The Mount Gambier Kart Club has enjoyed a busy start to the 2021 Championship Season with three events over the last four weeks at the Glenburnie Raceway Circuit. After a successful opening Vintage Meeting in February, followed by the opening round of the club championship, racers again hit the track last weekend.
With the even well supported by local members from ages as low as seven-years-old, plus visiting drivers from Adelaide and interstate, there was plenty of on track action and close racing for those in attendance. After a greasy start to the day the skies soon cleared and the track dried before the opening heats got under way.
The young chargers provided some entertainment when Xavier Cain took an early heat win before an off-track excursion in heat two relegated him towards the back of the field. This gave local racer Levi Jones an opportunity to take control and set the pace, along with eventual race winner Devnor Herbertson.
Cain came back for the remaining races to secure the win in heats three and four taking victory over Adelaide visitor William Cowie. The Junior classes also produced some good racing with Hayley Fewins and Hamilton’s Marissa Rogers battling it out at the front.
As each race went by, Rogers continued to set new personal best laps to chase down Fewins, resulting in a close finish in the final, but it was the latter who crossed the line first. An ongoing battle between Brock Fewins and Brocklan Parker stole the show in the Junior Performance class.
But four wins from as many starts meant Parker did not put a foot wrong all day, while Fewins battled kart setup early in the meeting. The 4 Stroke class is a new class added to the race schedule over recent times and once again provided close racing.
First time class competitor and local Matt Hensel took control of the field early and sprinted into the distance winning all four races. Ian Stratman recovered well after an early race day incident to secure enough points to come home in second, followed by Alex Clode.
Tag125 Open was dominated from start to finish by Kelvin Moreland. Moreland was unchallenged in all four heats to take comfortable victories in each race. TAG125 Restricted Light was also a close on track battle with Angelo Belmonte, Matthew Hensel and Erebus Motorsport mechanic Jack Michelson all contesting the class.
Belmonte showed years of karting experience, as he led the field over the finish line in each race, despite Hensel setting fastest laps in three of the four sessions, while a fast-finishing Michelson showed some great race craft to round out the podium.
The largest field of competitors for the day was the TAG125 Restricted Medium with a number of drivers taking wins throughout the day. Portland driver Kevin Hitchcock come out of retirement in fine form taking a win in heat one, while Ian Stratman and Liam Downs Woolley also enjoyed the spoils of victory.
The final though saw Hitchcock earning the top step of the podium followed across the finish line by Stratman and Harvey. The Mount Gambier Karting Club has a short break before the racing action returns to Glenburnie on Sunday, April, 11.
With free entry and onsite catering available, members of the public are urged to come out and experience some local grassroots racing and may even get the chance to jump behind a 4 Stroke machine.
