PRO TOUR ROUND 2 WEEKEND REPORT - GEELONG KART CLUB

PRO TOUR ROUND 2 WEEKEND REPORT 

WELCOME TO GEELONG...

Last weekend was all about karting, 86 competitors across 7 classes travelled to Geelong Kart Club in Melbourne for Round 2 of the Australian Rotax Max Pro Tour Challenge. For 3 days, and some 4; drivers tested, raced and battled for the Victorian State Rotax Title and more chances to win the Wildcard Rotax World seats, of which the winners compete at the World Final in Portugal.

While admittedly overall entry numbers were down, the racing quality was significantly better. Officiating from KNSW was improved and the hype around the event from this was electric. The Geelong Kart Club were incredible hosts and the facilities are up with the best in the country. Dominic and his team have really set the standard for karting tracks in Australia. Rotax is looking forward to welcoming more Rotax karting at club days and building the relationship with Geelong Kart Club going forward.

 

MICRO MAX

Micro Max is the youngest competitors with ages ranging from seven to nine year olds. It’s also another class that doubled their entries from round 1. Nobody could catch South Australian Ace Jensen Marold from JTM racing driving a DR Kart. Jensen was In a league of his own taking out every pole, heat win and fastest laps. He drove away from the entire field in the pre-final and stretched his lead to almost 7 seconds! In the final he again broke away from the field leaving the remaining top 4 to fight it out. On the last lap his axle had vibrated loose and moved across causing the brakes to jam. Even with his huge lead he still managed to finish in 2nd place. Corey Carson fist pumped the whole way down the main straight to take the win. 

 

MINI MAX

Local ace Austin McPherson set the tone early on, he qualified pole and proved that he was the one to chase. Hunter Pearce was close behind and giving it his all to chase him down. During the final Austin had his head down and was un-touchable setting one perfect lap after another, winning by 3 seconds. Second place went to Koda Singh as Hunter was shuffled down mid race. Driver of the day went to Jay Kostecki as he drove from 6th to 3rd

SENIOR HEAVY

Senior Heavy had a different winner every heat and it wasn’t always the winners who set he fastest times. It was Regan Payne in his Tony kart who lead the way from start to checker flag in the final to a comfortable win and another state title to his belt. Matthew Lopino in 2nd and Geelong local Daniel Richert 3rd

 

JUNIOR MAX 

Junior’s was a shambles, the only driver to hold position from start to finish was winner James Anagnostiadis. Fastest Qualifier Max Walton was shuffled back to 6th on the start and drive his way back to finish second.  Toby Spinks 3rd            

 

SENIOR LIGHT 

All weekend in Senior Light it was “The Battle of the Teams!” between Troy Farley Racing with Tyler Howard, Tyler Greenbury Racings Hamish Fitzsimmons and Parolin Driver Harrison Hoey. By heat 3 each driver had a win each under their belts and just as much as the drivers wanted to win so did the teams. During the pre-final the drivers swapped and changed like it was a fight for the death, until Harrison took the win and bragging rights for pole. During the final there was less than a tenths between all 3. As Tyler finally made his move to the lead early and left Harrison and Hamish to fight it out. Tyler took the win for TFRE, Hamish Fitzsimmons 2nd and Harrison 3rd  

DD2

DD2 and DD2 Masters are the fastest category of Rotax racing, both classes doubled their numbers from Round, it’s great to see such grown in the class in just a short amount of time. 

Right from the get-go the New Zealand Kosmic Team of Josh Bethune and Jackson Rooney were fast out the gate, the dominated the races and fastest lap times all weekend. Finally finishing one two. Josh looked like the clear winner all weekend up until the final, when Jackson Rooney found what it took to take the win and title. He was closely followed by Josh and rounding out the podium Praga Team Australia’s driver Jonathan Marcusson. 

 

Scott Howard and his Sodi Kart looked comfortable, setting the lead pace in DD2 Masters, but as the rubber went down Danny Wright and Troy Bretherton were on the charge. Scott (why didn’t Scott finish the PF) didn’t finish the pre-final, which meant he started last for the final. Danny and his Praga were too good and no match for any competitor comfortably in the lead by over 2 seconds. Troy and Terry Hanley filled out the rest of the podium. 

 

After another successful round of Pro Tour, the action and fight for the title continues next month in Queensland at Ipswich Kart Club over the 16th – 19th of June. 

 

We wish everyone a safe journey to Ipswich, with our furthest competitor having to drive almost 24 hours