Rotax Pro Tour - Saturday Summary
| press release | 13 April 2014 |
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“The sun shines on a day of close racing at Pro Tour Lithgow”
The fourth round of the 2014 Rotax Pro Tour has provided sunny conditions that have subsequently resulted in the need for commitment and consistency in driving in both qualifying and the heat races with times separated by less than a tenth of second across all the categories throughout the day.
Victorian Hamish Leighton returned to his strong qualifying form by taking pole position in DD2 Masters with rankings leader Adam Hunter snaring second aboard his Karting World LH Kart, while Albury’s Danny Wright secured third over Lee Adams and Jose Ruiz. Leighton’s good form transferred into the three 16 lap heat races as he took victory, despite fending off numerous challenges from Hunter who would take a string of second places behind Leighton in all three races. Danny Wright’s two third places and a fourth will see him start from third in the pre-final, sharing the second row with Steve Ellery while Lee Adams and Jose Ruiz will make up the third row.
Above: Hamish Leighton (2) and Adam Hunter shared the lead throughout the heat races of DD2 Masters
pic - Coopers Photography
Glen Ormerod secured pole position in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class by just 0.1 seconds from West Australian Brooke Redden with debutant Samuel Dicker taking third ahead of Shane Kubacki and Chris Bregonje. Ormerod, who has his Kart prepared by Sydney based team Karting World was then able to continue his form into the heats where took strong and confidence boosting race wins on all occasions. Despite Samuel Dicker’s fifth in heat two, a pair of second places in the two further heats have helped him to progress to second for the start of the pre-final, while a third in heat two for Shane Kubacki combined with his consistent results in heat one and three will have him share the second row with Marc Tulloch. Chris Bregonje will start from fifth while Brooke Redden finished 11th in heat two together with a third and fourth place finish which will see him start sixth.
Above: Glen Ormerod secured pole position and the three heat race victories in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class
pic - Coopers Photography
In just his second event within the Pro Tour, Dubbo’s Dean O’Brien took pole position in the highly competitive Rotax Light category. O’Brien’s time was just 0.02 seconds ahead of Bret Mullavey, while rankings leader Brad Jenner took third. The #94 RK Karts driver finished ahead of Queensland’s Ryan Kennedy and Dalton Ellery with Victorian Zac Soutar starting alongside Ellery on the third row for the heats.
Dean O’Brien’s impressive qualifying form was backed up with two heat race victories which helped him clinch pole position for the pre-final. The heat race front row will be replicated in the 24 lap pre-final with Bret Mullavey snaring the first heat race victory combined with an eighth and fifth to start second while Brad Jenner will start third after a pair of second place finishes in heat two and three. Ryan Kennedy’s consistent top ten results in conjunction with a third in heat two will see him start alongside Jenner. Zac Soutar and Bryce Davidson both experienced mixed heat race results, however a string of top five finishes will have the two drivers start fifth and sixth respectively.
Above: Dean O’Brien will start from pole in the Rotax Light pre-final
pic - Coopers Photography
Jayden Ojeda stepped up to take pole position in Junior Max as the Exprit driver assumed the front row alongside G-Force Karting’s Nicholas Andrews with less than 0.1 separating the pair. Fellow G-Force driver Zane Goddard took the third quickest time from Karting World’s Cody Gillis with West Australian Jake Kostecki snaring fifth on his penultimate lap in the session.
With Ojeda’s strong qualifying pace being transferred to the heat races, the Exprit driver was able to take victory in heat one and two. It proved to be a close battle in the second and third heat races between Ojeda and eventual heat three winner and FA Kart driver Bryce Fullwood who challenged the Sydneysider for his position on countless occasions. Zane Goddard’s pair of third place finishes in heat two and three have helped progress him to start third in the pre-final, sharing the second row with G-Force Karting team mate, Toowoomba’s William Brown, while yet another G-Force driver, Nicholas Andrews will start fifth after two fourth places finishes aswell as a sixth place result. Isaac Vaccarella improved from his qualifying position of eighth to take a sixth, seventh and eighth place finish in the heats and will join Andrews on the third row.
Above: Jayden Ojeda won two of the three Jnr MAX heats
pic - Coopers Photography
CRG driver Jason Pringle remained almost unstoppable throughout all of the DD2 events with the Victorian taking pole position with a 34.778, just 0.06 seconds ahead of Praga driver Jordan Boys. The Albury driver’s time was only 0.02 seconds faster than that of Nathan Taylor with Birel’s James Macken finishing fourth and Sydney’s Mathew Erdmann fifth. The closeness in times within the eight minute session was reflected with just 0.3 seconds separating the entire top ten.
While Jason Pringle was challenged on occasions for his lead, he had all the answers as he drove to secure three heat race victories. The second place finishes were shared across both Jordan Boys and Nathan Taylor, with Taylor taking the spoils in heat one and two and Boys in heat three, though Boys’ third and fourth in heat one and two helped him to start on the front row alongside Pringle. Nathan Taylor will start from third alongside Energy Kart driver Lucas Ward who took two fifth places and a sixth across the three races. Mathew Erdmann proved quickest around the Lithgow circuit on a number of occasions helping him to take third in heat two and three, with his 13th place result in heat one forcing him to start fifth in the pre-final alongside Ryan Rannard.
Above: Jason Pringle took a clean sweep across the DD2 heat races
pic - Coopers Photography
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.
Above: Samuel Dicker will start from second in the Sodi Junior Max Trophy Class pre-final on debut
pic - Coopers Photography
