Just over 50 drivers and their crews headed up to the sun and warmth of the Albury-Wodonga Kart Club over the weekend to compete in the Alessi Renault Gold Rush race meeting with the newly extended Sheathers Road circuit being run in reverse (anti-clockwise) direction for the first ever time.
Karters were able to continue their competition off track in the driving simulator hot lap competition that was provided by Alessi Renault which added some extra fun for everyone at the club across the weekend.
As the track was held in reverse the lap times were mixed up compared to the normal direction lap times with some classes recording average lap times up to a second quicker, some classes a second slower while many of the classes were recording almost identical lap times to their normal direction.
TaG 125 Heavy class
It was a battle between the Albury drivers in the TaG 125 Heavy class with #57 Billy Guttler taking pole position with a lap time of 43.139 and going on to take a sweep of the weekend narrowly edging out fellow Albury driver #85 Steven Edmunds by just 3 tenths of a second who was 2nd and 3rd place went to Albury’s #14 Stephen O’Hare.
1st 57 Billy GUTTLER (ALB VIC)
2nd 85 Steven EDMUNDS (ALB VIC)
3rd 14 Stephen O’HARE (ALB VIC)
TaG 125 Restricted Light class
A good field of 10 drivers lined up in the TaG 125 Restricted Light class and it was Albury’s #32 Scott Chaston taking the pole by a tenth of a second from Swan Hill Kart Clubs #43 Bradley Shepherd and #15 Liam Hunter (HKC, GKCV). In the racing Chaston went on to win all 3 heats and won the 12 lap final by 3 seconds ahead of Hunter with Goulburn Valley Kart Club driver #22 Thomas Bettie taking 3rd.
1st 32 Scott CHASTON (ALB VIC)
2nd 15 Liam HUNTER HKC (GKCV VIC)
33rd 22 Thomas BEATTIE (GOUL VIC)
Cadet 12 class
Bendigo Kart Clubs Ayrton Filippi took the pole in the 9 driver field of Cadet 12 with a lap time of 47.918 and had a great race with Alburys #88 Luke Van Zanten, #10 Jordan Chapman and #9 Caleb Spence from Oakleigh/ELKC across the weekend, with Spence winning heats 1 and 3 while Filippi took out heat 2 and in the 12 lap final it was Filippi who took the win by 1.3 from Spence with Bendigo’s #21 James Ceveri coming through strongly to take the final step of the podium 3rd.
1st 46 Ayrton FILIPPI (BEN VIC)
2nd 9 CALEB SPENCE (E/LIONS, OAK VIC)
3rd 21 James CEVERI (BEN VIC)
Cadet 9 class
Local driver Anthony Alessi qualified on pole with a lap time of 49.253 and took a sweep of the weekend finishing first in all races ahead of P plater 89 Sol Alessi.
1st 89 Anthony ALESSI (ALB VIC)
2nd 90P Sol ALESSI (ALB VIC)
KA3 Senior Light class
Go-Kart Club of Victoria’s #43 Taine Venables took pole position with a lap time of 43.869 and had a close battle with Gippslands #15 Ben Chapman across the heats but in the 12 lap final Venables took out the victory by 9 seconds with Chapman 2nd.
1st 43 Taine VENABLES (GKCV VIC)
2nd 15 Ben CHAPMAN (GIPP VIC)
KA3 Senior Medium class
Local driver Alburys #22 Danny Wright was the fastest driver in qualifying setting a lap time of 44.448 and won heats 1 and 2 with fellow Albury driver #34 Miranda Clarke winning heat 3. In the 12 lap final #22 Danny Wright took the victory by 10 seconds from Miranda Clarke with NSW driver #32 Trevor Whitby (GRIF) finishing 3rd.
1st 22 Danny WRIGHT (ALB VIC)
2nd 34 Miranda CLARKE (ALB VIC)
3rd 32 Trevor WHITBY (Grif NSW)
TaG 125 Restricted Heavy class
Gippsland driver #16 Travis Chapman was the fastest driver in qualifying with a lap time of 46.497 and went on to take a clean sweep of wins in the very closely contested class after great racing across the weekend with local P plate driver #81 P Adam Smith and NSW driver #38 Blake Snaidero, Chapman taking out the 12 lap final by 3 tenths of a second from Smith and Snaidero 3rd.
1st 16 Travis CHAPMAN (GIPP VIC)
2nd 81P Adam SMITH (ALB VIC)
3rd 38 Blake SNAIDERO (Grif NSW)
TaG 125 Restricted Medium class
Goulburn Valley Kart Club driver #84 Scott Roberts showed the class a clean set of heels across the weekend taking pole with a lap time of 46.188 and taking out victory in all races winning the final by 7 seconds ahead of fellow Goulburn driver #82 Steven Black and local driver #52PAndrew Starkey.
1st 84 Scott ROBERTS (GOUL VIC)
2nd 82 Steven BLACK (GOUL VIC)
3rd 52P Andrew STARKEY (ALB VIC)
KA3 Junior class
Local Albury driver Zach Van Zanten captured the pole position in qualifying with a lap time of 43.307 and went on to win all races across the weekend ahead of NSW driver #13 Wil Longmore (WAGG).
1st 72 Zach VAN ZANTEN (ALB VIC)
2nd 13 Wil LONGMORE (Wagg NSW)
KA4 Junior Heavy class
Albury’s #37 Jackson Rice was the quickest driver in qualifying with a lap time of 45.886 and went on to win the opening heat where it was then #44 Riley Jabke (Oakleigh/Gippsland) who would win heats 2 and 3 with Jackson Rice taking taking out the win in the 12 lap final ahead of Jabke and Albury’s #67 Dayna Rice 3rd.
1st 37 Jackson RICE (ALB VIC)
2nd 44 Riley JABKE (OAK, GIPP VIC)
3rd 67 Dayna RICE (ALB VIC)
KA4 Junior Light class
Go-Kart Club of Victoria driver #61 Cooper Johnstone was the quickest driver in qualifying in the KA4 Junior Light class taking pole with a lap time of 44.689 and looked to be the driver to beat across the weekend taking out victories in heat 1, 2 and 3 but Johnstone suffered an unlucky DNF in the final failing to complete a lap which allowed Geelong’s #36 Will Harper who was having one of his first races in the Junior division after spending the last few seasons racing in the Cadet 12 class to go on and take the win just ahead of Bendigo driver #46 Coby Dunlop.
1st 36 Will HARPER (GEEL VIC)
2nd 46 Coby DUNLOP (BEN VIC)
3rd 61 Cooper JOHNSTONE (GKCV VIC)
Open Performance class
The fastest class of the weekend was the Open Performance class and Alburys #13 Aidan O’Connor would set a blazingly fast lap of 40.630 to take the pole position. O’Conner would take out victory in heat 1 but then fellow Albury driver #22 Danny Wright would get to the lead and never be headed going on to win heats 2 and 3 and the final by 1.5 seconds ahead of NSW driver #32 Trevor Whitby (GRIF) and Albury’s #38 Joshua Phillips.
1st 22 Danny WRIGHT (ALB VIC)
2nd 32 Trevor WHITBY (Grif NSW)
3rd 38 Joshua PHILLIPS (ALB VIC)
TaG 125 Light class
The lone driver in the TaG 125 Light class was Gippslands Curt Sera who would set a lap time of 42.788 and successfully completed all laps and took home of the 1st place trophy.
1st 98 Curt SERA (GIPP VIC)
A big thankyou to Alessi Renault for sponsoring the event and to all of the hard working Albury-Wodonga Kart Club members, officials, volunteers and helpers for putting on a great meeting for everyone across the weekend.
