Pro Tour Sunday Report
| press release | 27 January 2014 |
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“Debutants share spoils with experience in finals at Pro Tour Melbourne”
- Full results on AKA CMS HERE
A string of debutants of the Rotax Pro Tour have combined with some of the nation’s most experienced Karters to provide some intense racing across all six categories throughout the pre-finals and finals closing out a huge second round of the 2014 Rotax Pro Tour.
On the back of his success across Saturday’s events, Victorian Daniel Richert moved further forward in the DD2 Masters pre-final, taking the win aboard his Exprit Kart to continue his successful run in his home event. Richert led home Adam Hunter, with very little separating he and Richert along with eventual third place recipient, Mark Domaschenz. Hamish Leighton maintained his strong performances to finish fourth with Danny Wright improving from his heat result finishes to take fifth.
Above: DD2 Masters Podium – L-R Mark Domaschenz 2nd, Adam Hunter 1st, Hamish Leighton 3rd
pic - Cooper's Photography
After leading the final for much of its 22 lap distance in addition to securing the fastest lap time of the race, Daniel Richert suffered mechanical issues which saw him fall back through the field and go on to finish tenth. Richert’s unlucky events handed Adam Hunter victory in his new Lewis Hamilton brand Kart with Mark Domaschenz taking second and Leighton securing the final place on the podium. Joshua Willett recovered from his mixed weekend to take fourth ahead of Steve Ellery and Danny Wright.
Sydney’s Thomas MacDonald capitalised from his strong heat race performance to continue his winning ways into the Rotax Heavy pre-final by taking victory from Victorian James Reid setting him up for pole position for the longer final race. Rick Pringle continued to improve upon his results from Saturday by securing third and would join fellow Pro Karting driver, Dylan Collett on the second row for the start of the final. Lane Moore and Jack Woodfall finished fifth and sixth respectively and would make up the third row.
On his home circuit, Rick Pringle fought off numerous challenges before driving through to take victory in the Rotax Heavy final. Pringle showed late race pace, setting his quickest time on lap 19. Pringle finished just ahead of James Reid, however a post-race technical penalty forced him to be disqualified allowing Dylan Collett to claim the second spot on the podium. Thomas MacDonald was rewarded from his early weekend success to take third with Jack Woodfall in fourth and Brock Green in fifth. Pringle also took the option to accept the $500 cash reward for victory instead of gambling his win and putting it all on the line at Pro Tour Dubbo in March.
Above: Rotax Heavy podium – L-R Dylan Collett 2nd, Rick Pringle 1st, Thomas MacDonald 3rd
pic - Cooper's Photography
Following on from victories in heat two and three, West Australian Brooke Redden secured yet another win in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class pre-final. Improving from his heat race performances, Marc Tulloch drove through to take second behind Redden with Toowoomba’s Cameron Shields in third. Liam Ford continued his weekend’s progression up the order to take fourth from Cameron McLean and Hudson Heath. Along with securing the fastest lap of the race, Brooke Redden took the win in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class final in his first event in the Rotax Pro Tour. Redden finished ahead of Marc Tulloch, mirroring the pre-final result. After finishing tenth in the pre-final, Ryan Pike rose through the field to take third with Shane Kubacki in fourth and Hudson Heath in fifth while New Zealand’s Madeline Stewart secured sixth.
Above: Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class podium – L-R Shane Kubacki 4th, Marc Tulloch 2nd, Brooke Redden 1st, Ryan Pike 3rd, Hudson Heath 5th
pic - Cooper's Photography
Pierce Lehane continued his unstoppable run by taking the win at the lead of a 44 kart field in Rotax Light making it four wins from four starts for the Sydney driver. After running second to Lehane in the third heat, Victorian Brad Jenner again finished behind Lehane in the pre-final setting the pair up to start alongside each other in the final. Stefan Stankovic continued his impressive run from the weekend to claim third behind Lehane and Jenner with Andrew Carey securing fourth and Matthew McLellan fifth making it three locals inside the top five.
The blistering run by Pierce Lehane continued into the final race with him taking a comfortable 1.6 second victory over Andrew Carey who traded places late in the 22 lap race with Brad Jenner who sat behind Lehane for much of the event. Jenner finished third by less than 0.1 seconds with Jordan Boys in fourth. West Australian Kurt Kostecki crossed the line in fifth, however a post-race penalty added ten seconds to his race time handing the placing to local, Brenton Mountjoy.
Above: Rotax Light podium – L-R Carey 2nd, Pierce Lehane 1st, Brad Jenner 3rd
pic - Cooper's Photography
Bryce Fullwood’s performance in the Junior Max pre-final was nothing but irresistible as the young Darwin driver took a comfortable lead from the opening corner to strengthen his lead gradually over the 18 lap event. While an enthusiastic battle followed behind Fullwood for many of the major placing’s, Bryce went on to take victory by in excess of 7 seconds. Queenslander Callum Walker led the battle pack and claimed a strong second which would see him start alongside Fullwood for the final. After his successful results in the early stages of the weekend, Isaac Vaccarella held on for third over Jayden Ojeda, Mitchell Maddren and Nikola Mitic for the top six.
For the start of the Junior Max final, it was up to a four way dice for the lead from turn one amid the large amount of traffic behind the front runners in amongst the 44 starters. While a winner was hard to determine early in the race, pre-final winner Bryce Fullwood had his dreams dashed of standing on top of the podium on lap seven with a flat tyre forcing him to retire from the race. Sydney driver Jayden Ojeda would become the eventual winner as he took victory by just 0.2 seconds over Callum Walker and Nikola Mitic for his first ever Pro Tour round win, with Mitic recording his first Pro Tour podium. Mitchell Maddren continued to impress and took fourth from Isaac Vaccarella and the recovering Zane Goddard.
Above: Junior MAX podium – L-R Callum Walker 2nd, Jayden Ojeda 1st, Nikola Mitic 3rd
pic - Cooper's Photography
The DD2 pre-final was sure to provide an intriguing battle for victory with local track knowledge assisting a number of front runners, it was to be 18 year old Joshua Crossingham who would go on to take the win and setting himself up in the best position possible for the start of the longer final. Crossingham took the win from fellow Praga driver Troy Woolston with former World Number 2 Jason Pringle in third. Adam Lindstrom continued his positive return to Karting by taking fourth over Glenn Croxford in fifth and Mark Flood in sixth who recovered from his DNF in the final heat.
Joshua Crossingham continued his good run into the final, not only taking the fastest lap of the race of which he led in patches, the experience of Jason Pringle shone through in the closing stages as he took the win on his home track. The final turn provided a drag race to the end, with Pringle’s win over Crossingham coming by just 0.09 seconds with just 0.2 seconds separating the entire top three as Troy Woolston completed the podium. Lucas Ward recovered from two DNF results throughout the weekend to secure fourth over debutant Mason Barbera and James Macken.
Above: DD2 podium – L-R Joshua Crossingham 2nd, Jason Pringle 1st, Troy Woolston 3rd
pic - Cooper's Photography
Round 3 of the 2014 Rotax Pro Tour takes place in Dubbo, NSW from February 28 - March 2.
