2015 AKC ROUND 1 - Facts, Stats and Class Previews

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VENUE STATISTICS
Host Club: Go-Kart Club of Victoria
Location: 1 Cook Street, Port Melbourne
Circuit Opened: 1995
Previous Circuit: Brooklyn, Victoria
Outright Track Record: 38.676 – Joey Hanssen (September 22, 2014)

ROUND STATISTICS
Number of Entries: 242
Largest Class: KA Junior (40 entries)
Different brands of chassis: 26
Most of one chassis brand: 31 (Arrow)
States represented: Victoria (104), New South Wales (34), Queensland (48), South Australia (35), Western Australia (11), Tasmania (9) and Northern Territory (1)

CLASS PREVIEWS
KZ2
With Joey Hanssen heading back his homeland and David Sera sidelined by injury the door is open for someone to ‘step up to the plate’ in the KZ2 class this weekend.
2012 Champion Chris Hays (Energy/TM) has shown significant pace at Todd Road in the past and after a solid off season is expected to be one of the pacesetters, however, he’s not an outright favourite. Kyle Ensbey (CRG/TM) will be out to make a good start to his campaign with the CRG Australia team as will be Jason Faint as he looks to impress new boss James Courtney in his JC Kart. Veterans Matthew Wall (Vemme/TM) and Kel Treseder (Energy/TM) should also be podium contenders along with Western Australian Jake Klarich (TB Kart/TM). Nick Percat (Energy/TM) could be the surprise packet of the field given the amount of laps he has completed around Todd Road.

KF2
The introduction of the new-specification engines will see extra spice added to the KF2 class. After finishing on the podium in all three starts in a KF class at the venue, JC Kart recruit Liam McLellan (JC Kart/TM) will start as the favourite for the round. Josh Tynan (Energy/TM) and Scott Sorensen (Arrow/TM) are expected to challenge McLellan near the front of the field. Harrison Knight (Tony Kart/TM) makes the switch from KZ2 to KF2 to be one of seven drivers making their debut in the class this weekend.

KF3
Every year there are a group of junior drivers who stand out from the field to be the front runners in KF3, who will it be in 2015?
The obvious choices leading in this weekend are Zane Morse (Tony Kart/Vortex), Oscar Piastri (FA Kart/Vortex), Aaron Cameron (Arrow/Vortex) and Joshua Fife (Tony Kart/Vortex) however, there are a number of top-line junior drivers making their debut in the class. Of the 28 drivers in the field, 18 of them are making their KF3 debut this weekend.

X30
With no less than five current or former national champions in the X30 field there is no shortage of talent. Brendan Nelson (Arrow/IAME) was the man to beat in 2014 in the X30 class, can he continue the form into 2015? Some of the drivers expected to take the challenge to him include the likes of Kip Foster (Kosmic/IAME), Ben Stewart (Arrow/IAME), Adam Mercer (Arrow/IAME), Brad Jenner (BirelART/IAME) and Daniel Rochford (Monaco/IAME). The Nicolaou brothers – Jordan and Leigh – are always fast at Todd Road and this weekend should prove to be no different.

KA TaG
Just like the X30 class, Brendan Nelson (Arrow/IAME) was the driver to beat in 2014, such was his dominance last year that he secured the TaG Heavy title with a round to spare. This year the combined weight sees drivers from the old Light and Heavy classes assemble together to battle it out. Local driver Rick Pringle (CRG/Rotax) should take the fight to Nelson. In his debut aboard the Mad Croc kart, Aaron Borg is a driver with significant experience and on his home circuit Dean Foster (Ricciardo Kart/IAME) will be one to watch.

KA1
The KA1 class represents a new era of the sport in Australia with drivers lining up on the grid with the IAME KA100 powerplants. With the parity of the engines extremely close, the cream will almost certainly rise to the top and with the caliber of drivers such as Matthew Wall (Vemme/IAME), Shayne Piper (Monaco/IAME), James Sera (FA Kart/IAME), Shay Mayes (Redspeed/IAME) and the Nicolaou brothers, that cream is extremely thick.

KA Junior
A capacity field of 40 drivers has entered for the KA Junior class where for the first time in Australian karting history they will be competing with the IAME KA100 engine and Dunlop DFH tyres. In pre-season testing reports are that the new specification tyre is up to two seconds a lap faster than the regular SL1A compound around the Todd Road circuit. There is a plethora of talent in this field and it will be a case of who can come to grips with the new tyre, engine and track conditions the quickest, who will come out on top.

KA12
Victorian Emerson Harvey (FA Kart/Vortex) has been the pacesetter in local events throughout the opening few months of 2014 and should figure prominently on his home circuit in the KA12 class. However, there are 37 other youngsters who will out to chase him down including the South Australian pair of Blake Purdie (Zanardi/Vortex) and Kai Allen (FA Kart/Vortex). Jai Brown (JC Kart/Vortex), Ethan Wyllie (Deadly/Vortex) and Luke Sawyer are all proven performers in their home states of Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia, now the challenge will be to see how they fair against the best youngsters from all across the country.