Over the weekend karters swarmed to the Riverina city of Wagga Wagga. For the second round of the MIA Powder Coating Southern Star Series was held at Wagga’s Garden City raceway. Karters and their teams started arriving on Friday, preparing for the weekends racing. Karters were blessed with beautiful weather for the whole weekend with top temps of around 24 degrees. Credit must go to the Wagga Kart Club for the huge amount of effort they put into the weekend from the marking of the pits, the presentation of the track to the fantastic canteen. The Wagga Club could not be faulted.
After the first round of the series held at Canberra which attracted 164 karters to Southern Zones new series, 145 from as far to the north as Manning Valley down to Bega and Victoria to the south, continued the fight for championship points at round 2 at Wagga.
Rookies were the first class to hit the track and showed just because they are young, it doesn’t mean they cant put on a show!! Tyler Everingham took the honours in the first heat, followed over the line by Thomas Sargent and Will Longmore 3rd.
Thomas Sargent won the next two heats Everingham securing second in both heats. Jaidyn Boulding from Canberra taking third in heat two. Tayla Harnas chasing down the boys to take third in heat three. The Pre final saw a very hardly fought race up front between Sargent and Everingham, with Tyler Everingham taking the race win with a last corner pass on Sargent. The final was dominated by Grenfell’s Thomas Sargent running away with the win. Everingham was pressured towards the end of the final by Tayla Harnas, but held her off to take second. The end result saw Thomas Sargent secure first, Tyler Everingham second and Tayla Harnas third for the weekend.
Junior National Light saw some of the regions big names fight it out with Zane Morse taking control around the Wagga track winning four of the five races, taking the overall win for the weekend. Luke Wrigley pressured Morse in the final all the way to the line. Wrigley secured second spot on the podium. Alec Morse claiming the third spot for the weekend. Stewart Weigand just missing out on a podium finish after winning heat 2. Great to see so many young drivers showing you don’t need to be a senior to put on great racing.
The Cadet class seen Cody Burcher, a rising star of the future winning all three heats, pre final and final to show his stance on the series taking top step of the podium. Behind him saw Josh Sargent, Mia Bolton, Theodore Livanes, Josh Haynes and Baydon Phillips all taking a turn of finishing second and third throughout the weekend. But it was Baydon Phillips taking second and Josh Haynes rounding out the podium in third.
Gus Flynn had a great weekend wining all but heat three of the weekend where Zane Morse took the victory. Morse claiming second place for the weekend even with a DNF in the final. Christopher Cooper third. Joshua Hemphill and nikolaj Thomas tying on points for fourth and Jack Loftus rounded out the class.
Clubman light seen some great racing over the weekend. Seasoned campaigner, Rob Amess making a return to the clubman class showed he hasn’t lost the knack fighting it out with Mitchell Croke and Chris Thomas. Amess claiming the weekend by three points over Croke with Thomas securing third.
Kieran Doran proved local knowledge helps taking the weekend win in the Senior National light. Warren Hodder and Dean Hefren fought it out for second and third with some great battles. Hodder taking the upper hand, Hefren settling for third with Robert Dickson fourth.
Senior National Heavy was one evenly matched class, with the whole field taking it to each other throughout the weekend. Braden Boots Taking two wins, but it was Phil Middleton scraping threw with three race wins taking the weekends win by two points over Boots. Ricky Noyen and both Brent and Kurtis Dickson all finishing the weekend on twenty one points. Ricky Noyen claiming third on a count back.
Open Performance @ 175kg boys had the time of their life at the quick Wagga Circuit. Jose Ruiz won the opening heat from Shannon McLaine who took the honours for the rest of the weekend in convincing style. Ruiz, Hampson,Coley and Knight all had turns at crossing the line for second. But it was Jose Ruiz sneaking into the second spot in front of Stephen Hampson.
Open Performance @ 190kg only saw three karts trek to Wagga. Steve Martin had to hang on for dear life in his twin DD2 around the fast flowing track. Robert “Flanders” Harnas took second place in front of an unfortunate Eddie Ruiz who finished only two of the races.
Clubman Heavy was the biggest class of the weekend, Dying class my @r$e.
with 19 competitors fighting hard for the bragging rights. Richard Drooger took out heat one from Scott Harding and Mick Hazelton. Heat 2 saw Jason Varley enter the equation claiming the top spot from Trevor Whitby and Hazelton. Heat 3 Hazelton had his turn at the front followed over the line by Varley and Whitby. Varley then showed the field why he has the black plate by winning the pre final and final taking the weekends top spot. Whitby Showed age doesn’t matter, ( sorry Trev ) grabbing second and Mick Linsell had a very consistent weekend nudging out Hazelton, Buchan and Drooger for third.
Clubman Super Heavy was contested by nine karters from around the State.
Stable Karting’s Bruce Otter took all five race wins convincingly ahead of wesley Croft, Graham Winnell and Robert Miller.
Junior National Heavy seen 15 young karters greet the starter,
The class was fiercely contested by Jarrod Whitty and Zane Morse the only karters having victories over the weekend. Zane winning the first two heats and Jarrad running away with the the third heat, Pre final and the Final. Alex Venables, Jack Dare, Alex Waters and jack Gammie all having a crack at the final spot on the podium, but it was Alex Waters getting there in the end.
Adrian Hogan dominated the Tag 125 light class never being beaten to the line at any stage for five race wins for the weekend. Harrison Knight and Griffith’s Adam Smith rounded out the podium.
Tag 125 Super Heavy seen eight of the big fellas making the most of Wagga’s quick track. Canberra’s Nathan Jess, Greg Williams and Grenfell’s Peter Beeten fought hard all weekend giving the crowd something to cheer about.
Grenfell Eddie Ruiz showed promise throughout the heats finishing with three seconds but lucked out with two DNF’s in the finals. Final result were Nathan Jess 1st, Greg Williams 2nd and 3rd was Peter Beeten.
Wagga’s Tony Woodward showed that local knowledge helps winning four of his five races. Woodward was chased by Jake goodyer, Robert Hogan, John McCabe and Kris Centofanti. Robert Hogan having the most luck taking out second place for the weekend followed by John McCabe.
Sportsman 125 restricted light had nine competitors going for series points. Micheal Hogan taking the win in the first heat over Alex Milward. Michel Sieders then took control of the field winning the remainder of the weekend. Milward, Dawson and Nordsvan all contesting for the remainder spots. Michel Sieders taking the weekends victory from Micheal Hogan and Jonothan Dawson.
Gordon Gammie took honours in Sportsman 125 Restricted heavy Gammie had his work cut out for him battling with Matthew Whale and Kevin Reid. Anthony Barrie and Greg Woolner also battled hard but when it come to the pionty end of the weekend it was Gammie ahead of Dubbos Matthew Whale and Kevin Reid securing the bottom step on the podium.
After a full weekend of first class racing the Wagga kart club ended a great weekend with a free sausage sizzle whilst the presentations where being held.
Thank you again to the Wagga Club for a fantastic weekend and to all the karters that travelled.
A feature of the series is all the country circuits in the series are all very different in their layout which makes for interesting racing.
After a short break Round 3 will be at Dubbo track on 20-21 July and it will be great to see the same support as Canberra and Wagga have had.
Remember this series is for you guys so come and join one of NSW’s newest Series.
MIA Powder Coating Southern Star Series
“For the karters, by the Karters!”
