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26th January 2015

NEW WAVE OF WINNERS AT PRO TOUR OPENER

RK Karts driver Joshua Car secured his first ever Pro Tour round win in Junior Max (Pic: IKD Media)

An action packed final day of the opening round of the 2015 Rotax Pro Tour was highlighted by first time victories to RK Kart’s Joshua Car in Junior Max, New Zealand’s Matthew Payne in the Junior Max Trophy Class and Nathan Williams in Mini Max’s first ever event, rounding out the first of seven rounds for the new season.

Adam Hunter’s continued dominance of the DD2 Masters category was replicated in the pre-final, securing the victory by almost three seconds. In a reflection of his experience at the Todd Road track, Geelong’s Daniel Richert fought his way through to second after spending much of the weekend up to the race outside the top five. Richert secured the front row placing alongside Hunter for the final, finishing ahead of Queensland’s Klinton Hancey by 0.7 seconds. Danny Wright’s early season consistency was maintained as he took fourth just over 0.1 seconds behind Hancey with Ryan Rannard securing fifth after stepping up to the Masters category for the first time from the open DD2 class, while Christopher Board secured sixth and helped himself to a third row start for the final.

An early charge by Daniel Richert in the DD2 Masters final saw the Kosmic driver take the lead from the opening laps ahead of Adam Hunter. With both drivers setting their quickest time on lap 19, Hunter worked tirelessly to close the lead held by Richert, eventually passing the Victorian and going on to take the win by over 0.5 seconds. Daniel Richert consolidated his second place standing to finish on the podium ahead of Klinton Hancey who took the quickest lap of the race with a 40.193. The remaining two positions on the top five podium, a new initiative of the 2015 Pro Tour were Danny Wright and Steve Ellery.

Following his pole position and clean sweep of the heat races, Nathan Williams managed to secure victory in the Mini Max pre-final, setting himself up for a perfect debut weekend on the Pro Tour. Williams’ took the win by almost two seconds, showing his dominant opening weekend form ahead of fellow Victorian Sean Larkin. Bayley Douglas held off a narrow third place to finish ahead of Jaiden Pope with Callum Bishop and Kai Allen completing the top six.

In a mirror of his performances in the weekend’s earlier races, Victoria’s Nathan Williams went on to take the win in the Mini Max final, taking the top step on the podium in the first event the category has been contested in Australian Karting. The battle for the remaining positions within the top five podium remained a close affair with Bayley Douglas eventually managing to hold onto the position in which he finished all three of Saturday’s heat races. Tony Kart pairing Jaiden Pope and Sean Larkin finished fourth and fifth with Kai Allen taking fifth.

Victoria’s Rick Pringle used his experience at the business end of the weekend, claiming victory in the Rotax Heavy pre-final. Pringle’s success came just 0.2 seconds ahead of heat race pole sitter Regan Payne with Chris Farkas finishing third after starting on the front row. Lane Moore showed signs of pace as he took fourth ahead of Dylan Collett in fifth and Aaron Rintoul in sixth.

The battle for victory in the Rotax Heavy final began as a tussle between the top five drivers before a breakaway by Regan Payne and Rick Pringle saw the pair open up a gap of over four seconds by the completion of the race. Payne managed to secure the win, his first round victory in the Pro Tour however a post event technical penalty saw him disqualified, handing the top step of the podium to Pringle. The result subsequently elevated Lane Moore to second with Chris Farkas in third and Clem O’Mara fourth, while Dylan Collett took fifth making it two Victorian’s and three Queenslander’s inside the top five.

After taking victory in all three of Saturday’s heat races, New Zealand’s Matthew Payne could only manage second in the pre-final for the Junior Max Trophy Class, with the victory being secured by his closest rival from the weekend being Jace Matthews. West Australian Aaron Love improved from his early weekend form to rise to third in the 15 lap event finishing ahead of Reece Cohen with Josh Smith and Lucas Lichtenberger rounding out the top six.

Matthew Payne was shuffled down the field in the early laps of the Junior Max Trophy Class final, seeing Jace Matthews claim the lead from the outset. The Queensland driver fought for the position with Reece Cohen, with Payne working determinedly to reclaim the ground he lost on the opening lap. A late race pass by the Kiwi to reclaim the lead would see him go on take the first round win in the new Intrepid Freedom Kart with Cohen and Matthews settling for second and third respectively. Victorian Joshua
Smith and Sydney’s Lucas Lichtenberger made up the final places on the podium.

Following his heat race success, BirelART driver Brad Jenner capitalised on a wealth of confidence to secure victory in the Rotax Light pre-final. Jenner’s win came in excess of two seconds ahead of former Rotax Light National Champion Pierce Lehane. Kosmic driver Daniel Rochford continued his successful return to the Pro Tour claiming third ahead of Mitchell Maddren on debut in Rotax Light in the series. As with Maddren, Sydney’s Cody Gillis impressed on debut in the class, taking fifth and setting up a third
row start for the final alongside Thomas MacDonald.

A strong start for Jenner saw him open up an early lead in the 22 lap Rotax Light final as the current Australian Champion drove with ease to yet another round victory in the Pro Tour. Jenner’s lead expanded across the course of the race with Pierce Lehane setting himself in second in the early stages of the race before comfortably crossing the lien with Daniel Rochford claiming third in a mirror of the prefinal results. Kyle Rethus scored his first ever Pro Tour podium finishing fourth with veteran Thomas MacDonald taking fifth.

Canberra’s Zane Morse used late race pace to secure victory in the Junior Max pre-final, subsequently placing himself on pole position for the final. Setting his quickest time on the penultimate lap of the race saw Morse take victory by 0.4 seconds ahead of heat race pole sitter Joshua Car. New Zealand’s Dylan Drysdale continued to strengthen his position within the 40 kart field, claiming third ahead of local Kosmic pilot, Reece Sidebottom. Timothy Colombrita continued his impressive top five race form,
securing fifth with Troy Alger in sixth.

Joshua Car made an impressionable beginning to the new Pro Tour season, defending multiple challenges for his race lead to secure the race and round win, his first in the series. After working his way to the front on numerous occasions in the 22 laps, Zane Morse settled for second by the end of the race with Reece Sidebottom setting the fastest lap of the race on the way to securing third. Toowoomba’s Cameron Shields improved his position even further in the long distance race, taking fourth with Kiwi Dylan Drysdale completing the podium.

The experience of Jason Pringle shone through in the DD2 pre-final with the Victorian claiming the win ahead of a hard charging Ryan Kennedy. The Queenslander made an impressive charge towards securing place, handing him a front row start for the final. Albury’s Jordan Boys maintained his strong and consistent early season form to finish third ahead of former Team Australia driver Lucas Ward and Praga’s Troy Woolston.

On the back of his success at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in Valencia, Jordan Boys made a blistering start to the new Australian season, taking the win in the DD2 final. While the early laps saw multiple changes of position, Boys settled to hold down a comfortable lead with the battles occurring behind the Praga pilot. William Brown took the fastest lap of the race with a 39.749 on his way securing second following a string of late race passes. The experience of Jason Pringle had him finish in third with Troy Woolston in fourth, while Kris Walton recovered to finish fifth by the end of the final race of the weekend.

Round 2 of 2015 Rotax Pro Tour takes place at Dubbo, NSW from March 20-22.