Nearly 400 competitors will descend on Adelaide’s Bolivar Raceway for the opening round of the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship this weekend, including some notable entries.

The Championship will provide some new challenges for competitors with new tracks – and other tracks – like Bolivar – that have been extended over recent times.

Three 2023 Champions will attempt to double up in 2024 headed by West Australian, Sam Dicker who is looking to take out the premier KZ2 gearbox category for the second year in a row. Also looking to make it two in a row will be Queenslanders Harrison Hoey in TaG 125 and Jace Matthews in X30.

The son’s of Collingwood AFL legend, Nathan Buckley – Jett and Ayce – will line up in the TaG 125 and KA3 Junior categories respectively; while Jack Johnson – the son Western Bulldogs’ 364-game veteran and AFL media identity, Brad Johnson – will start his third season in the Australian Kart Championship in TaG 125.

Rick Kelly’s son – Lex – who became a star in Repco Supercars Championship telecasts in the final year of Kelly Racing – will make his Championship debut in the youngest category on the grid, Cadet 9 – for racers under the age of nine.

Reigning Cadet 9 Champion, Townsville’s Brock Nolan moves to Cadet 12 – along with his season long rivals, Jay Kostecki (brother of Jake and Kurt) and third generation racer, Carter Grother. Another prominent driver to step up categories in 2024 is last year’s Newcastle round winner, Lana Flack – who leaves the sub-Junior categories to race in KA3 Junior.

Lana will be racing for her third straight Ladies’ Trophy with a total of 14 female racers entered across all categories for round one, including April’s triplet cousins – Paige, April and Chelsea in Cadet 9.

Kiwis Maxim Kirwan (KA2 and KA3 Junior) and Nathan Crang (KZ2) will make the move across the ditch.

A change to the eligibility criteria this year, which sees competitors having to had raced in 10 Karting Australia – or FIA sanctioned events before entering a round of AKC – has seen numbers drop slightly below the 390-odd entries that were seen at several events in 2023.

Once again, the MySportLive livestreaming team has been engaged to stream the Series around the world.