Brandon Elliott and Lucas Dines claim Ross Manley and Zac Hamment memorial races respectively

Brandon Elliott and Lucas Dines came away with the spoils from the Albany City Kart Club’s Memorial Day in honour of former members Ross Manley and Zac Hamment. A strong contingent of 34 drivers hit the track on Sunday for the November club meeting, which was highlighted by the running of the Ross Manley and Zac Hamment memorials and ended a difficult year hindered by COVID-19. Elliott claimed his first clubman feature race, crossing the line first in the 15-lap final against his 15 opponents, and also produced the fastest lap of the feature race in the final circuit. Grid positions for the feature race were determined by the heat races, with the quickest starting at the rear. Starting from near the rear of the field, Elliott worked his way through the field to win by 1.240sec. over Aaron Riedyk. That pair gapped the rest of their opponents as Howard Heerey was third home in the memorial just under 14 seconds behind Elliott while Bob Harrison and Chad Crofts finished fourth and fifth respectively. In the overall standings for the day, Chad Crofts (861 points) defeated Elliott (806) and Riedyk (749). Six drivers contested the Zac Hamment Memorial for the cadet 9 division and rising star Dines proved too strong winning with a handicap start. Drivers started five seconds apart with the fastest qualifier last to take off. Dines prevailed in the 12-lap feature to win by 8.302 seconds over Grady Crofts and Hamish Crofts. Last year’s Zac Hamment champion Cody Colmer won all four races to finish on 1156 points in the cadet 12 division ahead of Mitchell Turner (921). Scott Else finished on 1016 points to win the tag restricted medium class after one race win and two second placings. Riley Munro topped the junior division points standings after winning all four heats.