OPENING HEAT WINS FOR HOWARD AND PRESTON IN ADELAIDE

Queensland’s Scott Howard ahead of Shamick Racing’s Matt Wall and CompKart’s Troy Woolston (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Adelaide’s Bolivar Raceway has produced some outstanding heat racing for the second round of the Rotax Pro Tour where Scott Howard has led an entertaining DD2 Masters series of heat races and Queenslander, Jac Preston has converted his first Pro Tour pole into three race victories.

Howard made a change of chassis just prior to the weekend, moving to BirelART for the Adelaide circuit. After qualifying third behind round one winner Daniel Richert, he was able to secure victory in the first two heats and then in the third finished second behind Troy Woolston. Howard and Woolston have been joined at the front by Kris Walton, Richert and Matthew Wall in an incredibly tight affair.

“We’ve had a big bounce back from Melbourne, things didn’t go our way there, but things have gone really well today so far,” said Howard. “Qualifying was good for us, there were only a few thousandths of a second between everyone and we’ve had some strong dices with Woolston and have been working with the kart throughout the day.

“We’re back in the BirelART this weekend after being in a Formula K in Melbourne. At this point the BirelART just works a bit better with me and with this round being so far from home, I just wanted something that was a little more familiar, and I can then test both and work with them a bit more ahead of my home round at Ipswich. We just needed something a little more familiar for this round and try to bank some solid points.”

Jac Preston qualified fastest and won all three heat races in the Junior Max category (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Queenslander, Jac Preston has secured the pole position for tomorrow’s Junior Max Pre-Final after establishing his first ever Rotax Pro Tour pole position and then winning all three heat races. There are a string of competitors up against Preston keeping him under pressure including Hanson, Thomas Sargent, Ryan Wood, Harrison Hoey and Kiwi, Rianna O’Meara Hunt. The Tom Williamson Motorsport Kosmic pilot has been pleased with his performance.

“I’ve been working hard on getting the kart set up,” the 13-year-old explained. “I know the track quite well, so I’m really comfortable with everything and it is working – I am going to try to keep doing what I do. My aim tomorrow is to get the start in the Pre-Final and see what we can do from there and try not to change too much, as it is working for us.”

Rotax 125 Light Round 1 winner Bradley Jenner was well on the way towards being undefeated in all three of his heat races until three corners from home in the [A Vs B] heat this afternoon, his accelerator cable broke forcing him to watch Cameron Longmore inherit the lead and the race victory in sight of the finish line. After qualifying first and second this morning, it took until the last round of heats to see Jenner and Longmore on track together. It looked as though Jenner had the wood on Longmore until the issue. Other drivers to walk away with race wins today were Tom Williamson Motorsport Kosmic driver, Kyle Bonser, Ricciardo Kart’s Marc Tulloch and Pacific Kartsport Arrow pilot, Troy Morrissey.

Pole Position winner Chris Farkas is the man to beat in Rotax 125 Heavy (Pic: Coopers Photography)

Chris Farkas is looking good in Rotax 125 Heavy. The longstanding category features the Top Five Shootout for this weekend, where Farkas was able to secure Pole Position from fellow Queenslander Kris Walton who dropped to 3rd overall after the one lap dash.

“I was definitely feeling the pressure beforehand, that’s for sure,” said Farkas. “I have never done a shootout lap before so to get was great.”

Farkas went on to cross the line first in all three of the heat races, however he was handed a post race time penalty after the first heat for a startline infringement which handed the win to Kris Walton. Lane Moore has been right among the top three as well throughout the course of the day in his Team CRG Australia entry.

The open DD2 category has been solid entertainment throughout the day with a number of drivers going at it for the race wins. Kosmic pilot Joshua Fife converted his pole position to two race wins, however the third one didn’t go his way. Ryan Kennedy got the jump from the outside front row in his Formula K kart and then played a game of staving off the opposition – including Fife – who at one point climbed over the rear of the Queenslander. Kennedy has been strong since the start of the day, so too Cody Gillis and Joshua Car – who really got his CompKart working well in the final heat race. Last year’s Series Champion, Nathan Tigani has been a part of the front group throughout the day but is still yet to get the best out of his Exprit machine.

Junior Max Trophy is delicately poised. Despite starting at the rear of grid, Russell Mayo won the first heat when a penalty was handed to Jonathon Marcusson who crossed the line first. After winning the second heat, Marcusson was pushing the back of Angus Wallace in heat three, before spearing off at the end of the main straight late in the race. The single-make Intrepid chassis class has also delivered quality results from Amber Miller. The local driver – who’s father, Daniel worked on the Williams Formula 1 program for 10 years has been strong on debut – finishing her second and third races in the top three.

Jack Westbury has been superfast in Mini Max. He was rubbed out of the opening heat despite crossing the line first – which handed the win to Will Harper, but made amends in the following two races, crossing the line in first position. There is a massive charge going on behind the leaders that has involved the likes of Harper, James Wharton, Hugh Barter and Adrian Haak. There have been chaotic moves on occasion and the class is setup for a big finish in Sunday’s Finals.

Harry Arnett has dominated Micro Max again. The round one winner has been super fast in his Shamick Racing supported #40 machine. His closest rival from Todd Road, Macka Hazard had issues in qualifying and has had to come from the rear of grid in the heat races. With Hazard and Kristian Janev both finding some speed late in the day, it should lead to some interesting racing tomorrow.

For official results from Saturday’s races, please click here. Racing starts Sunday at 9:00am local time, with live commentary at www.rotax.com.au/streaming.html