Sixteen-year-old Kade Davey was a three-time winner in the Hyundai Excel class of the Combined Sedans events at Hidden Valley Raceway.
His teammate, 17-year-old Karlai Warner finished with seventh, fifth and sixth places with progressively improved lap times despite a battle with illness.
The Supercars Indigenous Round was the third annual visit to the Northern Territory for the team. It represented a major achievement for the team which was founded to assist Indigenous teenage girls and boys into motorsport careers.
Members build, maintain, repair and manage their own cars. Both drivers who are high school students, were supported by five Indigenous teammates from their Queensland Raceway base and two local Indigenous mechanical students.
“This result was the climax of many, many weekends’ dedicated work by the wonderful Indigenous young people who form Racing Together. My co-founder and wife Monique and I have watched with great pride as these girls and boys have expanded their physical and life skills since joining the program,” said Racing Together co-founder Garry Connelly AM.
“Supported by professional racing mentors from the Supercars world including Paul Morris, Dr Ryan Storey and Roland Dane, they’re on their way to rewarding careers in motorsport and associated industries.”
Off track, Warner and Davey visited Casuarina College where they spoke to 40 Students of the Stars (girls) and Clontarf (boys) programmes on career opportunities available in motorsport to young Indigenous people. They encouraged the students to continue their studies and emphasised the importance of the focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.
They were interviewed extensively on radio and television news, and another highlight was the presentation of new OMP race suits by Triple Eight Team Principal Jamie Wincup and Supercar driver Broc Feeney
“We are hugely grateful to NT Events for assisting us in getting to this amazing event. We not only enjoyed the racing and the atmosphere at the track but also had the opportunity to see some of the spectacular sights of Darwin,” said Warner.
“We also had the opportunity to meet the local competitors and to share our experiences with them. But in addition to my first win in Excels, I was greatly inspired by the enthusiasm of the students we spoke to on Thursday and hope that our success within the team motivates them to seek a career in motorsport,” Davey added.
Support to Racing Together is provided by Viva Energy Australia, Supercheap Auto, Toyota Australia, National Storage, Norwell Motorplex, Motorsport Australia, Dick Johnson Racing, Triple Eight Race Engineering, Riedel Communications, Boost Mobile, Slideways Karting, PWR, and Gunya Meta.
