4th May 2015

POINTS BOOSTING WINS HEADLINE PRO TOUR FINALS IN ALBURY WODONGA

A mix of winners in the finals from round three of the 2015 Rotax Pro Tour in Albury Wodonga will shake up the points race for the Rotax rankings with the second half of the season looming, as a string of dominant final race performances headlined an action packed Sunday of racing on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.

DD2 Masters
Albury’s Danny Wright and Sydney driver Jason Hryniuk broke out to an early lead in the DD2 Masters pre-final with the pair opening a gap to two seconds during the race before a move with two laps remaining saw Hryniuk take the race win from Wright with Daniel Richert holding on for third over Ryan Rannard from a hard charging Scott Howard who managed to get by Adam Hunter after an intense battle throughout the 24 lap event.

A lead from start to finish for Jason Hryniuk showed his dominance of the DD2 Masters final with the CRG driver holding a consistent gap right across the longest race of the weekend. Daniel Richert could only hold onto second with the result helping him extend his lead in the series standings with Albury local Danny Wright continuing his impressive home track performance to finish third with Scott Howard banking another healthy amount of rankings points finishing fourth and Ryan Rannard fifth.

Mini Max
A strong start to the second heat race in Mini Max for Callum Bishop saw the PCR driver move through to take the lead by up to 1.1 seconds in the latter stages of the twelve lap event. A mid-race change in position for second and third saw Jaiden Pope move behind Bishop to take second from heat one winner Bayley Douglas in third with Austin Wells and Ethan Wilcox completing the top five. It was another win for Callum Bishop in the third and final heat race, getting by early race leader Bayley Douglas who went on to take second with Jaiden Pope maintaining a close battle to finish third while Baydon Phillips and James Wharton rounded out the top five. A post-race two place penalty for Callum Bishop for a passing infringement under yellow flag relegated him back to third.

Bayley Douglas scored another blistering start in the Mini Max pre-final as he looked to back up his round winning performance from Dubbo with the Queenslander setting regular quick times to open a gap of over two seconds into the latter stages of the 20 lap race. Callum Bishop and Jaiden Pope continued their regular appearances inside the top three for the weekend with the pair finishing switching places on the final lap, allowing Pope to take second from Bishop with Sean Larkin finishing fourth from James Wharton in fifth.

The early laps of the Mini Max final saw an intriguing battle of four with the eventual race winner potentially being any one of the leaders, though a breakaway by Bayley Douglas saw him open a gap of 2.9 seconds by the completion of the race, handing him back to back round wins.

A last lap battle for second and third saw Callum Bishop exit the circuit at turn four and take no further part with Jaiden Pope claiming second from James Wharton in third, while Baydon Phillips and Gabriel Gasperak rounded out the final podium placings.

Rotax Heavy
Chris Farkas delivered a drive away performance in the Rotax Heavy pre-final, opening up a lead of over 3 seconds on the race’s pole sitter Clem O’Mara before taking the win ahead of the Queenslander with Aaron Rintoul holding on for third. Fellow Victorian Rick Pringle finished fourth while the current New Zealand National Rotax Heavy Champion Lane Moore took fifth.

In a mirror of his efforts in the pre-final, Chris Farkas displayed an impeccable result in the Rotax Heavy final, taking the victory by over five seconds with the Queenslander making it a Tony Kart one-two result with Victorian Aaron Rintoul claiming second ahead of Regan Payne in third. Albury’s Danny Wright took fourth with Lane Moore completing the podium in fifth.

Junior Max Trophy
An early lead for Reece Cohen was enough for him to hold on for victory in heat two for Junior Max Trophy over a hard charging Matthew Payne. The close battles continued down the order with Cody Burcher managing to take third from Lucas Lichtenberger and Jace Matthews. Continued changes in the lead in heat three eventually saw Kiwi Matthew Payne take the win by 0.2 seconds over Reece Cohen who managed to set the quickest time on the penultimate lap with Lucas Lichtenberger taking third from Cody Burcher and Wil Longmore.

Matthew Payne broke away to take a clear victory in the Junior Max Trophy Class pre-final with the New Zealander taking the win by 0.7 seconds over Lucas Lichtenberger with Reece Cohen setting the fastest lap of the race before securing third, handing him a second row start for the final alongside Michael Clemente with Mitchell Kerrison taking a handy fifth place finish. A textbook start to finish victory in the lead was the best way to describe the efforts of Matthew Payne as he drove to take the win in the 24 lap final. Payne extended the gap to 0.6 seconds by the race completion, making it two round wins from three starts over his closest rival Reece Cohen. Lucas Lichtenberger had a strong display to secure third from Mitchell Kerrison with Brodie Whitmore making up the final podium placing.

Rotax Light
Pierce Lehane broke out an early lead in the opening lap of the Rotax Light pre-final before a red flag stoppage which subsequently resulted in a single file restart and the Redspeed driver then managed to replicate his performance, jumping away at the front of the field. Lehane went on to take a convincing win over Nathan Tigani with Daniel Rochford well placed finishing third ahead Jack Richardson and Nicholas Andrews.

A performance that was nothing short of dominant is how to describe the drive of Pierce Lehane in the Rotax Light final with the Sydney driver taking the win by 4.5 seconds over a consistent Nathan Tigani who was able to step away during the 28 lap event to cement himself in second with Daniel Rochford delivering a similar result in third. After his stunning drive in Dubbo, Queenslander Nicholas Andrews was able to again return to the podium, bringing home a fourth place result with Jordan Boys making the most of his local track experience, taking fifth. A post-race penalty for a driving infringement for Jordan Boys promoted Wayne Bourke into the final podium spot.

Junior Max
Victorian Reece Sidebottom made a blistering start in heat two for group A & C, opening up a lead by over 1.3 seconds in the early stages of the race. Zane Morse gradually worked his way towards Sidebottom before making a pass at turn four to claim the win with the Victorian holding second over Dylan Hollis with Cody Brewczynski taking fourth over South Australian Joshua Denton in fifth. New Zealand’s Dylan Drysdale made a convincing start to take the lead by over one second by the half-way point of the race. Liam Ford worked his way into second in the early stages of the race, leading the remainder of the top five, eventually finishing behind Drysdale with Alec Morse taking third over a hard charging Joshua Car with Timothy Colombrita rounding out the top five.

A battle between Zane Morse and Reece Sidebottom headlined heat three group A & B throughout the 14 lap race with Morse managing to hold to take the win by the end, just ahead of Sidebottom with Dylan Drysdale managing to work his way back up to third ahead of Alec Morse with another hard charging performance by Joshua Car in fifth. Jordan Love, Dylan Hollis and Cody Brewczynski kept a close battle right throughout the third heat for group C & D with a pass by Love on Hollis allowing the West Australian to drive through to the win ahead of Hollis with Brewczynski settling for third. Toowoomba’s Cameron Shields took a comfortable fourth place finish with Liam Ford in fifth.

The previous encounters between Zane Morse and Reece Sidebottom resumed in the pre-final with the pair forming a battle for the lead throughout the longer 24 lap race. Morse gradually worked his way further forward to extend his lead, going on to take the win and pole position for the final with the Canberra driver set to start alongside Sidebottom.

An impressive performance by Dylan Hollis saw him get past Alec Morse with the pair eventually finishing third and fourth respectively with quick times for Jordan Love helping him to claim fifth.

Zane Morse’s dominance throughout the weekend continued into the Junior Max final with the Tony Kart driver holding a slender lead in the opening laps of the race before gradually extending the break over his closest competitor, Reece Sidebottom, by lap 14, with his lead closing in on one second. Morse managed to take the overall victory in the capacity field by over 1.5 seconds with Sidebottom coming through in second ahead of fellow Victorian Dylan Hollis. Consistent fast lap times for Joshua Car helped the Todd Road round winner onto the podium in fourth with the younger brother to the race winner, Alec Morse taking fifth.

DD2
On the back of his impressive performance in qualifying and the heat races, Queensland’s Ryan Kennedy managed to move into a comfortable lead throughout the early laps of the DD2 pre-final opening the gap over Jason Pringle before a pass by Jordan Boys promoted the Albury driver into second, moving Pringle into third, though a last lap pass returned the positions. Troy Woolston fought hard to work his way into fourth after an impressive pass around the outside, holding onto the placing ahead of Lucas Ward and Tristan Ellery.

An early race lead for Ryan Kennedy looked as though the BirelART driver would be able to complete a dream weekend, running in the early stages ahead of Jason Pringle. A pass by Pringle on lap 18 saw the Victorian rise to the lead past Kennedy with the young Queenslander continuing his charge towards the lead. Coming down to the wire, Pringle managed to hold on for the win ahead of a hard charging Kennedy with Troy Woolston consolidating his position in third by the fall of the chequered flag. Jordan Boys managed to secure a podium result on his home track, finishing fourth with Toowoomba teenager William Brown claiming fifth.

Round 4 of 2015 Rotax Pro Tour takes place at Warwick, QLD from 5-7 June.

To follow the event online throughout the weekend, Like Rotax Pro Tour on Facebook, Follow Rotax Pro Tour on Twitter and tune into the live audio commentary via Ustream at www.ustream.tv/channel/internationalkarting