Mount Gambier Kart Club continued its 2021 Club Championship Season last weekend with drivers in attendance at the Glenburnie Raceway.
Despite the recent COVID lockdown, restrictions eased to allow for on-track activities to resume.
With blue skies and a dry track in the morning, competitors hit the tarmac early getting in plenty of practice laps before racing started at around 11am.
Despite not having any interstate drivers to support the race meeting, those in attendance displayed great, close racing action during the day proving you do not need big fields to produce exciting on track action.
One of the newest and youngest members within the club continued to impress as the day unfolded.
In only his third race meeting, Kayle Herbertson continued his learning curve in the Cadet 9 class.
Some clean laps early in the day set up for an improvement as Kayle found significant pace as the day unfolded improving his lap times by 10 seconds before the day was completed and winning his class outright.
In the Cadet 12 class, the three top drivers in contention were all separated by less than half a second in their lap times providing great close racing.
Aged between 10 and 12 years old, the drivers showed they had plenty of race craft and experience under their belts and the competition was fierce.
Two heat wins in the day from Denvor Herbertson put him in a great position before a strong comeback from overall winner Xavier Cain found a way around to greet the finish line.
A much-improved Levi Jones was also in the mix taking three third placings before a strong performance in the 12-lap final finishing second.
The Juniors consisted of three different classes with brother-sister duo Brock and Hayley Fewins both taking wins in their prospective classes.
Brock taking the honours in KA3 Junior Performance class and Hayley following suit winning the KA4 Class Junior Light Class.
The highlight for the weekend though was one of the club’s newest members Rheyn Paterson competing in KA4 Heavy.
In his first ever race heat Rheyn drove a great consistent race to not only take the class win, but also the overall win in the first race as those around him had misfortune, resulting in Peterson claiming his debut win on his debut race.
Tag 125 Heavy was a one-sided affair with class patriarch Kelvin Moreland fighting his way through the field to the overall win with a perfect start-win ratio earning himself some more silverware for the trophy cabinet.
Tag 125 Restricted was divided into two weight divisions consisting of both Lights and Mediums.
Among the Medium weight division the racing was close and fast as Ian Stratman, Liam Downs-Wooley and Tim Scarth all raced in one another’s shadows, battling for wins.
Despite Scrath taking the upper hand early, Downs-Wooley recomposed to finish the day with three wins ahead of Scarth, with Stratman driving well to pressure the rest of the podium until the drop of the chequered flag.
In the Tag 125 Light division, wins in Heats 1 and 2 as well as the final was enough for Angelo Belmonte to claim bragging rights and finish ahead of Matthew Hensel, who stole the win away from Belmonte in Heat 3.
Another new member making his return to the sport after a spell in retirement was Nik Collins.
Proving his time out of the driver’s seat had not slowed him down, Nik secured a great result of second place in the first heat race and went on to secure enough points overall to be awarded third place for the day.
The final class on offer for the day was the Torini 4SS class.
With low maintenance cost and close racing this class always offers great on-track battles and last Sunday was no exception.
Continuing his form in 2021, another returning driver was the pacesetter from the moment the lights went green, with Callan Belmonte continuing the families on-track success making it wins for both father and son in their prospective classes.
Belmonte led from flag to flag with crowd favourite Kevin Harvey and Michelle Hetherington left to battle the final spot on the podium.
Michelle showed a great gain in confidence and race-pace on the weekend, sneaking a well-deserved second place from Harvey in Heat 2 before he fought back in the final races to claim points for second overall.
Results saw Belmonte stand on the top step of the podium with Harvey in second place and Hetherington third.
Mount Gambier Kart Club’s next race meeting is scheduled for mid-September, but members will still be putting in plenty of track time over the next few weeks with additional meetings held around South Australia and Victoria including club days at Portland as well as the Regional State Series happening both sides of the border as the 2021 season draws towards a close.
