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13th August 2018

Jurczak closes in on Rotax Light rankings

Ben Jurczak has closed the gap to the top of the Rotax Light Rotax Rankings points after recording his first Rotax Pro Tour win of the year at Albury-Wodonga on Sunday afternoon.

Jurczak withstood all sorts of pressure from Cody Brewczynski throughout the course of an intense final to take the win by three-tenths of a second.

The battle for third had up to eight karts involved at times, ultimately falling the way of two time winner in 2018, Josh Hart. He had Leigh Nicolaou, Liam Ford and Brodie Whitmore all battling for the final step on the podium. Troy Morrissey finished seventh in an encouraging return to form and Series leader, Reece Cohen battled back to eighth after a difficult weekend.

Jaiden Pope made it two wins in succession in Junior Max. The Series leader was locked in a race long battle with James Wharton who was seeking his first podium in Junior Max and first win in the category.

Jackson Rooney took home third position after a strong fight with a number of racers – beating home Ryan Wood and Luke Pink.

Queenslander Damian Ward had a devastating return to form in DD2 taking a dominant win and maximum points in his JC Kart after topping the table at the end of the heat races, then going on to win by 2.794 seconds. The first member of Team Australia – crowned at Ipswich this year – Ryan Kennedy brought his Formula K home second narrowly in front of Nathan Tigani after the two of them had a race long battle. 

Ward – whose brother Lucas won the last round of the Series in Sydney – has got himself back in contention for the second World Finals seat to be decided at The Bend Motorsport Park over the weekend of September 14-16.

Kris Walton took his first win in DD2 Masters for the season. After opening up a big lead mid way through the race, Walton was looking comfortable while a great battle was taking place between Scott Howard and Troy Woolston. They didn’t expect local Albury-Wodonga driver, Danny Wright to join the fray – but he was soon on the rear of the battle for the podium then injected himself into it.

Wright then got to second and closed right down to Walton – the race coming down to the wire in the end and the Queensland veteran getting the win by two-tenths of a second.

Paul Rodgers made a successful return to Rotax Heavy for the round taking a hard grafted victory. While it looked easy in the end, Rodgers winning by 3.5 seconds, Christopher Board and Trent Harrison ran right with the experienced Victorian for much of the race. They each had time at the front of the field, however once Rodgers found his groove, the FA Kart driver was unstoppable. Board scored his third podium of the season, while Harrison – who also returned to the Rotax Pro Tour this weekend was happy with his podium.

Costa Toparis looks almost set to be Australia’s Mini Max representative in Brazil after a dominant performance. Toparis got to the lead then pulled away from a terrific battle for second. Toparis crossed the line 6.5 seconds in the lead, but all eyes were on the battle for the minors.

Aiva Anagnostiadis was on target to become the latest female star of the Rotax Pro Tour having run second for much of the race. That lasted until the hairpin at the end of the backstraight when she was involved in a collision with Sebastian Ruiz – this dropped her to 10th. Ruiz was later disqualified from the results by virtue of his role in the incident.

In the end, Sebastian Manson – who was in the fight from the beginning – emerged second while Z-Corse driver Coby Govoni being promoted to third.

It was better news for the Anagnostiadis family in Micro Max. Aiva’s brother, James crested the podium for the first time in the category finishing third. 

Season long front runner, Peter Bouzinelos kept the fight for the Micro Max seat in Brazil alive with a narrow victory. The Sera Driver Development driver beat home Jenson Burns by two-tenths of a second. Anagnostiadis was a further three-tenths behind.

Series leader, Jake Rutkowski made a slight mistake midway through the final which dropped him back through the field.

The next event on the Rotax Pro Tour calendar is the final round of the season to be held over the weekend of September 14-16.

The Rotax Pro Tour will create history when it becomes the first major event to be conducted on the brand new FIA-CIK rated The Bend Motorsport Park Karting Circuit in Tailem Bend.

The event will be followed by the Pro Tour’s Gala Presentation night and presentation of Team Australia at the Rydges Pit Lane Hotel within The Bend precinct. Tickets are available now from www.rotax.com.au.