57 entrants contested 9 classes of racing at the monthly Club Day meeting of the Ballarat Go Kart Club. Warm and humid conditions were the order of the day. Numbers were boosted by visitors from clubs across Victoria who were taking the opportunity to get some valuable practice in ahead of the final round of the 2008 Country Series, and the VIC Closed Titles; both big meetings scheduled for the Ballarat track in late November/early October. With this being the final round of racing to decide the club champions for the year some great racing was on display. Results as follows......
Senior National Pro
1st Andrew Smith
2nd Ben Beasley
3rd Josh Dunstone
4th John Page
5th Michael Masterson
6th Callum Boyce
7th Jamie Attwood
Entertainment was again the order of the day from the Senior National Pro class. Little seperated the front-runners in both heats and the final. Andrew Smith seems to have sorted out the new Arrow frame with hard fought victories in both heats and the final, closley followed home by Ben Beasley who had borrowed Ash Quiddington's cart for the day to run in the national class. Josh Dunstone was again in the mix with a third place on the day reward for consistency.
Junior National Heavy
1st Ash Quiddington
2nd Nick Davenport
3rd Hayden Dodman
A small field contested the Junior National Heavy class providing some of the closest racing of the day. Ash Quiddington returned to the top of the podium ahead of Nick Davenport who chased hard all day. Visitor Hayden Dodman was right in the mix as well, gaining some valuable track time ahead of the open meetings in November and December. Clean and close racing kept the crowd on its toes.
Junior National Light
1st Zac Jones
2nd Christian Harris
3rd Tyler Carter
4th Steven Doria
5th Kyle Bourke
6th Patrick Loiacono
7th Sean Creek
Some great racing kept the crowd entertained as visitors Zac Jones and Christian Harris battled it out in the Junior National LIght class. After a win each in the heats, the final delivered a great contest where the lead swapped regularly before Zac Jones prevailed to seal the victory on the day. Tyler Carter continued his good form to finish third on the day, with Steve Doria and the improving Kyle Bourke chasing hard.
Clubman Light
1st Ben Beasley
2nd Chris Dodman
3rd Paul Stack
4th Drew Masterson
5th Ash Findlay
6th Robert McMaster
Ben Beasley continued on his way with another victory in the Clubman Light class in a tight battle with visitor Chris Dodman. Paul Stack battled gamely to take third on the day, with the rest of the field struggling to match the pace set by the front runners.
Clubman Heavy
1st Brad DeCarli
2nd John Owen
3rd Leon Forest
4th Neville Crump
5th Michael Ryrie
6th Mark Cottrell
7th Paul Feely
8th Michael Cunningham
9th Jason Harrison
10th Kevin O'Donohue
11th Michael Seerarly
The Clubman Heavy boys were out in force with a number of visitors in the field. Brad DeCarli once again topped the podium with an all the way win once more. With 8 racers recording DNFs in heat 2, staying on the track was the key to podium finishes on the day, and John Owen came through for 2nd place. Leon Forest edged Neville Crump for 3rd place on the day on a countback.
Clubman Super Heavy
1st Trevor Attwood
2nd Dean Marshall
3rd Stephen Macdonald
4th Bob Graham
5th Derek Toering
Clubman Super Heavy drivers enjoyed the opportunity to run as a seperate class, with Trevor Attwood on top of the podium for the first time with fine performances across the heats and final. Dean Marshall boys drove consistently to take 2nd place overall, ahead of Steve Macdonald. Steve provided one of the more exciting moments of the day when he managed to stand his cart on its nose, putting it through a spin in midair before bringing it back down on all four wheels; all in slow motion! President Bob worked hard in the heats before leaving it to the young blokes to fight out the final.
Midgets
1st Blake Graham
2nd Jarrod Dwyer
3rd Tyler Harrison
4th Micheal Seferis
5th Max Kranjc
6th Todd McMaster
7th Aaron Cunningham
8th Jaidyn Lloyd
Once again we saw some great individual tussles were the feature of the Midgets class. At the front of the field there was some excellent racing between Blake Graham and Jarrod Dwyer while close behind them was another great battle between Tyler Harrison and Micheal Seferis. Blake Graham secured victory on the day just shading Jarrod Dwyer, with Tyler Harrison edging past Micheal to take third place on the day.
Rookies
1st Dylan Harrison
2nd Mitch Quiddington
3rd Jayden Boak
4th Bryce Carter
5th Danial Doria
6th Sam Mennen
Dylan Harrison and Mitch Quiddington had a great battle at the front of the Rookies field before Dylan prevailed on the day. Some close racing with the lead swapping regularly was the order of the day. Jayden Boak continued his improvement for a great podium finish in third after seeing off challenges from Bryce Carter and Daniel Doria.
TAG PRO
1st Neville Crump
2nd Peter Renga
3rd Robert Cole
4th Andrew Stasse
Neville Crump was an all-the-way winner in the TAG PRO class for the day, taking wins in both heats and the final. Pete Renga kept the crowd entertained with his hard-charging driving while trying to eat into Neville's lead, while the consistent Robert Cole took another podium finish with a close thrid on the day.
Encouragement Award for the day went to Midget driver Aaron Cunningham. After struggling with the wet conditions last time out Aaron showed great improvement to record his fastest times to date at the track.
The next meeting is the final round of the 2008 Victorian Country Series, scheduled for the weekend of November 22nd/23rd at the Haddon Park Raceway at Haddon. Spectator entry is free, and all are welcome.
For more info visit www.ballaratkartclub.com
