Club Champs Rd1 2014 – results
Dubbo Kart Club hosted Round 1 of its 2014 DKC Championship on Sunday 16th February 2014 at Lincoln County Raceway. The event saw 42 entrants battle it out over 3 heats and 2 finals on the full length 1024metre international circuit. 23 local members were joined by competitors from Tamworth, North Shore, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Combined (Lithgow) and even Geelong, Victoria!!
With about 5-10mm of rain falling over the preceding night the track was greasy in the morning for the open practise session with the skies threatening to produce more rain. Just before commencement of the heats the heavens opened again with a constant shower of rain that persisted through-out the day making for some entertaining driving and spins keeping the driver on the edge of their seats, the pit crew busy and the spectators highly entertained. With the rain hitting just prior to racing the pits were a hive of activity with pit crews scrambling to get their karts setup for the slippery conditions; tyres and setups were madly being changed to accommodate the conditions. The rain persisted through the day with it stopping in time for the finals, which resulted in another flurry of changes as racers and pit crews tried to make the best adjustments to suit the changing conditions.
At the end of the days racing the winners were crowned with Makk O’Neill (Dubbo) taking the win in Cadets with Ethan Smith (Dubbo) taking the Rookies class in the same race. Luke Wrigley (Dubbo) claimed victory in Junior National Light and current NSW State Champion Jayden Ojeda (North Shore) continued his good form taking out the JMax class. In the Senior classes Douglas Baker (Dubbo) grabbed the top spot in Senior National Pro, Nick Riley (Dubbo) stood on the top step in Clubman Light in his first race in the class since stepping up from Juniors. Clubman Heavy saw Chris ‘Old Man’ Riley (Dubbo) claim victory with Jason Paix (Newcastle) winning Restricted 125 Light and Phillip Burey (Tamworth) taking out the Heavy class. Reagon Angel (Newcastle) took the spoils in Sportsman 125 Light and Marc Townsend (Canberra) took out the fast paced Open Performance class. A special mention to new comer James O’Donnell from Dubbo who managed to win the first heat in his class on his first time out the gates!!!
Dubbo Kart Club will host Round 3 of the Rotax Pro Tour on March 1st and 2nd which will showcase the top drivers from around the Country battling it out for prizes and series points for entry into the Rotax Nationals later in the year. The racing will be fast, furious and highly entertaining with unofficial practise starting on Friday and racing all day Saturday and Sunday. Canteen facilities, full amenities and spectator areas are available with free entry to spectators for the event.
The next round of the Dubbo racing calendar will see DKC host its annual 3-track challenge on March 16th with competitors racing on all 3 different length tracks at Lincoln County Raceway.