Home > News > Latest News > MAWSON AND LEHANE LEAD THE PACK AT ROTAX NATIONALS

4th September 2010

MAWSON AND LEHANE LEAD THE PACK AT ROTAX NATIONALS

Two of Australia’s brightest young karting protégés Joseph Mawson and Pierce Lehane were the pacesetters during the opening day of the Sparco Rotax Nationals at Ipswich, Queensland today.

Mawson fired the first shot during this morning’s qualifying sessions to claim the number one spot by 0.06 seconds aboard his Arrow kart over Lehane. Third fastest was fellow New South Welshman Jonathan Venter.

Mawson and Lehane went head to head throughout the 14-lap heat races exchanging the lead on a number of occasions, however, it was Mawson who crossed the line first in the two heat races contested today.

“It’s been really close all day, I’d expect tomorrow will be a similar deal,” said Mawson, who is competing in his first Rotax Nationals event.

“Pierce appears to be a little bit faster during at the start but I can close in on him over the later stages, so I’m feeling pretty good.”

Lehane, who was crowned the Pro Junior Champion in the CIK Stars of Karting Series last month, is looking forward to battling with Mawson in tomorrow’s final but is also conscious that Venter could throw a ‘spanner in the works’.

“Joey and I have had some great battles today, we’re pretty even – I really don’t think either of us have got any sort of advantage at the moment,” said Lehane.

“While we did have a bit of a break on third place in the heat races I don’t think you can discount Venter – no matter where he starts he’s going to be fast and will probably be there in the end.”

Adding further interest to Mawson’s day is the fact that he is also competing in the non-championship Formula JMA Heavy category where he was the pacesetter all throughout today’s qualifying day.

The Rotax Light category, which saw 42 competitors line up for qualifying, is gearing up to be a sensational final tomorrow with Luke Rochford and fastest qualifier Tyler Greenbury sharing the honours during the heat races.

With the category being over-subscribed it means that the pair are yet to go head-to-head and will line up alongside each other in tomorrow morning’s final heat race.

After qualifying a lowly 11th fastest four-time and defending champion David Sera endured a troublesome run in the opening heat before rebounding with a runner-up placing in his second heat.

Team RacePrep new recruits Brendan Nelson and Lee Mitchener appear on track for a pair of strong results in the Rotax Heavy category.

Nelson, a university student on the Gold Coast, set the fastest time in qualifying before taking out the first heat race. Mitchener claimed top honours in the second 14-lap encounter.

“It’s an awesome start, especially when you consider that until a couple of weeks ago I hadn’t driven in a Rotax class for around two and a half years,” said Nelson.

“After the shakedown meeting, which was my first while driving for the Col Watts RacePrep team, we changed the type of Tony Kart that I’m using and it seems it has really paid off at the moment.”

Behind the leading duo there was some intriguing battles between four-time champion William Yarwood, Simon Meyer and Jason Pringle.

In the non-championship categories Kyle Ensbey, Chris Hays and Damien Ward are having some great battles at the front of the DD2 category, Mick Robson is dominating the Over 35’s division while Bruce Otter is clearly outpacing the field in Rotax Super Heavy.

The third round of heat races will be completed tomorrow morning ahead of the pre-finals and finals.

Click here to view the notebook highlighting some of the news snippets and information from behind the scenes.

2010 Sparco Rotax Nationals
Ipswich Kart Club, Queensland

Qualifying – Top Five

Formula JMA Light
1. #96 Joesph Mawson 47.501
2. #11 Pierce Lehane 47.566
3. #6 Jonathan Venter 47.781
4. #81 Wade Scott 47.796
5. #50 Jack Wood 47.828

Rotax Light
1. #97 Tyler Greenbury 47.462
2. #35 Luke Rochford 47.492
3. #52 Andrew Gatland 47.658
4. #57 David Whitmore 47.704
5. #88 Josh Dorn 47.705

Rotax Heavy
1. #70 Brendan Nelson 48.260
2. #35 Jason Pringle 48.623
3. #10 Paul Rodgers 48.630
4. #30 Lee Mitchener 48.670
5. #69 William Yarwood 48.781

Formula JMA Heavy
1. #96 Joesph Mawson 48.510
2. #98 Dale Corbett 48.753
3. #5 Renee Gracie 48.909
4. #6 Scott May 48.929
5. #50 Jaymee Frampton 49.071

Rotax DD2
1. #97 Christopher Hays 46.814
2. #29 Kyle Ensbey 46.831
3. #7 Damian Ward 47.051
4. #17 Matthew Harris 47.141
5. #57 David Whitmore 47.159

Rotax Over 35s
1. #3 Mick Robson 48.773
2. #11 Danny Woodland 49.013
3. #4 Shane Karandrews 49.025
4. #81 Mal Walker 49.045
5. #74 Craig Matthews 49.071