EXCITING BATTLES ON QUALIFYING DAY IN PUCKAPUNYAL

The opening day of racing in the penultimate round of the 2016 Rotax Pro Tour has played host to a vast array of race winners and exciting battles for the lead with the results helping to build towards the all-important point scoring finals to determine the composition of Team Australia for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals and the Victorian State Rotax Champions.

Micro Max
Two wins from the three heat races for Canberra’s Sebastian Ruiz will see the series points leader start on pole position in Micro Max as he embarks on his first appearance at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals and the first time the class will form part of the main event. Despite a DNF in heat three, Harry Arnett had a successful day with a win in heat two and will start alongside Ruiz with Emerson Vincent to start third, Xavier Renshaw fourth and Macka Hazard fifth.

Kai Allen will start from Pole Position in the Mini Max Pre-Final (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Mini Max
A pair of victories for Kai Allen has earnt him pole position for the Mini Max pre-final with Allen finishing second to team mate James Wharton in heat two. Wharton’s two second place finishes in heat one and three will see the pair share the front for the start of the pre-final, starting ahead of fellow Victorian Hugh Barter who showed good outright speed throughout the heats, taking a trio of third place finishes.
New Zealand’s Connor Davison had his best day since joining the series and will start fourth in the pre-final following two fourth place finishes in the heats with Angus Giffin and Cody Maynes-Rutty to form the third row with both having finished inside the top five during the day.

Junior Max Trophy
It was yet another clean sweep for Travis Worton in Junior Max Trophy as the series points leader looks set to go one step closer to representing Australia at the US Open in Las Vegas. Worton took the three wins ahead of Jaiden Pope on all three occasions with Pope sharing his time in the lead of the races. Callum Bishop and Zayd Tones both finished inside the top three during the day and will start the pre-final from third and fourth respectively with Taylah Agius to start fifth following a best result of third in heat three.

Junior Max
Dylan Hollis held a commanding lead in the Junior Max series points entering the Puckapunyal event and another successful day for the Victorian has him one step closer to a maiden appearance for Team Australia at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals with Hollis to start from pole in the pre-final. Alec Morse finished as high as second in the opening heat and will shre the front row with his team mate in Hollis with Jack Winter also having a successful day with three finishes inside the top five, starting from third alongside a hard charging Tomas Gasperak in fourth who made his way through from tenth on all three occasions. Two successful results for Cody Brewczynski will see the Sydney racer start on third row alongside Bolivar round winner Cameron Longmore.

Brad Jenner working hard for a third Team Australia appearance (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Rotax 125 Light
Victorian Brad Jenner took a clean sweep in qualifying and the three heat races for Rotax 125 Light as he continues his charge towards earning another appearance for Team Australia at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals.

Cody Gillis and Joshua Fife who are also in the running to be part of the team will start second and third respectively in the pre-final after the team mates traded places on multiple occasions throughout the day within the top four. Troy Alger will start from fourth after a best result of third in heat one in his return to the series with Brianna Wilston picking up her best results in the series to start on third row alongside Nikolaj Thomas.

Rotax 125 Heavy
A mixture of winners highlighted the day for Rotax 125 Heavy with pole-sitter Joshua Davey securing two victories from three starts, however a mechanical drama at the start of heat two prevented the young Queenslander from starting the 11 lap event. Shay Mayes broke through to take the win in that race and will start the pre-final from pole following his win and a third and fourth place finish. Clem O’Mara’s consistency again shone through as he secured two second place finishes and will share the front with Mayes with Benjamin Ritchie set to start alongside Davey.

DD2
An almost perfect day for Adam Lindstrom in DD2 was headlined by two wins from three starts for the Victorian, handing him pole position for the pre-final. A successful day for Queensland’s James Foster including a win in heat three will see him start alongside Lindstrom with Jason Richards Cup winner Joshua Car to start from third after an improvement from a tenth place finish in heat one to pick up two third’s in heat two and three. Again on double duties, Lee Mitchener will share the second row with Car with former Team Australia drivers Ryan Kennedy and Troy Woolston set to battle it out from the third row.

Tremendous racing in DD2 Masters saw Scott Howard take the win in Heat 3 (Pic: Coopers Photography)

DD2 Masters
Series points leader Lee Mitchener will start the DD2 Masters pre-final from pole position after taking the win in both heat one and two combined with third in heat three. The Victorian drove through from third in all three races to earn the position, starting alongside Daniel Richert who scored a trio of second place finishes. Scott Howard’s victory in heat three was enough to boost him up the order to start third in the first of the longer races alongside Mark Flood who finished all three of the minor races inside the top five. Heat race pole-sitter Troy Bretherton will start fifth following a best result of third in heat one.

Round 6 of the 2016 Rotax Pro Tour takes place on August 26-28 at the Hume International Raceway, Puckapunyal, Victoria and will be recognised as the 2016 Victorian Rotax State Championships. To follow either event online throughout the weekend, like Rotax Pro Tour on Facebook and tune into the live audio commentary via Ustream at www.rotax.com.au/streaming.html