Locals shine in first SEZ kart round

Drivers from around WA produced terrific racing across two days last weekend to kickstart the 2019 South Eastern Zone Series at Albany City Kart Club as a number of Albany drivers recorded top-three finishes in their respective finals and overall points standings. Albany’s Greg Pearson finished second in the Tag 125 restricted medium division final to Tim Gorman but managed to finish as the highest point-scorer in the category across the weekend. Pearson won three of his five races to collect 1088 points ahead of Gorman (989 points) and Nicholas Pascoe (754). Albany youngster Cody Colmer had a great weekend, topping it off with a third-place finish in the final of the cadet 12 class, also placing third in the overall points with 830 points behind top two placegetters in the final and overall points, Zane Rhodes (1156) and Chase Wildman (1012). Fellow Albany drivers Mitchell Turner and Ayden Tempany finished fourth and fifth overall in the same division. Albany’s Harrison Beres finished the KA4 junior light overall points in fifth place on 728 points behind Aiden Dekkers (1156), Darcy Venetis (980) and James Micucci-Allen (830) who all finished in that order in the final. Beres narrowly missed out on third place in the final, edged out by 0.15sec. Hamish Crofts defeated Grady Crofts by over a lap in the cadet 9 final while Blake Pianto, who made up the all-Albany field, was back in third. Grady Crofts (1156) topped the points ahead of Hamish Crofts (948). Liam Cain took out the KA3 senior light final by more than 10 seconds ahead of Lucas Galic and an undefeated weekend had Cain on top of overall points in round 1 as well. The KA3 senior heavy final was claimed by David Mackie from Jacky Moroney and Rodney Jamieson. Mackie defeated Jamieson by 172 points in the division standings to cap his strong two days of racing. In a thrilling 14-lap final of the KA3 juniors, Robert West prevailed by 0.909sec. from Thomas Loughton and in a tight finish to the points Aidan Dekkers came out on top with 1242 to shade Loughton (1232) and Micucci-Allen (1026). Brodie Kratochvill won the double in the Tag 125 light, prevailing in the final and the overall points standings. After a strong display all weekend Matthew Rossack was a convincing winner of the final and points in the WA open performance category. Darrin Turner won the Yamaha senior medium division by more than 10 seconds ahead of Luke Porter and Shane Burns while Scott Else won the overall points.