The opening round of the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship at Adelaide’s Bolivar Raceway has seen a number of rivalries either ignited or re-ignited with four rounds to go, none more than in the premier KZ2 Gearbox class after a dramatic final that was taken out by Victorian, Henry Johnstone.
Double champion in the class, Joshua Fife was leading the final, however superior setup and tyre management by Sydney-sider, Reece Cohen was playing into the lanky youngster’s hands, closing the gap to the leader in the 25 lap final, looking to convert his two heat race wins yesterday into a further 25 points in the final.
Although the two had pulled a gap early, Johnstone – who switched to the Italian BRM chassis this year (imported into Australia by well-known Speedway and Drag Racing identities, the Priolo family) – closed as Kart Republic chassis mounted Fife’s tyres started to drift. With Fife’s speed fading, the duo banked up behind him, with Victorian Energy Corse racer, Toby Dvorak quickly joining the party, making a race in three, a race in four.
With seven laps to go – despite having a superior advantage in setup and LeCont tyre grip, Cohen decided to push his Top Gun CRG – operated by the team owned by six times Australian Champion, Troy Hunt – to the inside of Fife at the first turn. With no room available, the door was shut and the duo collided. Fife continued – ultimately finishing fifth – however Cohen didn’t.
To add insult to injury from turning a potential 25 winning points to zero through the non-finish, he was handed a 12 point Championship points penalty for his part in the fracas – negating one of his heat race wins yesterday (each heat race win carries 12 Australian Kart Championship points).
Johnstone won his second Australian Kart Championship event – his last coming 12 months ago in South Australia as well. Joining him on the podium were Dvorak and Leon Cordato.
X30 led to a successful transition into senior racing for last year’s Junior KA2 Champion, Max Walton. The driver who finished second in the FIA Academy Trophy in Europe took an emotional final win in his Parolin.
15-year-old Walton systematically dismantled the domination of Nick Percat’s JND Racing pilot – four time Australian champion, Brad Jenner (more than double the age of Walton!). Jenner set the pole and had scored maximum points from winning all four heat races.
Walton – the son of V8 Utes champion, Kris – and well-known racer, Danielle Argiro – drove down Jenner to take the win. Jenner enters round two on home soil in Victoria with a healthy points margin, but Walton has signalled his season-long intentions.
Tony Kart racer, Hugh McGuire ended his weekend on a high in third.
In the premier KA2 class, it was a first up category win for TF Racing’s Koby McInerney, who got home in front of Isaac McNeill and Oceane Colangelo.
Colangelo created history on Saturday as the first female racer to ever win a heat race in the nine years of KA2 and then backed that up with the third placed finish – also a first for a female racer.
Not unusually, locally based racers walked away with top results.
Jack Szweczuk – a South Australian, now based in Queensland – took his second round win in succession, leading a local quinella in KA3 Junior, beating home a local privateer entrant Noah Enright – with backing from Bonetti Transport.
Szweczuk drew the first AKC win for the Percat-led JND Racing. Third was Victorian Samuel March – who won the corresponding category two years ago at Bolivar prior to its track extension.
Ben Holliday’s visit to the top step of the podium was nearly eight years in the making in TaG 125. He won his first Australian Kart Championship round in 2016 in Cadet 9 but took out the TaG final for David Sera’s Kart Class today. He staved off the challenge of Championship front-runner, Jackson Souslin-Harlow and current champion, Harrison Hoey came home in third.
The other local victor was Josh Elliston in KA3 Senior, edging regular KA3 contender, Benito Montalbano by 0.05s, with Will Thompson finishing third.
Archie Bristow dominated Cadet 12 and in a similar scenario, Oliver Armitt put forth a supreme performance in Cadet 9.
The next round of the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship will be held at the Puckapunyal kart track (adjacent to the Army training facility) in just under two months, April 19-21.
Full results from the weekend’s competition are available here.
On-demand vision from every race across the weekend is available from MySportLive here.
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