Cameron Longmore would finish second in the pre-final ahead of Kyle Bonser and Reece Cohen with Zac Raddatz and Jack Winter set to make up the third row to start the final.
There existed up to seven drivers that could have joined Hollis and Winter on the podium in the final with the pair taking first and second respectively. In his first full season in the open Junior Max class, Cohen took third from Alec Morse who drove through from 25th to take fourth. Kyle Bonser finished fifth with Cody Brewczysnki just missing out on a podium finish after spending at time toward the front of the field during the race.
Above: Shamick/TWM driver Dylan Hollis dominated the Junior Max Final finishing over 2 seconds ahead of local Jack Winter
pic - Coopers Photography
DD2
Joshua Car bounded into finals day with the momentum of taking a clean sweep of the heat races in DD2 to deliver yet another superb performance, securing the win in both the pre-final and final. Car’s win in the earlier race came by 2.1 seconds over Adam Lindstrom who added the fastest lap of the race to his accolades.
Lindstrom proved to be Car’s closest contender in the final as well, taking second by 1.4 seconds. Chris Bregonje gained three places from start to finish in the final to finish third over Jason Pringle with Brock Plumb securing the final podium result. Troy Woolston, who led the series points entering the round finished sixth in the final and fifth in the pre-final.
Above: Joshua Car celebrated his first ever Rotax Pro Tour win in style with a complete clean sweep
pic - Coopers Photography
Round 4 of the 2016 Rotax Pro Tour takes place at the Ipswich Kart Circuit, Queensland from 4-6 June.
