West Australian SP Tools Australian Kart Championship KZ2 Gearbox contender, Nick Mitic has changed colours ahead of this weekend’s third round of the series in Newcastle.

Having won the last time the AKC was in Newcastle, Mitic has made the move from BRM to the Flatout Karts team in a Kart Republic chassis alongside defending Australian KZ2 Champion and Mitic’s good friend, Sam Dicker.

After a non-finish in the first round’s Final in Melbourne, Mitic comes into the third round in ninth position and is aiming to get the Title chase back on track. He’s currently 60 points from Championship leader, fellow West Australian, Dylan Guest.

“I had been with BRM for a number of years and started with them to get the brand going again in Australia, which we have been able to do,” Mitic told Speedcafe. “Sam (Dicker) is my best mate, I haven’t been getting results I was looking for, so thought a change might have been required.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’re all West Australian based and mates (BRM, Flatout Karts and Mitic), so there’s no problem there.

“Sam and Flatout Karts are competitive; I won here (Newcastle) last time AKC was here, so let’s hope we can have a great weekend.”

Over 350 competitors have entered this weekend’s Newcastle event with some 17 visiting from outside Australia.

Californian Junior racer, JohnJohn McLellan will make his fourth visit to the Australian Kart Championship under the tutelage of David Sera. Macmillan has long been a student of Kart Class’ online training methods as well as face-to-face tuition on Sera’s tours of America.

Kiwi Kianh Burt is looking for his second consecutive round win after sweeping the TaG 125 Final at round two. The win elevated Burt to second in the Title race and he is now nested between pre-season title favourites, Jackson Souslin-Harlow and Harrison Hoey.

Burt is one of 14 New Zealanders that have come across the ditch, with two New Caledonia based racers – Rafael Gil (Cadet 12) and Luca Padovese-Robaux (KA3 Junior) entering their third straight round.

In other international interest, Marco Parolin, boss of the Parolin chassis factory has made the trek from Italy for the first time in a number of years, key for his visit is to meet with the team and Australian distributors.

Action began today with Practice, Qualifying and heat races start on Saturday with more heats and Finals on Sunday.

Live and Free coverage will take place on the 7Plus streaming platform from 12:30pm AEST Saturday and 11:30am Sunday,.