Rintoul claims top honours in Rotax Heavy at Warwick

Aaron Rintoul claims the win in the Rotax Heavy Final (Pic: Fletcher Photography/Bryant)

Aaron Rintoul has completed a task that no other driver has been able to achieve throughout the entire 2011/2012 Rotax Pro Tour by taking victory in Rotax Heavy with reigning National Champion Troy Woolston forming part of an action packed final day in Warwick.

The day commenced with a minutes silence during the drivers briefing for Graham Heath, Vice President of the Gold Coast Kart Club who passed away, with all involved with the Rotax Pro Tour sending their condolences to the family and friends of Graham.

In DD2 Masters, Daniel Richert has taken victory in the 25 lap final with the Victorian’s pace being evident from the start, setting his fastest time in lap 6, with his pace paying off by lap 18 as he passed the early race leader Brent Coghlan. Griffith podium sitter Hamish Leighton had a strong fight throughout the race with Jose Ruiz, as he himself carried late race speed to find his way to 3rd by the completion of the race with Leighton taking home 4th and Griffith round winner Cameron Harch claimed 5th. V8 Supercar driver Steven Johnson was on hand in support of both Brent Coghlan and DD2 driver Joshua Crossingham, strongly supporting their weekend’s racing.

A clean sweep of finals day for Aaron Rintoul has interrupted Troy Woolston’s strong run throughout the season. A late race move by Rintoul was enough to take victory with his strong pace playing to his advantage. Woolston took 2nd however his attention will now be switched towards the upcoming Rotax Nationals with Woolston looking to hold his title. Matt Greenbury made his return to the driver’s seat in fine style by claiming 3rd with fellow Queensland Brendan Nelson taking 4th and a resurgent Paul Rodgers completing the top 5.

Rotax O/40’s saw Shane Karandrews take the win with Dean Penrose making steady challenges over the course of the race. Both Peter Virgulti and Malcolm Walker had their own dice for the final spot on the podium, with Virgulti managing to hold out by race end with Winston Heywood completing the top 5.

Tyler Greenbury leads Daniel Rochford in Rotax Light (Pic: Fletcher Photography/Bryant)

Tyler Greenbury has taken a home state victory in Rotax Light, further supporting his recent move to CRG. Both Greenbury and Daniel Rochford fought closely throughout the entire race, with both matching times over the course of the event. New Zealand’s Andrew Hoare completed the podium with high hopes of returning to Australia for the Nationals. Pierce Lehane and Joseph Mawson were the standout drives during the final, both coming from near the rear of the grid to finish 6th and 7th respectively.

Junior Max was the largest grid of the weekend with Thomas Randle seeing the chequered flag first at the right end of the weekend by in the final. Joseph Burton-Harris returned with more speed from his win in Griffith, however it was Andrew Kahl who took the second place on the podium behind Randle with Burton-Harris taking 3rd. James Golding made a strong run throughout the finals day to eventually claim 4th in the final and fellow Victorian Jordan Boys rounded out the top 5.

Jason Pringle has driven away in a DD 2 final that also saw Gold Coast’s Josh Crossingham step onto the podium in his debut in the category. Kyle Ensbey made it 2 from 3 for Queensland on the podium by finishing 2nd, with James Macken also on debut in a DD2 finishing 4th and Lucas Ward in 5th. IKD utilised a speed gun system as an extra level of interest in Warwick, with Macken being the fastest recorded driver at 112 km/h approaching turn 2 and 102 km/h exiting the corner.

Photos from the final round of the Rotax Pro Tour are available through Bill Bryant of Fletcher Photography. He can be contacted via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BBASP.

The 2012 Rotax Nationals will occur on August 30-September 2 at the Dubbo Kart Club in NSW.

Results – Top Ten – Final

DD2 Masters
1 – Daniel Richert
2 – Brent Coghlan
3 – Jose Ruiz
4 – Hamish Leighton
5 – Cameron Harch
6 – Brett Cowley
7 – Niki Urwin (NZ)
8 – John Bailey
9 – Stephen Hampson
10 – Owen Guthrie

Rotax Heavy
1 – Aaron Rintoul
2 – Troy Woolston
3 – Matthew Greenbury
4 – Brendan Nelson
5 – Paul Rodgers
6 – Rick Pringle
7 – Lane Moore
8 – Trent Moore
9 – William Yarwood
10 – Brett Sinkins

Rotax Over/40’s
1 – Shane Karandrews
2 – Dean Penrose
3 – Peter Virgulti
4 – Malcolm Walker
5 – Winston Heywood
6 – Kevin Castles
7 – Paul Rolls

Rotax Light
1 – Tyler Greenbury
2 – Daniel Rochford
3 – Andrew Hoare (NZ)
4 – Jaie Robson
5 – Andrew Carey
6 – Pierce Lehane
7 – Joseph Mawson
8 – Luke Baldry
9 – Scott Sorenson
10 – Michael Stewart

Junior Max
1 – Thomas Randle
2 –Andrew Kahl
3 – Joseph Burton-Harris
4 – James Golding
5 – Jordan Boys
6 – Lachlan McHugh
7 – Nicholas Andrews
8 – Daniel Milne
9 – James Abela
10 – Jaxon Evans

DD2
1 – Jason Pringle
2 – Kyle Ensbey
3 – Joshua Crossingham
4 – James Macken
5 – Lucas Ward
6 – Thomas MacDonald
7 – Troy Bretherton
8 – Mathew Harris
9 – Mark Flood
10 – Ethan Dowton

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