ACTION OF PLENTY IN COBDEN FOR COUNTRY SERIES
The
South West Kart Club hosted one of the largest events in it's history
on the weekend with in excess of 220 kart racers converging on the
Cobden Raceway to compete in round three of the Victorian Country
Series.
With 20 drivers assembling on the grid it was Melbourne driver Toby
Pope who proved too good in the highly competitive Clubman Light
category, victory in the final race of the day secured his win.
After a second and fifth in the opening two races Pope battled with
fellow Melbourne driver Leigh Nicolaou, Geelong's Tyler McDonald and
Hayden Renshaw in the final race before crossing the line first ahead
of McDonald. Third place in the final was enough to secure the
runner-up spot overall for the J&A Tuning-backed Nicolaou.
Nicolaou went one better in Clubman Heavy where he took the win
ahead of Horsham's Remo Luciani and Swan Hill driver Brendan
McGinniskin.
Luciani, who has won 50 state and six national championships during
his illustrious career, proved to be dominant in the Clubman Over 40's
category - as was Melbourne's Michael Griffiths in the 125cc Leopard
Heavy class.
Local Warrnambool drivers filled the top two spots on the podium in
the 125cc Rotax Heavy class with Corey McCulloch taking the win over
Broe Shields. Geelong's Callum Clissold was third.
Mount Gambier's John Dankowski won all three races in the Senior
National Pro class to claim the overall victory ahead of Andrew Rae and
Bradley Anderson.
In the Junior categories, it was South Australian's Todd Hazelwood
and Simon Hodge who took the challenge to Anton De Pasquale and local
lad Kyle Rethus during the racing in Junior Clubman.
Hazelwood won all three races throughout the day to claim the
overall victory. De Pasquale finished second overall ahead of Rethus.
Hazelwood also enjoyed a strong run in the Junior National Heavy
class to finish second being the current Australian Champion Jordan
Nicolaou. Melbourne's Teagan Osborne finished third.
Fast femme Brittany Hall continued her strong run of form
throughout 2010 with victory in Junior Performance over Mildura driver
Luke Burgens from Mildura and Harley Benson.
In the battle of the youngest drivers, the Midgets class for
drivers aged between seven and ten years of age, the standout driver
was Dylan Hollis who was victorious over South Australian Chase Wooley.
Portland youngster David Denboer was third.
Other victories across the day went to Jake Dixon (Rookies), Justin
Francis (Junior National Light), Andrew Rae (Senior National Light),
Scott Ferguson (Clubman Super Heavy), Dean Foster (Leopard Light) and
Shane Wharton (Restricted 125).
Series Co-ordinator, and National President of the AKA, Trevor
Crane was delighted with the smooth running of the weekend's event and
the large number of visitors to the South West region.
"It was very pleasing to see over 200 entries received for this
weekend's event and the South West club have put on a great event,"
said Crane.
"There was some great racing all throughout the day and I think
that all of the visitors to the region have thoroughly enjoyed their
time here and many will be back in December for the running of the
Victorian Closed State Championships at the venue."
The next round of the series will be hosted by the Hamilton Kart Club on August 22.