7th July 2016

COMPETITION HEATS UP IN ROUND 4 OF THE AUSTRALIAN KARTING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN IPSWICH

Pierce Lehane finished on the podium in KZ2 (Pic: Coopers Photography)

It was an action and adrenaline packed weekend of racing at the 4th meet in Ipswich, with drivers jostling axle to axle to claim their place on the podium and the competition points scoring tables.

The CRG Team delivered a stunning turnout with 18 drivers arriving on Thursday in good time to set up for the practice rounds on Friday and the all-important qualifying session on Saturday morning. Although the weather was cool, the crowds didn’t notice as they were thrilled by fantastic racing skillsmanship and steely determination by the drivers in this second last round of the Nationals presented by Jayco and Castrol EDGE.

In KA4 Zac Crichton showed the might of the new CRG Hero 101 chassis taking pole position in qualifying and winning the opening three heats. Crichton seemed set to take out the weekend until some last lap muscling pushed him back to 5th place in the final.

Kai Allen of Shamick Racing drove the Hero Cadet Chassis and Vortex Engine combination to a second place victory after coming up from the 5th spot. This success brings him that much closer to an Australian Championship. Adrian Haak had another solid top ten result finishing eighth.

Lane Moore made a competitive debut in the TaG 125 class (Pic: Coopers Photography)

In TaG 125 Lane Moore made his debut with the CRG KT2 Galaxy combination. From the first session out Moore had impressive pace rarely out of the top two. However a ten second penalty in heat two meant Moore had to start out from tenth for the final. Moore finished a strong fourth. Comp Kart Australia driver Joshua Car delivered a strong 2nd place performance thanks to the power of his PRD Galaxy engine.

Pierce Lehane, driving in the Road Rebel Chassis with Modena Engine, stole the lead for the first five laps of the KZ2 final after an awesome start from 2nd position. He was then passed but finished strong at 3rd place, his best ever result in the highly competitive KZ2 class.

Team CRG drivers raced in fine form and delivered some very good results in the heats and top five finishes by many drivers through all the classes. But it might have turned out very differently if not for the tenacity of the team.

By the end of racing on Saturday, the team went home feeling confident that Sunday was going to be a great day with top five results on the cards. But part of the thrill of racing is never knowing what challenges lie ahead and each driver is presented with the opportunity to rise to that challenge and overcome all obstacles. Well Sam Houston with the expert help of his team members, demonstrated this in ample measure.

After a huge crash in the KZ2 4th heat annihilated his kart the CRG team got out the spare kart and built it up in under 2 hours, just in time for him to compete in the final where he finished 15th. Sometimes not laying down after defeat turns out to be the biggest victory and as sweet as any final finish can be, as Sam no doubt experienced.

Team manager Darren King was extremely pleased with the results of the weekend.

“It was a success for all drivers and I want to acknowledge the efforts of all team members including Mattia Madami KZ Engine builder and kart set up/ tuner and Robby Williams, team runabout and customer liaison extraordinaire.

“We look forward to racing in the final round to be held in Port Melbourne in late September (23 – 25 September 2016)” he said.