HIGHCLERE JUNIOR SHOOTOUT RACE REPORT The North Western Kart Club held the Highclere Junior Shootout on Sunday 17th of September. The small field of 30 entries were greeted with fairly sunny skies after a wet and windy Saturday practice.
Cadet 9 would see Eli White take a clean sweep, easily leading all 4 races from Green to Chequered. Mackenzie Leonard and Max Parry would battle out all weekend for the minor placings with Max Parry taking second place and Mackenzie Leonard taking third. The weekend wasn't all plain sailing though for Max and Mackenzie, with the pair coming together on the pit exit turn only for a full course yellow to come out while the karts were cleared from the track.
Cadet 12 seen a field of 6 karts, current State Cup champion Harry Warmsley was the one to beat for the weekend taking the top step in all 4 races for the meeting, Harry though, didn't have it all his own way with heat 1 seeing Ollie Garwood finishing only 0.123 of a second behind Harry. Elenah Rankin was the next one to put the pressure on Harry Warmsley, who this weekend was running a Tecno Kart in preparation for the Junior Sprint event in Puckapunyal in 2 weeks time. Elenah rounded out her weekend finishing in Second place followed by the fast finishing Ayden McCullagh rounding out third place, also showing some great pace over the weekend.
Tag 125 Restricted Medium seen Nigel Sheahan dominate racing taking a clean sweep of all 4 races, Gareth McCarthy finishing closely behind in the heat races only to have a spin on the first lap of the final, finishing second.
Tag 125 Restricted Heavy seen the entries of Lee Brothers, John and Garry. John took out the first heat on his Birthday, but that is where the birthday celebrations finished. Garry completed the meeting taking out the remaining 2 heats and final, with John close behind finishing the final with a gap of only 0.108 of a second.
KA3 Senior Light only had the one entry of Josi Braid. Josi had some good racing though in with the other KA3 classes giving her some great track time coming up to the KA3 Dash for Cash in October.
KA3 Senior Medium had some good close racing up the front with Patrick Johnson and Clinton Slatter fighting it out all day. Clinton Slatter finished the day on the top step with Patrick Johnson second and Tyson Slatter rounding out the podium with third place in his first event.
Tas KA3 Masters had Geoff Lawrence and P Plater, Daniel Rowbottom fighting it out for bragging rights. Geoff Lawrence took the top step in all 4 races, unfortunately for Daniel he was suffering from some sore ribs and made the decision to pull into the pits after his first lap.
KA3 Junior Lights' Lucas Furphy showed dominance during all 4 heat races, leaving Samuel Gorisch, Taig Birtwistle and Conner Bidwell fighting out the minor placings during heat racing. Lucas Furphy didn't have it all his own way though when it came to the Junior Light Shootout though. Samuel Gorisch set a quick time of 38.414 followed by Lucas Furphy with a 38.945, Conner Bidwell with a 39.963 and Taig Birtwistle with a 40.495. With the final grid set by the Shootout time, Samuel Gorisch with the front row to himself, got the jump at the start and from there lead the race from Start to finish, Lucas Furphy finishing second and Conner Bidwell rounding out the podium with third.
KA3 Junior Mediums' Jonty Rowbottow showed excellent speed over all 4 heats leaving Jack Redpath and Boyd McCarthy to sort out the minor placings over the 4 heats. Shootout time for the KA3 Junior Medium class seen Jonty Rowbottom set the quickest time of 39.392, Boyd McCarthy seen his lap produce a time of 41.425, leaving Jack Redpath starting out of Position 3 for the final with a shootout time of 41.706. Jonty Rowbottom having the front row to himself for the start of the feature he pulled away from the karts of Boyd and Jack. Jack and Boyd fought it out over the 20 lap final, with Jack Redpath finishing in Second position and Boyd McCarthy in Third.
