Home > News > Latest News > The 2014 South Pacific Titles wrap up in Orange this weekend – From the Central Western Daily

6th November 2014

The 2014 South Pacific Titles wrap up in Orange this weekend - From the Central Western Daily

GEARING UP: Karters (from left) James Keen, Joe Lavell, Steve Keen, Jason Newman, Ben Churchland, Trevor Keen, Lachlan Lawson, Mark Dunbar, Tony Lawson, Paul Newman, James Nolan, Wayne Ogilvie, Mick Johnson, Grant Inwood and Brad Newman. Photo: NICK McGRATH

THE Tony Leahey Motor Group Newmans South Pacific Titles roar into Orange this weekend, and the Orange Kart Club is banking on it being one of the biggest legs held in the city.

Set to explode with an already bumper field of over 150 entries, the South Pacific Titles are set to be a big winner on and off the track.

“At the moment, it’s the biggest event we’ve had here for a while,” Orange Kart Club vice president Col Jones said.

“We’ve got over 150 pre-entries already, with a week to go.

“That’s really good.”

An event already steeped in prestige – the likes of former Formula One driver Mark Webber, Nascar’s Marcus Ambrose and V8 stars Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Tim Leahey have all raced at the event in Orange – Jones expects some more genuine talent to come to the fore when this weekend’s meeting begins on Saturday morning.

“We’ve got state and national title holders, former and current, racing here … it’s a very good calibre field,” he added.

In total 14 classes will be contested over the two days.

Beginning with the rookie class – held for seven-year-olds – racing then progresses into the cadet class before hitting juniors.

“And then it starts splitting up into weight categories,” Jones continued, with the two main classes the senior national pro and the clubman pro.

There’s over $6000 worth of cash and prizes to be won at the meeting, and Jones said the financial incentive dangled in front of visiting drivers would reap massive benefits for the Orange Kart Club in return, with a big crowd tipped to hand the club a strong financial windfall off the track.

And that’s a massive win for a club that was gutted by vandals earlier in 2014.

“It means a lot, this is our major race for the year,” he said.

“This is the one that makes the most money for the club, so this race puts the icing on the cake for the year with the problems we had earlier in the year with the vandalism … this big one will put us back to where we need to be.”

The event will also double as the final round for the TAG Super Series, a benefit Jones said “makes for a good weekend”.

Action will begin at 8.30am on Saturday.