The third round of the Australian Kart Championships welcomed a number of new faces to the podium, whilst some old favourites made a welcome return to the podium.
Scuderia PCR Australia’s Kyle Henry-Smith took his first AKC win in KA1 – it was the first win in 20 years for the Italian chassis in the category (or equivalent). The Gold Coast-based New South Welshman waited until just over one lap to go to make the decisive move on Scott Sorensen.
18-time Australian Champion, David Sera made a welcome return to the podium in X30. After winning the Australian KZ2 Championship last year, Sera has elected to use X30 as a development platform for his ‘Deadly’ chassis.He finished 3rd while Justin Francis won the race in front of Ben Harders. Two european drivers participated in X30. Marijn Kremers strated weel in the first heats, then loose some places before coming back in the top 10 at the end. The weekend has bee much more hard for Tom Joyner: back in 5th place on the finish line of the final race, he was eventually disqualified for a faulty transponder.
KA2 Championship leader, Lachlan Hughes was able to salvage poor heat race form to maintain the lead margin he came into the round with after a masterful performance in his Ricciardo Kart.
In TaG 125, Cody Gillis walked away with the win and his first AKC round win. Gillis had been the head of the field all weekend long and looked very strong once again.
In KZ2 – rain descended on Monarto just prior to the gate being opened for competitors. This sparked a flurry of discussion before the race, however all drivers elected to remain on slick tyres.
With all on dry tyres on a wet racetrack, it delivered a fascinating race. In the end, South Australian Daniel Price crossed the line first, however he was later excluded for a nosecone violation, thus handing the race win to his CRG Australia team-mate Jason Pringle.
Find the entire report on www.karting.net.au.
Info Karting Australia /© Photos Glenn Davidson