Cody saves best for last in State title

Albany youngster Cody Colmer has blitzed his way around Esperance Kart Club to produce a brilliant display in his cadet 9 go-kart, grabbing second place in the WA State Sprint Kart Championships at the weekend.

It didn’t all go Cody’s way as he failed to finish his first heat, but as the day went along he got better, claiming fifth place for his next two heats.

In the second heat he was six seconds behind the winner before he improved his time in the last heat to be just over two seconds from the winner.

Colmer recorded the fastest lap time in the final with a slick time of 34.206sec., saving his best performance of the weekend till last in Monday’s final.

The nine-year-old started from position six on the grid and quickly raced into third place, where he stayed for the rest of the 30-lap journey.

Cody crossed the line in third spot, 3.115sec. behind the winner James Webster.

Connor Radford finished just ahead of Cody in second but was disqualified post-race to push the Albany City Kart Club member one spot higher on the podium.

An enthusiastic Cody said he loves racing and aimed to one day compete at nationals.

“I love racing go karts, you get to go really fast and it’s really competitive,” he said.

“My aim is to go to Australian champs and do my best.

“I have been racing for three years and I’m getting more and more confident to go faster and win big races.”

Cody was one of four Albany representatives to compete in the WA championships along with Brandon Elliott, Harrison Beres and Greg Pearson.

Elliott ran into mechanical issues throughout the weekend preventing him from putting his best foot forward in tag 125 light category.

He finished his first heat back in 11th position and improved on that to grab ninth in heat three before a seventh-placed finish in his final qualifier.

In the final Elliott was unable to finish the race due to a chassis problem, sidelining him from the remainder of the event on lap 12.

Pearson finished the final in fifth place in the tag 125 restricted masters class, 14.328sec. behind the winner Simon Minton.

Pearson slowly got into the groove as the heats went on, finishing in ninth position in his first heat to be right up in sixth by heat three.

Fellow Albany youngster Beres finished the titles in sixth position in his cadet 12 division, which had 16 karts start the 30-lap decider.

He finished the heat racing with a 10th and two 11th placed efforts.