17th July 2013

Rotax roars into city - From the Gympie Times

Drivers take a corner in the junior max trophy class.

SPECTATORS were witness to an action-packed weekend of racing at the Cooloola Coast Kart Club on Saturday and Sunday.

More than 100 of Australia’s quickest kart drivers gathered at the Gympie track to contest their different classes in the seventh and final round of the Rotax Pro Tour.

Reaching speeds of more than 100kmh, it was Gympie’s second year hosting the 125cc Rotax powered karts and it was free for spectators.

In DD2, starting from pole position, Queensland’s Troy Bretherton (pictured) went on to take a comfortable victory in the pre-final.

Contact between Michael Stewart and Travis Millar eliminated the pair from the race on the opening lap, thus allowing reigning National Champion Lucas Ward to progress through to second.

Queenslander Klinton Hancey continued his clean sweep in DD2 Masters into the pre-final by taking another comfortable win over Hamish Leighton by half a second.

Kel Treseder was able to fend off regular challenges from both Matthew Greenbury and Brendan Nelson in the Rotax Heavy pre-final to eventually take a comfortable victory to the line. Nelson lead in patches, though a last lap pass by Greenbury meant he finished second behind Treseder.

In the lead up to the Rotax Nationals just over a month away, drivers hope to secure top position and earn a place on the Australian team to head away to America and compete.