Albany young guns finish one-two in cadet final at opening round of South Eastern Zone Series

Three Albany drivers emerged victorious in their respective finals in the opening round of the South Eastern Zone Series held at the Albany City Kart Club at the weekend. A total of 86 entries were received for the first round of the four-leg series and local drivers shone on their home track. Albany members Jake Jurgielewicz, Ayden Tempany and Cody Colmer were all successful in their respective finals. The cadet 12 final over 14 laps finished with an Albany top two after Colmer prevailed over William Panizza. Colmer set the quickest lap of the race and went on to win by 3.531 seconds over Panizza while Bunbury’s Beau Casagrande took out third place. Across the weekend Panizza collected 1337 points to hold a slender lead over Colmer (1289 points) in the standings. Tempany won a thrilling KA4 junior light final, edging out Noah Byrne by 0.076sec. on the line while Albany’s Mitchell Turner finished in third place. Byrne topped the points over the two days with 1305 to edge out Turner (1119) and Tempany (1052). Jurgielewicz was a dominant winner of the tag 125 restricted light final, crossing the line 9.103sec. ahead of Glenn Fisher. Grace Patrick collected 1269 points to take an early lead in the series ahead of Matthew Pearce (1142) and Simon May (1119), while Albany youngster Ben Keen went down narrowly in the 14-lap cadet 9 final. Jay Kostecki, a member of the Tiger and Hurricane kart clubs, managed to hold Keen at bay and win by a 0.021sec. He also holds a 108-point lead in the overall standings. In the K2 category, Samuel Dicker was too strong and won the 14-lap final by more than 10 seconds. Daniel Currey was second and Damon Papasergio third. A slick display from Aleksandar Stefanovich helped win the tag 125 combined final by 7.199sec. over Cooper Cutts. Tayla Dicker proved too strong in the KA3 senior champ final, edging out Stefanovich by 2.907sec. in the 14-lap decider. In the KA3 senior heavy final Rodney Jamieson from Esperance won from Albany’s Howard Heerey and Esperance’s Jacky Moroney. Other winners in the finals were Cooper Lisle (KA3 junior) and Simon Minton (tag 125 restricted medium).