THE MASTER AND THE APPRENTICE SHARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Pierce Lehane on his way to victory in Leopard Light (Pic: AF Images/Budd)

New South Wales teenager Pierce Lehane and karting veteran Matthew Wall shared in the spoils during the 50th Australian National Sprint Kart Championships at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Karting Raceway today.

Lehane led home three-time national champion James Sera in the Leopard Light category to claim the first national championship in the senior ranks – Lehane secured back-to-back Pro Junior (KF3) titles in 2010 and 2011.

“That was one of the most stressing and mind blowing drives that I’ve ever been in, I just had to put my head down and keep driving a perfect lap every time, I knew it was going to be super tough to beat James,” said Pierce.

“The heat was so tough out there today, I’m just glad that I was able to hold on for the win.

“Moving into the senior ranks has been a real challenge, the biggest thing I’ve learnt has been the racecraft, the experienced drivers know when to race and when to pass to make it count the most.

“There was a lot of experience behind me today with James and Cian, I was one year old when James moved into the senior ranks – so he’s got quite a bit of experience on me.”

Finishing third was Cian Fothergill ahead of Nathan Davis and Chris Farkas.

Matthew Wall leading Kip Foster during the final of Clubman Heavy (Pic: AF Images/Budd)

Competing in the highly competitive Clubman Heavy category, Wall emerged as the victor following a frantic 16-lap final. He crossed the line 0.079 seconds ahead of outgoing champion Kip Foster.

“This is my 11th National Championship and it feels just as good as my first in 1997,” said Wall.

“Every nationals is hard to get, I had a lot of luck these nationals. I had the pace all weekend and can’t thank enough the guys in that race who made it clean, it could have turned nasty at any moment as we were racing pretty hard.

“Clubman Heavy has got some of the most experienced drivers in Australian karting, any one of the top six could have won that race – I was just fortunate that it was me.”

“Without Shamick Racing I wouldn’t be here, along with all of the support from my parents and Anthony Bartolo from J&A Tuning.”

Queenslander Scott Simpson was unstoppable on his way to victory in the Clubman Super Heavy category. Simpson claimed the fifth national championship of his career ahead of Ben McKinlay who charged back into contention after a lap one incident dropped him down the order.

Western Australia drivers filled the podium in the Junior National Heavy category with James Allen emerging from the last lap chaos as the victor. Nicholas Rowe finished second ahead of Jesse Elliott.

The results are being updated as soon as possible after each race here (https://app.austkarting.com.au/aka/results/view/NT/Darw/2012-07-08/)
Follow all of the action via the Australian Karting Association’s Twitter page (twitter.com/karting_net_au) and Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/AustralianKartingAssociation)

RACE ORDER/SPLIT
Afternoon classes
1. Leopard Light
2. Clubman Super Heavy
3. Junior National Light
4. Clubman Heavy

Evening Classes
1. Senior National
2. Junior National Light
3. Leopard Heavy
4. Clubman Light
5. Junior Clubman

50th Australian National Sprint Kart Championships
Darwin, NT

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS (Top Five)

Leopard Light
1. Pierce Lehane
2. James Sera
3. Cian Fothergill
4. Nathan Davis
5. Chris Farkas

Clubman Super Heavy
1. Scott Simpson
2. Ben McKimlay
3. Danny Errigo
4. Ryan Fulcher
5. Ashley Pittard

Junior National Heavy
*result under appeal
1. James Allen
2. Nicholas Rowe
3. Jesse Elliott
4. William Hawkes
5. Damon Strongman

Clubman Heavy
1. Matthew Wall
2. Kip Foster
3. Jason Hryniuk
4. Kris Walton
5. Lee Mitchener