SERA, ROCHFORD AND SIDEBOTTOM IMPRESS IN DUBBO

David Sera won all three heats of KZ2 (Pic: Coopers Photography)

A trio of Australian Champions, David Sera, Daniel Rochford and Reece Sidebottom have impressed in the opening day of proceedings in Dubbo at the Australian Kart Championship presented by Jayco and Castrol EDGE.

Sera was dominant in his KZ2 Championship return after a layoff of 12 months following a wrist injury. He took the new-look Deadly Kart to pole position before systematically picking off victory in both of his heats.

Equally impressive in KZ2 was South Aussies John Mangos and Daniel Price. Mangos – who switched to Energy Kart in season 2016 – finished second in both heats after being an early leader, whilst Price brought his GP Kart home in third and fourth respectively, BirelART’s Chris Hays grabbing third position in the second heat.

Daniel Rochford showed the way in X30 (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Daniel Rochford showed that a change to Arrow chassis had no ill-effect in X30, the Australian Champion grabbing pole and three heat race wins. Nevertheless, Adam Lindstrom is keeping him honest with two close cut second places. Lindstrom was involved in a turn one heat one incident that cost the Formula K driver from scoring further points.

Morgan Feast (FA Kart) is the other driver most likely in X30, among the top three all day. Impressive qualifying performances were also recorded by Jordi Marcon and Tommy Quinlan.

Last year’s elite Junior Champion, Reece Sidebottom made every post a winner in his KA1 debut, securing pole and winning both heats.

Defending Australian Champion, Holden Kart Team JC Kart driver, Liam McLellan looked a little out of sorts with the new engine combination, whilst 16-year-old Queenslander Marc Tulloch was super-impressive securing a second placed finish in the opening heat after qualifying on the front row.

In KA3 Senior, Dean O’Brien took the first two heat race victories before Matt McLean (Arrow) took the final heat race – surviving a dive-bomb from Luke Wrigley two corners from home – Wrigley bending a steering arm and spearing off the racetrack.

The parity of the KA TaG category was proven to be no issue – with all three engine manufacturers in the field taking heat race wins.

The day started with Luke van Herwaarde setting the pole position and then taking his PRD Galaxy powered FA Kart to victory in the first heat race. Rotax-powered CompKart pilot, Joshua Car won the second heat, whilst IAME X30-powered FA Kart racer, Brendan Nelson took a strong win in heat three.

The Junior racing was nothing short of scintillating.

Dylan Hollis was victorious in heat three of KA2 (Pic: Coopers Photography)

In the elite KA2 class, Jack Doohan, Broc Feeney and Dylan Hollis shared the race victories. The final race was arguably the race of the day with six drivers in the mix, ultimately going the way of Hollis with Hoey nabbing Doohan on the line.

Qualifying produced a first time pole sitter with Lachlan Hughes setting the pace in his Tom Williamson Motorsport Kosmic Kart. The Gold Coaster blitzing the field.

In KA4 Junior, whilst all three heat race wins were taken by Travis Worton, it is by no means an indication of the competitiveness of the field.

Worton took the lead with only two laps to go in the first race and it was a similar story in the third, the win coming narrowly over Oscar Priest.

Priest, Jay Hanson and Scuderia PCR’s Benito Montalbano have all featured in the top four of today’s proceedings.

Cadet 12 was also a true highlight of the day. With 41 karts greeting the starter, it hasn’t been for the faint of heart.

CRG drivers Adrian Haak and Kai Allen shared the opening two heat race victories, whilst in the third, Allen snuck home on his Shamick Racing CRG team-mate James Wharton by the barest of margins. With the naked eye unable to tell the difference, timing said that the gap between the pair was 0.001.

In Cadet 9 Emerald (Queensland) racer, Carter Mobbs has held an unbelievable dominance – winning by a big margin in all three of the races held thus far. He was also able to set the pole position ensuring a maximum score for day one in the first ever Cadet 9 Australian Title. Ryan Tomsett recorded a pair of second places, before South Aussie Ben Holliday pushed through for a second in the third and final heat.

Tomorrow, the third heat for KA1 and KZ2 will be conducted before the fourth heat for each classes and Finals.

Livestream of all the Australian Kart Championship, presented by Jayco and Castrol EDGE action will be carried on www.karting.net.au.

To preview the action, we caught up with a number of the stars of the Australian Kart Championship and asked them their ‘Fast Five’ and also held the first round of the MG Tires tyre changing competition. View these videos below