16th September 2015

Zane Morse headlines successful weekend for TWM in Newcastle

Canberra’s Zane Morse has continued his dominant season in the elite classes of Junior Karting in Australia as he secured first place overall and the NSW State Championship for KF3, headlining a successful weekend for Tom Williamson Motorsport at round four of the Australian Kart Championship in Newcastle with just one event remaining in the series in November.

For Morse, a fourth place qualifying position with a quickest lap time of 48.863 would see him start off the second row for the heat races, entering the event in second in the overall points standings. After a fifth place finish in heat one, Zane managed to secure second in both heat two and three, setting himself up for the all-important final. A determined drive in the longer race saw Morse hold out to secure the win, picking up the ‘Blue Plate’ for NSW while also managing to grab the points lead for the series with one round remaining.

After recording the eighth quickest time in the KF3 qualifying session with a 48.988, Joshua Fife made solid improvements throughout the heat races, rising to fourth in the first event before claiming a sixth place and eight place result in the second and third heats respectively. The final then saw Fife involve himself with the front running Karts, before finishing sixth overall for the weekend. A promising start to the weekend for Alec Morse saw him qualify fifth before picking up a second place result in heat one, backed up by fifth and seventh respectively. A hard charge in the final saw Alec sitting third and regularly setting faster overall lap times than those ahead of him on track, though a snapped axle would unfortunately result in a DNF for Alec.
Townsville’s Josh Smith displayed a consistent run of form across the weekend at Newcastle, qualifying eighth with a 47.234, Smith then managed eighth in the opening heat before picking up a sixth and seventh place finish respectively ahead of the final which saw Josh take eighth overall for the weekend. Jonathon Mangos continued his impressive season behind the wheel of a BirelART KZ2 Kart, qualifying 11th, the Adelaide based driver worked his way to ninth in the first of three heat races before rising as high as fifth in heat two. An eighth place finish in heat three was then backed up by seventh in the longer final, adding to his string of top ten finishes overall for the 2015 season.

The Newcastle event was a mixed one for Australian V8 Ute Racing Series regular, Kris Walton. The Queenslander qualified 13th on the back of a successful string of practice sessions in the wet weather, which was then converted into 12th in heat one and eighth in heat two. A DNF result in the third heat race was subsequently followed by a DNF in the final, with the team reflecting on setup issues being a key factor in the results.

Jaiden Pope continues to make his mark on the junior ranks of Karting around Australia, backing up from his recent successes in the Rotax Pro Tour, Pope came out to qualify third in the KA12 class with a 52.758. A consistent run through the heat races, finishing ninth followed by two sixth place results would see the Sydney driver start from sixth in the final. After losing some positions early in the race, Jaiden worked his way back up to seventh by the completion of the final event, whilst also managing to deliver an array of quick times on his way to his top ten result.

Tom Williamson – Team Principal
“The weekend again brought further successful results for the team. The highlight was of course seeing Zane pick up the win in KF3 and the NSW State Championship and subsequently grab the series lead, though to also see his fellow KF3 drivers showing such good overall speed and development the wheel is very encouraging. Jaiden Pope was a big standout for me in the competitive KA12 class and certainly is beginning to assert himself as a driver for the future.”

“Our KZ2 contingent again displayed good form, picking some top ten finishes overall and as a whole the weekend was very promising so far as setup and development of our Karts and puts us in a good position leading into the final round in Geelong.”

The next major event for Tom Williamson Motorsport will be round seven of the Rotax Pro Tour at Ipswich, Queensland from October 2-4.