Country Series Round 6 (Final)
| by Bradley Anderson | 28 October 2014 |
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The Ballarat Kart Club hosted the final round of the 2014 Austrans Victorian Country Series on October the 18th and 19th with 167 entries received.
The traditional last round format was tweaked slightly this year with no practice on the Friday. There was ample practice Saturday morning with the first round of heats being completed that afternoon. Sunday saw the second round of heats along with the finals being completed with plenty of time to spare for the round and Series presentations.
- full results on CMS
The Cadets were the first class to compete with 20 drivers facing the starter. The racing was close and exciting throughout the final with plenty of passing. At the chequered flag the first 5 drivers were separated by less than 1 second. Corbin Baily took the win on the last lap from Maison Blackwood with Blake Purdie in third.
Above: Blake Purdie finished 3rd in Cadets
Sportsman Restricted Light also had a strong field with 17 entries. Jarrod Dwyer went on to take a comfortable win from a consistent Joseph Clough in second. The battle for third was close and could have come down to any one of three drivers; it was Brayden Cooley who eventually took third.
Leon Forrest made it 3 wins from 3 starts in Clubman Over 40’s. He didn’t have it all his own way however as Mark Cottrell followed him over the line for second with Matthew Crane coming home in third place.
In a strong field of Rookies there was an intense battle all race long for the win between Nathan Williams, Courtney Prince and Joshua Smith. Just under 3 tenths separated this group in the end with Prince claiming the victory ahead of Williams Smith rounding out the podium.
Above: Rookies winner Courtney Prince
A small but competitive field of Junior Clubman drivers were never really separated by much all weekend long. Aaron Jackson would take a clean sweep of wins, followed by Domenic Romeo in second and Benjamen Delaney in third place.
Clubman Heavy saw Chris Thomas take yet another clean sweep of wins for the Series. This time out Mark Poole followed Thomas closely over the line for second. Third place went to local President and Series Photographer Paul Feely
Kyle Rethus would yet again claim another round win in TAG 125 Light. Rethus would take a comfortable win from Harley Benson in second. Ashley Lear rounded out the top 3 with Rohan Kinens in hot pursuit.
Above: The top 5 drivers for the series in TaG Light
In Sportsman Restricted Super Heavy it was an evenly fought out affair with the top three drivers all taking a race win each. In the final it was Andrew Hayes who took the win from Billy Askew with Mark Tune in third.
A heat 1 DNF looked like it may make a Junior National Light victory difficult for Dylan Hollis. However come the final the National Champion simply motored off into the distance. Luis Leeds took comfortable second with Jordan Pianezzola have a great scrap to take third.
Above: Dylan Hollis leads Corey Arnett (40) and Michael Clemente (15), Junior National Light
TAG 125 Heavy saw Aaron Hindle take a comfortable victory over Jack Woodfall who was shadowed over the line for second by Scott King who was driving a chassis that sustained heavy damage in heat 1.
Above: Second place in TAG Heavy was Jack Woodfall
The Mort Page Memorial for Clubman Light was won by Kyle Rethus. A DNF in heat 2 which resulted in a red flag put Rethus on the back foot, but come the final the South West driver made his way to the front and took the win. Bradley Marsh-Stepney and Andrew Mercuri finished a very close second and third respectively.
There were two very close battles fought out in Junior National Heavy. The first one was for the top step of the podium and the other for the final step. In the end it was Luis Leeds who came out on top for the win ahead of Simon Fallon. The race for third went to Brayden Flood closely followed by Aaron Jackson.
Above: Brayden Flood (23) and Aaron Jackson battling for third in Junior National Heavy
Sportsman Restricted Heavy was the last class of the day with 20 drivers all vying for the win. Taylor Gore had yet another strong weekend as he took the round win. Luke Mason finished with a comfortable second place. The race for third was saw 4 drivers separated by less than a second with Sam Wren rounding out the top three.
Above: Victory in Sportsman Restricted Heavy went to Taylor Gore
This year the Austrans Victorian Country Series handed out $22,000 in prizes. Amongst the prizes were Alpinestars race wear, MG and Dunlop tyres, Rotax digital tyre gauges, Evidence 4 cameras, tools and much, much more.
The Series would like to thank all the sponsors, officials, volunteers and of course karters and crew who helped make 2014 a success.
Series Results:
