Albany City Kart Club to host huge Southern Sprint meet as part of new WA Karting Series

Albany City Kart Club will host the biggest meeting of its season this weekend, with more than 150 drivers ready to tear up the track.

The Southern Sprint meeting will be part of a newly formed 2023 WA Karting Series, and ACKC president Howard Heerey said it would be a huge event.

“Karting WA have done away with a lot of the minor State championships and created one,” Heerey said.

“Now there is a new State championship, and Southern Sprint will be the first event that counts towards it.

“We are the first round of the new State series.

“It’s exciting because everyone wants to come to it.”

With 179 entries, the club will be hosting twice the amount of racers this year as it did for the 2022 Southern Sprint — an amount nearly equal to the amount the Albany track attracted when it hosted the WA Championships in 2017.

Preparation for the event has consumed the club since Christmas.

“We’ve been working away here for weeks,” Heerey said.

“Anyone that comes down on the weekend will be amazed.

“Our whole paddock will be full of machinery.”

While not a contact sport, it does get close, and as per new Karting WA regulations, all karts raced must have a drop-down bumper.

“It’s very, very competitive; even the kids have all this telemetry, races can be watched on apps, it’s highly technological and highly competitive,” Heerey said.

Drivers will be competing across cadet nine, cadet 12, junior, senior and KZ classes.

While competitors from around the State will descend on Albany, Heerey said spectators should keep an eye on young local karters Jack Panizza and Cody Colmer.

Colmer finished second in the State championships last year, and this will be his first year racing in the junior class.

An unofficial practice day will be held at the club from 9am on Friday, followed by a welcome dinner.

After a brief practice on Saturday morning, competitors will head straight into qualifying and then racing.

Each class will have two heats, a pre-final, and then a final on Sunday.