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Pro Tour Melbourne - Saturday Report

press release

25 January 2014

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Big fields produce close racing at Pro Tour Melbourne

With Melbourne’s weather affecting Friday practice with a steady downpour of rain, qualifying was going to be an unknown as the sun finally broke through for Saturday’s events, with 179 entries confirmed and each state and territory represented, it setup what would be a huge Australia Day weekend of racing.

Victorian Daniel Richert was the pace setter throughout the eight minute qualifying session for DD2 Masters, securing pole position on his fourth lap with a 40.542 just ahead of fellow Team Australia member Hamish Leighton while Mark Domaschenz impressed to take third. Adam Hunter aboard a new chassis held on for fourth with team mate Tony Bregonje in fifth. Following his blistering performance in qualifying, Richert was able to sustain his lead across all three twelve lap heats to secure a trio of wins which will place him on pole position for the 18 lap pre-final. Adam Hunter followed Richert’s lead with a trio of results by taking second in all three races and will start alongside the Victorian on the front row, while Hamish Leighton’s two third places have helped him to start from third in the pre-final. Mark Domaschenz shared a battle for the lead throughout the heat races before settling for a third and two fourths and will make up the second row alongside Leighton with Mark Gillespie to start from fifth.

Above: Victorian Daniel Richert secured three heat wins in DD2 Masters
pic - Cooper's Photography

James Reid spent much of the Rotax Heavy qualifying session on top of the time sheet despite many challenges, though a last lap flyer saw Reid secure pole with a 42.016 just ahead of Dylan Collett and Lane Moore. Former DD2 competitor, Thomas MacDonald secured fourth place with Jack Woodfall holding onto fifth. MacDonald’s victory in the third heat in conjunction with his two second place finishes have handed the Sydneysider pole position for the pre-final. Likewise, Dylan Collett’s first heat win along with two third place finishes have contributed to his results which will see him start alongside MacDonald in the pre-final. On the back of his Albury round win, Rick Pringle used his consistency throughout the heats and will share the second row with heat polesitter James Reid while Jack Woodfall will start from fifth.

Above: The victories were shared throughout the three Rotax Heavy heat races. Dylan Collett (37) and Thomas McDonald (20) share the front row
pic - Cooper's Photography

Queensland’s Cameron Shields in just his first meeting in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class was able to eclipse the field and take pole position with a 42.941 just ahead of Ryan Pike with returning driver Liam Ford in third. West Australian Brooke Redden spent time at the top of the order before settling for fourth with Marc Tulloch in fifth. Ryan Pike experienced a top three finish in each race to hand him pole position for the Trophy Class pre-final with Marc Tulloch set to start alongside him after taking two fourth places and a fifth. After his clean sweep in Albury, Chris Bregonje experienced a mixed day though he will start from third alongside heat two and three winner, Brooke Redden who attained a DNF in the opening race. Liam Ford is set to comprise the third row with heat polesitter Cameron Shields.

Above: Brooke Redden (2) took two heat wins in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class. #95 is opening heat winner Ryan Pike
pic - Cooper's Photography

With qualifying split into two groups for the oversubscribed field of Rotax Light, it was Brad Jenner who secured the quickest time outright ahead of Albury’s Jack Richardson and the returning Matthew McLellan. Sydney brother pairing of Reece and Bryce Davidson finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Former National Champion Pierce Lehane was the pace setter in the second group of qualifying ahead of fellow Redspeed driver Stefan Stankovic and Albury’s Jordan Boys. Local’s Andrew Carey and Zac Soutar made up the top five. Lehane’s dominance throughout the heat races by taking three victories has handed him pole position for the pre-final showing a clean display of racing and holding off main challenger Brad Jenner in the third heat who will subsequently start alongside Lehane after his two heat wins in the first two races. Stefan Stankovic was rewarded by his string of second places and will make up the second row with Jordan Boys while Andrew Carey and Matthew McLellan will complete the third row.

Above: Pierce Lehane took a clean sweep of wins in an oversubscribed Rotax Light field
pic - Cooper's Photography

Mitchell Maddren secured an early quick time in the opening group of qualifying in Junior Max to hold onto provisional pole position at the completion of the first eight minute session. Maddren finished just ahead of local Reece Sidebottom and fellow Queenslander Hunter McElrea. Zane Goddard and Thomas Hughes rounded out the top five. Isaac Vaccarella took advantage of witnessing the first group of qualifying to then progress to pole position outright for Junior Max with Darwin’s Bryce Fullwood in second for the group. Callum Walker, Nicholas Andrews and Jayden Ojeda completed the top five. As with Pierce Lehane in Rotax Light, Bryce Fullwood was the key standout in Junior Max by taking three heat wins to propel the Darwin driver to pole position for the pre-final ahead of heat one and two winner, Isaac Vaccarella who will start next to Fullwood. Jayden Ojeda used his consistency of three second place finishes and will start in third with Callum Walker in fourth following his win in the final heat. Nicholas Andrews and Mitchell Maddren will make up the third row after they delivered a strong performance amongst the front running karts throughout the day.

Above: Darwin’s Bryce Fullwood was able to fend off challenges to secure a trio of heat wins in Junior Max
pic - Cooper's Photography

Victorian Troy Woolston took advantage of local track knowledge to secure pole position in DD2 with a time of 40.506 ahead of fellow statesman Adam Lindstrom in second on his return to the seat. Kaos Karting’s Joshua Crossingham held on for third while Mark Flood secured fourth after being in provisional pole for much of the session, while Travis Millar rounded out the top five. Despite a number of challenges for his lead throughout the day, Troy Woolston held on for victory in all three heat races launching him into pole position for the 18 lap pre-final. Adam Lindstrom was shuffled back in the final heat preventing a possible victory, forcing him to start second alongside Woolston making it an all Victorian front row. As with Lindstrom, Joshua Crossingham’s return to DD2 has been fruitful with the Gold Coast teenager set to start third after a string of top three performances, while Glenn Croxford and Jason Pringle will comprise the top five with DD2 debutant Mason Barbera finalising the third row.

Above: Local Troy Woolston took pole position and the win in all three DD2 heat races
pic - Cooper's Photography

Sunday’s events will include an 18 lap pre-final and 22 lap final for all classes.

To follow the event online throughout the weekend, Like Rotax Pro Tour on Facebook, Follow Rotax Pro Tour on Twitter and tune into the live audio commentary via Ustream at www.ustream.tv/user/internationalkarting.

 

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