Karters move to lead - From the Young Witness

(www.youngwitness.com.au/story/2384847/karters-move-to-lead/)

Josh in the number 74 Arrow X2 leading the field through turn 3 at Grenfell.

KARTING Brothers Tom and Josh Sargent recently took out Round 3 in their respective classes of the NSW Southern Star Series held at the Bogolong raceway Grenfell after fending off challengers from across the state.

Five time winner of the series – 12-year-old Tom – is looking good for a sixth series win with two rounds remaining at Wagga and Dubbo.

He leads the points after wins at Griffith, Canberra and Grenfell in the Rookies class.

Tom’s determination to take out this year’s series was evident right from the start, qualifying in pole position for all three rounds as well as going on to take the round victories.

Younger brother Josh currently sits in second place in the Cadet class behind Sydney’s Jaiden Pope after wins at Griffith and Grenfell.

Josh was very lucky to salvage a 10th place finish in Canberra after a last corner incident between two other competitors saw him involved in a high speed crash into the tyre barrier.

While the kart was extensively damaged, Josh came away unscathed.

The first round of the 2014 series kicked off in Griffith in searing 43 degree February heat where Tom took out all five races of the weekend.

Not to be outdone, Josh mirrored his performance with a pole position and five from five too.

Round two in Canberra saw Tom repeat the performance with a pole position and all five races.

Josh had a much tougher weekend, firstly missing qualifying, then after starting rear of field all weekend fought back into third place before the last corner incident shuffled him back to 10th.

The Grenfell round saw a field of 16 Cadets throw down the challenge but, after his disappointment in Canberra, Josh was determined to use his home track advantage with a pole position and by taking out all five races for the weekend.

The home track advantage was shortlived for Tom, who, after putting his number 47 Esprit on pole position, was involved in epic battles with Wollongong’s Aaron Turney, Sydney’s Zac Heard and Orange’s Cody Burcher who were all locked in a four way battle.

After numerous lead changes, it was Aaron Turney who took out the first two heats.

From then on Tom turned up the heat, taking out the remaining three heats and the weekend, just beating Burcher over the line in the final by two tenths of a second.

Round four of the series will be held at Wagga in July and Dubbo in October.