WILD WIND DOESN’T FAZE FAST KARTERS AT NEWCASTLE

Macauley Jones pips David Sera as Brenton Simonds upstages his more fancied rivals

Macauley Jones qualified fastest in the Clubman Light category at Newcastle today. Pic: AF Images/Budd

Kart racers from all across the country battled the wild winds during qualifying day for the New South Wales Championships at Newcastle’s Mount Sugarloaf circuit today.

One of the drivers who handled the wind gusts that reached 70 km/h throughout the day best was Macauley Jones who pipped 12-time National Champion David Sera to set the fastest time in the Clubman Light division.

Such is the competitiveness in the category, Jones’ time was a mere eight one-thousandths of a second ahead of Sera. Sera’s older cousin James Sera was third fastest ahead of Matthew Waters and reigning National Champion Cian Fothergill.

Queenslander Brenton Simonds was the surprise packet in the highly competitive Clubman Heavy category to upstage his more fancied rivals in opening qualifying. (see interview with Simonds below)

As a result Simonds will start the heat races from pole position with Aaron Borg alongside. Three-time Australian Champion Jason Hryniuk was third fastest, narrowly ahead of James Greenwood and Sydneysider Andrew Roffey.

“It’s a great feeling, I never thought I’d be able to do it but I have and it feels amazing,” said Simonds.

“Hopefully it transfers into some good speed in the heat races, there’s some big names out there and hopefully I can keep it clean to come home with a great result at the end of the weekend.”

Brenton Simonds upstaged his more fancied rivals in the Clubman Heavy category. Pic: AF Images/Budd

The battle between two of Australia’s rising stars Joseph Mawson and Pierce Lehane has continued with the pair splitting the honours in the high performance junior categories.

Mawson set the pace in the Junior Clubman category (see video below), his time was almost two-tenths of a second clear of Victorian Anton De Pasquale and Queenslander Brock Plumb. In the Junior Max category it was Lehane who got the upper hand ahead of Thomas Randle.

The opening round of heat races will be contested this afternoon ahead of the racing continuing tomorrow and the championship finals to be held on Sunday.

A total of 335 drivers took to the track across the 15 categories throughout the day.

The Mt Sugarloaf Raceway is located on the corner of Cameron Park Drive and George Booth Drive, Cameron Park (just outside of Newcastle).

The New South Wales State Championships will be proudly presented by the Yamaha Motor Company Australia, Dunlop Kartsport and MG Tyres. Also supporting the event are class sponsors SMS Diesel (Rookies), Drew Price Engineering (Rookies), Stones Kartsport (Junior National Light), Premier Auto Trade (Junior National Heavy), Hurst Racing Engines (Junior Clubman), Dunlop Kartsport (Senior National Light), Yamaha Motor Company Australia (Senior National Heavy), Kart 1 (Clubman Light), CRG Australia (Clubman Heavy), Remo Racing (Leopard Light & Heavy) and International Karting Distributors (Rotax).

NSW State Karting Championships
Hosted by the North Shore Kart Club at Newcastle, NSW

RESULTS: Qualifying (Top Five)
Clubman Super Heavy
1. Bradley Moody 52.412
2. Ben McKinlay 52.512
3. Benjamin Piper 52.522
4. David Endres 52.584
5. Scott Simpson 52.600

Rotax Light
1. Trent Grubel 49.017
2. Chris Farkas 49.024
3. Tyler Greenbury 49.090
4. Steel Guiliana 49.134
5. Macauley Jones 49.141

Leopard Heavy
1. Matthew Wall 48.467
2. Jason Hryniuk 48.482
3. Daniel Stein 48.852
4. Kris Walton 49.061
5. Matthew Boylan 49.193

Junior Clubman
1. Joseph Mawson 50.142
2. Anton De Pasquale 50.316
3. Brock Plumb 50.370
4. Todd Hazelwood 50.613
5. Justin Francis 50.643

Clubman Heavy
1. Brenton Simonds 50.942
2. Aaron Borg 50.981
3. Jason Hryniuk 50.994
4. James Greenwood 51.128
5. Andrew Roffey 51.130

Rookies
1. Joshua Car 55.716
2. Joshua Rogers 55.853
3. Jordan McGregor 55.899
4. Jayden Ojeda 55.905
5. Glen Ormerod 56.140

Senior National Heavy
1. Matthew Waters 56.058
2. Corey Lean 56.149
3. Black Sciberras 56.238
4. Matthew Pritchard 56.329
5. Shannon Price 56.423

Junior National Light
1. Dimitri Agathos 54.683
2. Justin Francis 54.942
3. Joshua Buggy 54.973
4. Jodan Boys 55.043
5. Luke Marquis 55.043

Rotax Heavy
1. Brendan Nelson 49.630
2. Todd Davey 49.704
3. William Yarwood 49.717
4. Simon Meyer 49.789
5. Daniel Stein 49.858

Leopard Light
1. David Sera 47.516
2. Jake Spencer 47.549
3. Cian Fothergill 47.699
4. Ben Stewart 47.951
5. James Sera 47.963

Junior Max
1. Pierce Lehane 49.287
2. Thomas Randle 49.428
3. Jaxon Evans 49.507
4. Joseph Burton-Harris 49.514
5. Andrew Kahl 49.541

Senior National Light
1. Matthew Waters 55.506
2. Joshua Crossingham 55.816
3. James Foster 55.872
4. Warren White 55.941
5. Jarryd Ebzery 55.956

Junior National Heavy
1. James Duckworth 55.620
2. Anton De Pasquale 55.686
3. Anthony Gamauf 55.784
4. Dimitri Agathos 55.856
5. Todd Hazelwood 55.864

Open Performance for DD2
1. Tyler Greenbury 48.569
2. Kyle Ensbey 48.749
3. Jack Lindgren 48.761
4. Mark Flood 48.847
5. Jason Pringle 48.877

Clubman Light
1. Macauley Jones 50.144
2. David Sera 50.152
3. James Sera 50.280
4. Matthew Waters 50.333
5. Cian Fothergill 50.334

To view the full results please click here followed by selecting NSW and the North Shore Kart Club in the drop down menus.