4th November 2014

Juniors the main focus at Rob Harrison memorial kart meet - From the Townsville Bulletin

(http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/sport/juniors-the-main-focus-at-rob-harrison-memorial-kart-meet/story-fnjfzr2z-1227111482997)

Townsville Karting are having a big meet this Saturday. Jaysen Poltorasky 11 (third), Tristan Lambert 11 (fifth) and Keelan Dunston 12 (fourth) all finished high up in the rookies class. Picture: Fiona Harding

HARD and fast racing marked one of the biggest meetings the Townsville Kart Club has held as it celebrated the Robb ­Harrison Memorial.

The meeting at the Bohle on Saturday honours a long-time supporter of the club who was also heavily involved in the development of junior drivers.

Fittingly, the event focused on the young ones and provided a taste of V8 Supercars-style racing with a top-five shootout for the fastest from qualifying, a number one winners shirt they can wear for the rest of the year and non­alcoholic champagne for the winners to spray around on the podium in the cadet and rookie classes.

But aside from the fun, there is some racing in there.

Mackay’s Max Deguara was fastest in the cadets class while Cairns young gun Brodie Davis will wear the number one for the rookies.

Townsville’s Thomas Turner and Jaysen Poltorasky finished second and third respectively in the rookies class.

“Robb and his son would race at our club and he would always stay back and help out with the juniors,” Townsville Kart Club spokesman Glen Stewart said.

“He would bend over backwards to help them out and our meet is all about honouring the kids and making them feel like V8 or F1 car drivers for the day.” Stewart said the good racing transferred over to the more senior classes.

Townsville’s Luke Grasso typified the hard racing as he went toe-to-toe with his rivals to claim the honours in the junior clubman and junior ­national heavy classes.

Stewart said it had been the club’s biggest meet for the year and the fast racing attracted drivers from outside the city.

“Go-karting in Townsville is definitely growing and we’re pulling more and more ­people,” he said.

Attention now turns to the Townsville club championship on November 15, the final race meeting of the year.