23rd August 2015

Mixed Heat Results at the Rotax Pro Tour in Puckapunyal

Sydney’s Pierce Lehane and Queensland’s Clem O’Mara have taken a clean sweep of wins across the heat races on the back of their pole positions in Rotax Light and Rotax Heavy respectively, while the battles have commenced amongst some of the biggest fields of the weekend across the junior classes, with the Victorian Rotax State Championship now well in sight at Pro Tour Puckapunyal.

Micro Max
An early time in qualifying for Jack Westbury was enough to help secure the Praga driver pole position in Micro Max with a 49.054, while first round winner Adrian Haak set his quickest lap late in the session to elevate him to second. Just 0.003 seconds would separate Haak from Jack Childs with Cody Maynes-Rutty set to join Childs on the second row, with the third row to be formed by Oscar Targett and Ryan Tomsett. An issue off the start line for Westbury forced him to the back of the field, subsequently resulting in a battle for position amongst the top four throughout the race. It would be Targett who would go on to take a close win from Haak with Childs, Maynes-Rutty and Ryan Tomsett rounding out the top five.

Praga’s Bayley Douglas recorded the fastest time in qualifying in Mini Max (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Mini Max
While an early session time for Bayley Douglas was enough to secure him pole position with a 46.047, the remainder of drivers inside the top five left much of their running towards the latter stages of the eight minute session. James Wharton remained as Douglas’ closest challenger throughout much of qualifying, subsequently securing second with Jaiden Pope, Luke Pink and Jay Hanson rounding out the top five. A trademark close battle within the front runners of Mini Max headlined the opening ten lap heat race of the weekend, while it was Bayley Douglas who came through to become the eventual winner, contact on the final lap with three corners to go between Jaiden Pope and James Wharton forced the pair out of contention for the race win, elevating Kai Allen into second ahead of Jay Hanson in third, Luke Pink in fourth with Pope coming through to take fifth. A post-race penalty for Jaiden Pope added five seconds to his race time.

Junior Max Trophy
A quick time on the final lap of qualifying for Reece Cohen helped to secure him pole position with a 44.477, though it would be just 0.1 seconds that would separate the entire top five at the completion of the session with Lucas Lichtenberger holding provisional pole up until Cohen’s time, with the Eastern Creek round winner settling for second. West Australian Aaron Love would start third alongside Lewis Hodgson with Kiwi Matthew Payne rounding out the top five. Multiple changes in the lead throughout heat one for Junior Max Trophy would eventually see Lucas Lichtenberger come away with victory by 1.1 seconds on the back of his clean sweep of victories from the last round. Polesitter Reece Cohen consolidated himself in second, finishing 0.2 seconds ahead of a hard charging Aaron Love in third from Matthew Payne and Lewis Hodgson with Mitchell Kerrison
rounding out the top six. A five second post-race penalty was added to Lichtenberger’s time, promoting Cohen to the win.

A field of 40 karts took to the track in Junior Max with Thomas Hughes taking pole position and the win in heat one. (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Junior Max
There would be very little that would separate the Junior Max field throughout qualifying, though a flying last
lap for Thomas Hughes was enough for him to secure pole position in the 40 kart field with a 43.159, relegating
series points leader Zane Morse to second by just 0.01 seconds. Tim Colombrita was fastest for much of the session before settling for third ahead of Reece Sidebottom, Joshua Fife and Cody Brewczynski.
The opening battle between the largest field of the weekend provided the expected excitement, with multiple changes in position right throughout the field, though it would be the polesitter, Thomas Hughes, who would open up enough of a buffer on his nearest opponents to claim the first heat race wine ahead of Reece Sidebottom in second. Canberra pair Joshua Fife and Zane Morse would finish third and fourth respectively from Cameron Longmore and Liam Ford.

Rotax 125 Light
Pierce Lehane managed to continue his impressive recent form, on the back of his success abroad at the Euromax Series in Germany, the Sydney driver secured pole position, marginally ahead of the reigning Australian Champion, Brad Jenner. Local Thomas Prascevic stepped up to reflect his track knowledge of the Puckapunyal circuit, taking the third quickest time just ahead of Nicholas Andrews and Nikolaj Thomas. Lehane continued his strong start to round six of the series, clearing away to take a comfortable win ahead of Brad Jenner. Nathan Tigani managed to get through to third in the early stages, holding the position through to the end, finishing ahead of Daniel Rochford and Bret Mullavey.
Another lead from start to finish for Pierce Lehane saw the former National Champion secure a comfortable race win while the battle for position within the remaining spots inside the top continued throughout the race. While BirelART drivers Brad Jenner and Cody Gillis raced hard alongside the Tony Kart pairing of Nathan Tigani and Thomas Prascevic, contact would see Jenner and Gillis both slip to the tail end of the field, promoting Prascevic up to claim second ahead of Daniel Rochford and Thomas MacDonald with Tigani securing fifth. In a mirror of his efforts from the first two heat races, Lehane broke away yet again to take the win with Brad Jenner stepping up to take second over Nikolaj Thomas, while it was a battle between team mates Nathan Tigani and Cody Gillis for the final two placings inside the top five as Tigani finished ahead of Gillis at the fall of the chequered flag.

Clem O’Mara continued his charge in Rotax Heavy with pole position and three wins from three starts in the heat races (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Rotax 125 Heavy
Queensland’s Lane Moore showed early pace in qualifying for Rotax Heavy, though it was his fellow statesman
Clem O’Mara who would step up to take pole with a 43.880, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Chris Farkas. Regan Payne and Matthew McNeill would share the second row for the heat races ahead of Moore and Victorian Mitchell Mackay. An early breakaway for O’Mara saw him open up a gap of 2.6 seconds by the completion of
the twelve lap race to take the win ahead of Lane Moore who picked his way through to second, finishing
narrowly ahead of Farkas and Payne with Mitchell Mackay completing the top five.
Clem O’Mara managed to back up his efforts from heat one by taking a stirring 1.7 second victory over Regan Payne who managed to set continued fast lap times before taking second, while a last lap pass saw Matthew McNeill move through to collect third over Chris Farkas with Lane Moore in fifth. Heat three subsequently saw a clean sweep of heat race wins for the weekend for O’Mara as he took the win by a slender 0.1 seconds ahead of Farkas in second. Payne and McNeill battled throughout the race before securing third and fourth respectively over Mitchell Mackay and Lane Moore.

DD2
The closest possible battle within qualifying took place in DD2 with Victorian Lee Mitchener setting the fastest lap time with a 42.598, matching times with Chris Bregonje, with the pair subsequently starting the heat races on the front row together. Troy Woolston and Adam Lindstrom were both within 0.02 seconds of the fastest lap,being in third and fourth respectively, just ahead of Jason Pringle and Jordan Boys. A brief shower of rain just prior to the commencement of heat one added further interest to an already hotly contested battle in DD2.
Queensland’s Ryan Kennedy managed the slightly damp yet drying conditions the best of any of the drivers, picking up a close win over New Zealand born Josh Drysdale. Kris Walton came through to pick up third from Jason Pringle and Jordan Boys with pole sitter Lee Mitchener coming through in ninth.
A superb battle within the top six including multiple lead changes highlighted heat two for DD2, though it was Troy Woolston who managed to break through a take the win by 0.4 seconds following contact between Jason Pringle and Chris Bregonje on the final lap which forced both drivers out of contention after being inside the top three. Lee Mitchener subsequently came through to take second from Ryan Kennedy, Reagan Angel and Travis
Millar. An early lead for Mitchener helped him to go on take the win in heat three, his first victory of the weekend after starting from pole position. Jason Pringle involved himself in a close battle within the top five before claiming second ahead of Woolston who settled for third from Kyle Henry-Smith and Ryan Kennedy.

Daniel Richert recorded the quickest time in qualifying in addition to two heat race wins in DD2 Masters (Pic: Coopers Photography)

DD2 Masters
Victorian Daniel Richert asserted his ongoing dominance within the DD2 Masters field, setting the quickest
time in qualifying with a 42.987, also being the only driver in the session to go below 43 seconds. Adam Hunter
was his closest challenger with a 43.200, Klinton Hancey set the third fastest time ahead of Scott Howard and Ryan Rannard. A consistent early battle in heat one between Richert and Hunter saw the pair change positions for the lead, before a mechanical drama for Hunter mid-race saw him make an early departure, promoting
Hancey into second with Howard holding on for third ahead of Danny Wright and Ryan Rannard.
Following his DNF in heat one on Friday afternoon, Tony Kart driver Adam Hunter broke to take a comfortable ten second victory in heat two, finishing ahead of heat one winner Daniel Richert. Scott Howard made his way through to take third from Klinton Hancey and Danny Wright. A reverse of the second heat race was seen in the final twelve lap dash with Daniel Richert managing a narrow victory by 0.2 seconds over Hunter with Scott
Howard again collecting third place from Hancey with Ryan Rannard stepping up into the top five for the second time in the weekend’s heat races.

Round 6 of 2015 Rotax Pro Tour takes place at Puckapunyal, VIC from 21-23 August.
To follow the event online throughout the weekend, Like Rotax Pro Tour on Facebook, Follow Rotax Pro Tour on Twitter and tune into the live audio commentary via Ustream at www.rotax.com.au/streaming.html