Milan Sami is closing in on his maiden Australian Championship (Pic: Pace Images)
Milan Sami has closed in on becoming the first driver to form an unassailable lead in the 2025 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship presented by Castrol in Ipswich.
The Victorian having opened his lead in the Cadet 9 Championship to 99 points with a day and a full round to go, while two of Australian karting’s leading female racers grabbed heat race wins.
Sami – who has won all three Cadet 9 finals this year aboard his Parolin Kart – scored the maximum points from qualifying and his three heats, securing enough to be almost 99 points ahead of his closest rival.
The top two racers in the Ladies Trophy – Alana Gurney and Lana Flack – both took heat race wins in Cadet 12 and KA3 Junior respectively. Earlier in the day, Gurney set the fastest lap in qualifying.
The Cadet 12 Championship is poised in an interesting place heading to tomorrow. While Oliver Williamson extended his Championship lead, the battle for the minor placings has taken some dramatic turns.
Cooper Clavell has gone from fourth in the standings to second after eclipsing both Aston Mills and Jay Kostecki. He is 60 points behind Williamson.
Dependent on Sunday’s final heat race and final, Clavell could take the Championship to Coffs Harbour, conversely, Williamson has the potential to walk away as the Champion-elect.
Hamish Campbell qualified fastest and won both heat races in KA2 (Pic: Pace Images)
In KA2, Hamish Campbell has taken pole position and two heat race wins. While mathematically, he is still in Championship contention, Liam Carr could do enough tomorrow to wrap the Title up.
Kart Republic mounted Carr has had a consolidation day with a pair of third places, the gap at 74 points to the Tony Kart racer.
Chad Rissman had a breakthrough second place in heat one, similarly in heat two, New Zealand racer, Lachlan Tombleson used the wet track to his advantage taking a second place.
The KZ2 Gearbox title race was ignited before the first lap of qualifying was even banked with Title leader, Dylan Guest spinning, and not recording a lap time. The recent consistency of Scott Chaston continued, closing the gap to Guest to just 24 points.
Local racer, Bailey Sagaidak set the pole position and won the first race, before Troy Loeskow used the wet track conditions to his advantage to take the second heat race.
Jay Coul still sits third 10 points behind Chaston, while defending Champion, Sam Dicker has kept his hat in the ring after a consistent day, 42 points off fellow West Aussie, Guest and Jac Preston a further point behind.
The X30 field fires into action (Pic: Pace Images)
In X30, last round winner Brodie Whitmore has maintained the lead of the Championship lead with seventh and second placed finishes. The heat race wins were shared by Isaac McNeill and Keegan Fraser.
The news wasn’t so good for second placed Jaiden Pope with a fifth and 10th placed finish and work to do heading into tomorrow, while Jace Matthews and Max Walton are well into the Title hunt with a round and a half to go.
Zac Heard moved into second place in KA3 Senior behind Christian Estasy after a pair of heat race wins. This was aided by a second heat non-finish from round one winner Jett Adamson.
The battle between Harrison Hoey and Jackson Souslin-Harlow in TaG 125 continues, with 29 points separating them. They won their split group heat ones and meeting each other in the second heat, it was advantage Hoey.
Marc Tulloch and Mika Lemasurier shared the second heat race wins.
Braxton Regan’s great run stopped in heat two of KA3 Junior, the Championship leader succumbing to the treacherous conditions.
Lana Flack pushing the limits towards victory in KA3 Junior (Pic: Pace Images)
Sharing second placings with Paddy Buckley has maintained the advantage he held, while Kiwi Zach Tucker adjusted to the wet conditions throughout the day. Lana Flack enjoyed her best day since graduating to the Junior class to finished with a win and second place, Jordy Butler also starred with victory in the first heat. Only a technical issue halted him from recording a pair of top three results.
With the inclement weather pushing back the program this afternoon, Sunday’s finals day will start with the third heats for KA2 and KZ2 at 7:50am.
The Live and Free coverage on 7plus will begin at 11:30am AEST, click here for a direct link.
Entry for spectators to the Ipswich Karting complex at Champions Way Willowbank is free.
