PRO TOUR ROUND 3 WEEKEND REPORT - IPSWICH KART CLUB

The Rotax Pro Tour has continued its trend of providing some of the most exciting racing of the Karting season and has kept drivers and spectators alike itching for more.  The third round was raced at Ipswich Kart track in Queensland over the weekend of the 17^th – 19th of June.

This weekend format was slightly different with an added top 5 shootout after qualifying and racing into the cool night air under lights on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The Micro Max Category was the first to hit the track with only a small field of 5 competitors. They were extremely close in times and any of the top four could have taken the win. Sydney's Austin McPherson set the pace most of weekend, but it was Jay Kostecki who took the lead early in final and lead from start to finish to win the final and Qld state title. Closely behind him, original pole sitter Austin worked his way back from being penalised in the pre-final and worked his way from 4^th to 2^nd. Koda Singh finished 3^rd

The Mini Maxfield  brought some incredible race craft and great spectator entertainment. These kids are 9-12 years old and raced with sportsmanship and moves beyond their years. Jensen Tyler Marold (who travelled all the way from South Australia!) and Basilo Micale shared the heat and Pre Final wins heading into the final. Basilo led early on but a mistake saw him drop back down to 5^th, He fought back to 4th. After initially running second, Jensen got to the front and controlled the race to drive to the finish for the win. Riley Harrison made a classy pass to move into second and kept Jensen honest to the finish. Corey Carson rounded out the top 3 and cemented himself a good series points haul.

Series leader Max Walton set the pace for Junior Max all weekend, qualifying pole and wining two of the heats, however Armand Hamilton was always a force to be reckoned with  and took a heat win along with the all important Pre-Final win. Walton had an eventful final and ran in 3^rd for the first half of the race before eventually coming home 8^th. Meanwhile Hamilton shone, having missed round 2 of Pro Tour and had a change of team, he made his mark to win the final with ease. 2^nd place went to Ryan McMillan and James Anagnostiadis drove from 6^th to finish 3^rd.

Local Rotax Senior Light driver Harrison Hoey was untouchable all weekend clean sweeping the event from qualifying, winning the heats, Pre-Final and the Final. The only driver to get close was Gianmarco Pradel. After a tough start Pradel dropped back to 5^th and lost a lot of ground on Hoey, he didn’t give up and set the fastest lap hunting him down. With a lap to go he made his move to take the lead, but Hoey switched him back to take the win. Tyler Howard rounded out the top 3. There was an some amazing intensity in this field over the weekend. The series points battle is heating up and some thought will be needed by some of the drivers in this field.

In Rotax Senior Heavy, Regan Payne was another driver that dominated his field. He took every heat, qualifying, fastest laps and final race win with ease. Zane Morrison, had his best showing of the year and finished 2^nd in his brand new sparkling blue and yellow Lando kart with mum painting her nails to match. Defending Queensland state title holder from 2021 Matt Greenbury finished 3^rd after a tough start to the weekend when he didn’t make it for qualifying. The racing in this class was reflected by the talent within the field. The driving standard was exceptional all weekend.

The DD2 Masters field numbers grew again at this round as we welcome local Angus Mathers and Kiwi Dan Samuelson. Troy Bretherton took the round win and has now taken 3 rounds from 3. Danny Wright making his 2^nd appearance for this year’s series took out  second and local former Ipswich club president Scott Howard in 3^rd.  The grid for the heats was changed following the one lap top 5 shootout with Howard repeating his qualifying time but Bretherton could not, dropping to 3^rd for the starts of the heats. Terry Hanly was there or abouts the whole weekend keeping the front 3 on their toes.

DD2 class numbers were really disappointing with only 4 drivers competing and one driver not making the final due to injury. Jackson Rooney took another round win from Praga driver Jonathen Marcusson in 2^nd with a very under the weather Josh Bethune finishing 3^rd. The series points for this class are very tight heading to Griffith.

Rotax Pro tour heads to Griffith for round 4 next month, with the round being moved forward a week to the 21st – 24th of July to avoid clashes with other events. Griffiths format will be as announced in July. Saturday will see qualifying Two heats and a Pre-Final and the Final will be raced under lights for all classes. On Sunday there will be a mini- enduro race for each class.

• Pre-Final points will be awarded for this race
• Scanned tyres from Friday and/or Saturday are the only tyres to be used. Any combination of your 8 scanned tyres are permitted.
• A minimum lap time of 5 minutes from start line to start line is required with full details to follow
• A minimum fuel drop of 1 litre is required
• The grid is a full reverse grid of Saturdays Final results