Gold Coast Cadet In Miami For FWT Round 1
| 11 January 2014 |
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Praga and OK1 young drivers program on track for success in 2014
As 2014 gets underway IPKarting will deliver a solid calendar of events for its Praga and OK1 drivers, concentrating on major races in Australia and New Zealand as well as key opportunities overseas.
This weekend the Gold Coast’s Lochie Hughes will race at the first round of the Florida Winter Tour held at Homestead Raceway, Miami USA in the TaG Cadet class.
Above: Lochie Hughes with his mechanic at the Florida Winter Tour
Hughes will be hoping the rain gods will be kind to him at this event after making such a strong start at his last TaG Cadet outing in Las Vegas for the SuperNats late last year.
At SuperNats against 84 Cadets from around he world, Lochie Hughes was fastest in all 4-track sessions on a dry track before his race campaign came unstuck with the extreme weather conditions and qualifying on wet tyres without any prior practise.
Racing this weekend with Praga North America, Hughes competes in the Formula TaG Cadet class with a 60cc Vortex Mini Rok engine, in early practise sessions Lochie was fast and loving being back in the kart for the first time since racing at Supernats in Vegas. Qualifying starts tonight (Saturday) at around midnight Australian time.
Upon his return to Australia Hughes will move from competing in Cadets to the Rookie class alongside Praga teammate Zayd Tones.
Above: Lochie racing under the bright lights of Vegas at the 2013 Supernats
pic - Tadeas Marek
Remaining in Cadets will be Jett Johnson, Jac Preston and injecting some great new enthusiasm is outstanding race prospect Bayley Douglas joining the team in Queensland supported by retailer KAOS Karting.
Other exciting young drivers in Praga blue or OK1 orange include; Melbourne-based CC Racing’s Cooper Webster, Sammy Downing and Jordan McGregor, Will Reeve and Justin Murphy are supported in Tasmania by Wrigley Karts and Jai Milthorpe is stepping out in Rookies for Albury’s FullTilt Motorsport.
Whilst many of our outstanding Junior drivers have moved into the Senior ranks, drivers such as Liam McLellan (OK1) and Jordan Boys (Praga) will contest Rotax Light class in 2014 alongside our other top steerers, Dan Kinsman (NZ), Matty Smith (OK1) and Troy Woolston (Praga).
The IPKarting family is thankful for their experience within the top levels of the sport and their ability to provide fantastic advice and support to our younger drivers now coming through the cadet, rookie and junior classes.
Special mention to the Boys family, Peter and Jordan continue to be an awesome example of the very best that this sport offers in terms of talent, expertise and community spirit.
We thank Peter and Jordan for their willingness to be involved in special projects with us and support drivers including South Australia’s Brodie Cook, stepping into the JMax class and competitive racing at Pro Tour level.
Above: Cold and wet waiting on the grid in Vegas for Cadet racers Hughes and Preston
pic - Tadeas Marek
We are actively looking for more Junior Max drivers to support at Pro Tour via our retailers, CC Racing, Full-Tilt Motorsport and KAOS Karting.
Drivers will compete in events outside of Australia such as the Florida Winter Tour USA, the annual Aussies vs Kiwi battle in the Trans Tasman race in NZ and NZ Rotax Max Challenge rounds including the NZ Nationals on the South Island at Blenheim over Easter April 16-20. Contact us if you are keen to join us.
We welcome Kiwi drivers regularly to race with us at the Australian Pro Tour series throughout the year and again this year we will see Dan Kinsman (RL), Brendon Hart (DD2 Masters), Dylan Drysdale (JMax) and the Stewart Sisters, Ashleigh (15 years) and Maddy (13 years) joining us for Sodi Trophy Class.
Stay up to date via:
To join the team or race with our overseas teams contact us at:
ken@epicsports.com.au - 0414 760 965
