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7th June 2015

ALEC MORSE SWINGS FAMILY PENDULUM AT PRO TOUR WARWICK

Canberra’s Alec Morse has upstaged older brother and reigning National Champion Zane, by taking his maiden Junior Max pole position and heat race win, with Zane qualifying second at this weekend’s Round 4 of the Rotax Pro Tour in Warwick. In another first for the Pro Tour, the youngest ever Rotax racers, aged between seven and nine made their first appearance in the mighty Micro Max class.  Pierce Lehane and Klinton Hancey showed dominance in their respective categories by taking pole position and clean sweeping their heat races, with Sunday’s Finals set to shake up the series points.

JC Kart's Oscar Targett qualified 2nd in the first ever Micro Max event in Australia (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Micro Max
Making Australian Karting history, the Micro Max class formed part of the Rotax Pro Tour, with a field of ten drivers being part of the inaugural event. Adrian Haak secured pole position in a close qualifying session over Oscar Targett, pre-empting an eventual battle in the opening heat race of the weekend. Jack Westbury and Daniel Wells would make up the second row with Mitchell Bensley and Ethan Feather from the third row. On the back of his pole position, Haak managed to take the win following a close race with Targett with Westbury holding on for third and Wells in fourth while Ryan Tomsett rose to fifth after starting seventh.

Mini Max
On the back of his two round wins in Dubbo and Albury, Bayley Douglas continued his impressive form to claim pole position in Mini Max, a position he would subsequently retain upon the completion of heat one. Jaiden Pope appeared as Douglas’ closest challenger, qualifying second, subsequently finishing second in the heat race. Luke Pink managed to qualify third and hold the position in the ten lap race with Austin Wells qualifying fourth and Gabriel Gasperak fifth. The race saw Gasperak rise to
fourth after Wells was forced to exit early due to a missing rear bar, thus Charlie Ploetz secured the final placing inside the top five.

Junior Trophy
In a first since joining the Pro Tour, Lucas Lichtenberger secured pole position and managed to translate his form into the first heat race, taking the win. Lichtenberger’s nearest rival to his eventual maiden victory, Jace Matthews qualified second before holding that position in the race. New Zealand’s Matthew Payne again showed form, qualifying third and mirroring that result in the race. After qualifying fourth, Brieann Moyse showed early race pace before finishing eighth, while Brodie Whitmore managed to consolidate his fifth place in the race after qualifying in the same position.

Alec Morse out qualified brother and reigning National Champion, Zane, in Junior Max (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Junior Max
The largest field of the eight categories in Warwick, Junior Max with 57 Karts, would be split in two groups for qualifying based upon the times from the final practice session. The lower 50% session saw Zane Morse record the quickest time, a lap that would translate into being the second fastest overall, however it was his younger brother, Alec, who would take his maiden pole position outright in the series. Team mate Joshua Fife made it a top three of all Canberra drivers while Dylan Drysdale qualified fourth with the Kiwi finishing ahead of Reece Sidebottom in fifth.

An action packed opening heat race for group A & D saw Alec Morse continue his successful early weekend form, taking the win from Joshua Car who worked his way up the order after qualifying eighth outright. It was then a Victorian trio who made the remainder of the top five, Reece Sidebottom and Aaron Cameron would finish third and fourth respectively from Dylan Hollis in fifth.

A trademark performance by Zane Morse in group B & C saw the reigning Australian Champion take a convincing win ahead of South Australian Joshua Denton with Jack Doohan recording his best Pro Tour result in third. Liam Ford and Joshua Fife finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Fresh from last weekend's Euro Max round in Italy, Pierce Lehane returned taking pole position and three heat wins (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Rotax Light
After returning from competing at the Rotax Max Euro Challenge on Tuesday, Pierce Lehane transferred his overseas success to Warwick taking pole position in Rotax Light with a 42.853. Nicholas Andrews was within 0.06 seconds to secure second ahead of Brad Jenner and Mitchell Maddren in third and fourth respectively. Dalton Ellery recorded the fifth quickest time while points leader Daniel Rochford managed sixth. Lehane continued his early weekend form into heat one, claiming the win, finishing ahead of Andrews, Jenner and Maddren while Nicholas Dalton rose to take fifth after starting eighth.

An early lead in heat two helped to see Pierce Lehane secure the win by 1.5 seconds as he gradually pulled away from his nearest opposition, reigning Australian Champion, Brad Jenner. The Victorian went on to take second just ahead of a late charging Nicholas Andrews with Cody Gillis and Mitchell Maddren completing the top five. Heat three proved to be another standout performance for Lehane, taking the win making it a clean sweep in the heat races. Brad Jenner mirror his effort from heat two, taking second ahead of team mate Nicholas Andrews with Cody Gillis and Daniel Rochford rounding
out the top five.

Rotax Heavy
On his return to the Pro Tour, Brendan Nelson was looking on target for pole position in Rotax Heavy before a late session quick time by points leader Chris Farkas saw him claim the number one time with a 43.760, just 0.005 seconds ahead of Nelson while Regan Payne and Lane Moore took third and fourth respectively ahead of Clem O’Mara and Scott Simpson. A fierce battle at the front in heat one resulted in multiple changes in position before a late race dash by Lane Moore handed the Gold Coast driver the win ahead of Clem O’Mara with Chris Farkas taking third from Regan Payne and Scott Simpson.

On the back of his DNF finish in heat one on Friday, Brendan Nelson responded impressively to take the win in heat two, finishing ahead of the first race winner Lane Moore. A close battle for the remaining positions inside the top five ensued throughout the twelve lap race with Clem O’Mara eventually claiming third from Regan Payne and Chris Farkas. Another commanding performance from Brendan Nelson handed him two wins from two race starts on Saturday, claiming the number one spot from Lane Moore who secured another second place finish. The remaining places in the top five were a mirror of that of the second heat with Regan Payne taking third ahead of Chris Farkas and
Clem O’Mara.

DD2
In his first event in the DD2 category for the year, Victorian Adam Lindstrom managed to take pole position, being the only driver to also achieve a time below 42 seconds in qualifying with a 41.984.Lindstrom would start alongside Troy Woolston who qualified just 0.03 seconds behind while it was the young brigade of Chris Bregonje and Ryan Kennedy who would form row two for the heat races with Kris Walton set to start fifth after being absent from the Albury event and Kyle Angel from sixth. A fiercely fought out battle right throughout the field ensued over the course of the race, with Woolston doing enough to claim the win ahead Bregonje with Lindstrom settling for third from Walton
and Kennedy.

Another impeccably close battle throughout the entire field in heat two saw pole sitter Adam Lindstrom capitalise on his starting position and take the lead from the outset, holding on for the win over a close finishing Troy Woolston in second. Chris Bregonje maintained a close battle with the front pair, taking third from Kris Walton with Kyle Ensbey in fifth. The final heat race proved to be yet another 12 laps of close racing with Lindstrom managing to fend off continued to challenges from Woolston with the Victorian pair taking first and second respectively. Outright speed for Kris Walton helped him to rise to third where he continued to gain ground on the two leaders, before finishing just ahead of Bregonje in fourth with Jordan Boys fighting back to take fifth.

Queensland's Klinton Hancey takes home state advantage with a clean sweep in DD2 Masters (Pic: Coopers Photography)

DD2 Masters
In his first home state Pro Tour of the season, Klinton Hancey managed to secure pole position in DD2 Masters with a 42.599, 0.1 seconds ahead of Adam Hunter. The current number one plate holder would share the front row with Hancey while Hunter’s team mate, Tony Bregonje secured third from Ryan Rannard in fourth. Albury round winner Jason Hryniuk qualified fifth with Scott Howard managing sixth. A comfortable win for Klinton Hancey in both heat one and two helped to boost the Queenslander’s confidence in the early stages of the weekend, finishing ahead of Adam Hunter in both races with the Sydney driver settling for second. Tony Bregonje took third making it a mirror for the top three in the first two races. After finishing fifth in heat one, Jason Hryniuk picked up to fourth in heat two with Daniel Richert rising from his qualifying position of eighth to take seventh in heat one and fifth in heat two.

The successful weekend for Klinton Hancey continued into the third and final heat race as he secured victory over Adam Hunter who subsequently recorded a trio of second place finishes across the 12 lap races. A last lap battle between Ryan Rannard and Tony Bregonje saw the pair make slight contact, resulting in Jason Hryniuk being able to come through and take third from Bregonje with Rannard in fifth.

Round 4 of 2015 Rotax Pro Tour takes place at Warwick, QLD from 5-7 June.
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