TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE TOP FOR KOBE MCINERNEY

Kobe McInerney returned to the winners circle in Warwick (Pic: Pace Images)

The inaugural Karting Australia Summer Series has come to a conclusion at Warwick, west of Brisbane with some tremendous racing to bring a close to the 2023 national karting year.

New South Welshman Kobe McInerney made a triumphant return to national racing in KA3 Junior Light. Kobe has been on the sidelines for a number of months after a freak mountain bike accident saw him sidelined for several months earlier in the year.

McInerney took the victory by 0.1 of a second from Loclan Hennock – who backed up Saturday’s second position with another silver medal.

Chloe Lane put in one of the drives of the day to finish in third position.

Charlotte Page took the KA3 Junior heavy division gold medal for the second day in a row, getting to the line ahead of Zachary Turner and Trent Newton.

After a technical problem prevented him from starting the Gearbox Feature race on Saturday, Reece Cohen made amends and took a narrow victory in today’s finale. He was pushed the entire way by Saturday gold medallist, Troy Loeskow.

Tyler Everingham – who finished this year’s Bathurst 1000 in 18th position alongside Declan Fraser for Tickford Racing – made a successful return to kart racing, collecting third position in the Gearbox final.

Hamish Campbell made amends for Saturday’s technical error by putting together a dominant performance in KA2. He worked his way into the lead on the opening lap and just pulled away, ultimately taking the win by nine seconds over Isaac McNeill, with Jack Steere staging a late race charge to claim third.

Luke Trost’s run in KA3 Senior carried over from Saturday to take another clear win, this time by 3.183 seconds over Tommy Harradine. Jake Czislowski had a relatively lonely run to come home in third position.

Jackson Souslin-Harlow on top of the X30 podium (Pic: Pace Images)

Jackson Souslin-Harlow hung on in X30 Heavy having expended the tyres throughout the course of the weekend. Souslin-Harlow used his vast experience to keep Daniel Brown behind him. Brown kept the Sydney-sider honest by pushing him right through to the drop of the chequered flag, the margin of victory just 0.111. Zac Raddatz was shuffled to the rear of the field in the early stages – however was able to charge back through to finish third.

Ryan Macmillan put together a complete performance in taking out the ROK GP category. Macmillan was able to get away from pole position and was not headed during the 11 minute Feature Race, taking the win by a 3.744 second margin. Tyler Howard backed up a Sprint Race win this morning with a hard fought second place and Jacob Dowson completed the Dee Vine Estates Podium.

Jordi Slater backed up his gold medal performance in Rotax Light by taking a one second win. Bryce Lane led early doors, before Slater asserted himself once getting into the lead. Jack Stimson was able to bring his kart home in third.

Lana Flack was another to create a gold rush, taking out Cadet 12 and getting her second gold medal in as many days. An incident on the opening lap brought the field under the full course caution control before a frantic, five minute dash to the end. Flack got into the lead late in the race and continue to hold on until the end of the 11 minute Feature Race. Roman Krutil ended a solid day finishing second and Cooper Folley fought through to finish in third.

In Mini Max, a spirited three kart race ended in disappointment for two of the three combatants. Oskar Hennock didn’t finish the race and Hunter Fischle was subsequently disqualified for his hand in the incident.

This saw Aston Mills come through for the win after remarkably being involved in a last lap crash in the first Sprint Race this morning where he rolled his kart.

Zain Shmeissem – in his first national level event – was awarded with a silver medal for his efforts across the weekend.

Thus concludes the national racing season for Karting Australia organised events.

Full results from the Summer Series Race Days 3 and 4 are available here: https://speedhive.mylaps.com/events/2483206