The North Western Kart Club hosted the Stonehouse Clutch and Brake KA3 Dash for Cash on the 14th and 15th of October,
43 competitors gathered for what was a wet start to the weekend. Cadet 12 had 9 entries with some very close racing.
Qualifying seen Cruz Kelly take P1 with a 47.365, Cooper Lockett was hard Cruz Kelly's heels finishing only .012 of second behind Cruz with a 47.377 taking P2. P3 was taken out by Casper Anderson with a time of 47.585. Elenah Rankin and Ayden McCullagh rounded out the top 5 positions.
Heat 1 seen Cruz Kelly lead the race from green to chequered with Elenah Rankin holding of Harry Warmsley fighting for second spot, harry took out P2 on the last lap with Elenah finishing a close 3rd.
Heat 2 had some close racing between Cruz Kelly and Harry Warmsley, Harry finishing just under a second behind Cruz, Elenah Rankin, again finishing third.
Heat 3 was one to watch with some extremely close racing, with a few penalties given out after this race the final positions were Harry Warmsley in P1, Cruz Kelly in P2 and Elenah Rankin finishing third.
The final seen Cruz Kelly get a good start to lead the final from start to finish, Ethan Youd had a great start running in Second for 9 laps before slipping back to fifth, Elenah Rankin and Harry Warmsley slogged it out mid pack before eventually finishing second and third respectively.
Cadet 9 entered the weekend with a small field of four, but that didn't stop the racing from being close.
Qualifying had Eli White take P1 with a time of 47.811, Makenzie Leonard 48.841, Levi Williams 49.126 and Luke Mccullagh 50.711.
Heat 1 unfortunately end up with only Eli White in P1 and Makenzie Leonard in P2 finishing the race, Luke McCullagh and Levi Williams completing only 2 and 1 laps respectively.
Heat 2 had Eli White race away from the rest of the field finishing 13 seconds in front of Makenzie Leonard, followed by Levi Williamns and Luke McCullagh..
Heat 3 once again had Eli White using his home track advantage to have him again finish the race in P1, Makenzie Leonard in P2 and Levi Williams in P3
The Cadet 9 final was a mirror image of Heat 2 and 3 with final postions going to Eli White in P1, Makenzie Leonard in P2 and Levi Williams in P3.
Tag R 125 Medium had a good field of 9 Karts consisting of 4 P Plate drivers, 3 of which were having their first race meeting. Qualifying was a wet affair with only a second covering the top 5.
Troy Sheahan took the chocolates with a 44.603, followed by Shane Stonehouse 45.198 and Allan Sheahan 45.254, rounding out the top 5 were Nigel Sheahan and Marcus Howe, who stepped back from Tag R Heavy for the weekend.
Heat 1 had Allan Sheahan just edging out his brother Nigel Sheahan by 0.194 of a second with Shane Stonehouse rounding out the top 3.
Heat 2 seen Shane Stonehouse take the lead at the start, leading for the first 7 laps before a move by Troy Sheahan seen him slip into the top spot finishing 0.278 of a second in front of Shane Stonehouse with Allan Sheahan in a fast finishing third postion.
Heat 3 again seen Shane Stonehouse jump to an early lead before Troy Sheahan moved into the lead.
Final results seen a mirror image of Heat 2.
Tag R 125 Medium final seen more close racing between Troy Sheahan, Shane Stonehouse, Nigel and Allan Sheahan. Troy Sheahan P1 was able to hold out Shane Stonehouse P2 with Nigel Sheahan P3 holding out a fast finishing Allan Sheahan to take the final step on the podium.
KA3 Tas Masters only had 2 entries for the weekend, Geoff Lawrence and Rick Anderson took to the track for qualifying with Rick Anderson setting the quickest time of 45.439 is less than ideal conditions. Geoff Lawrence was the one to beat for the heat races. Unfortunately for Geoff in the final he decided the grass needed a trim in turn 1. After making his way back on the track he made up lost ground to Rick Anderson but was unable to make a pass before the chequered flag. Rick Anderson finishing first with Geoff Lawrence second.
Tag 125 also only had the 2 entries of Sam Chettle and Daniel Hinds, Sam and Daniel took to the track for practice. Sam Chettle was the fastest of the two with a quickest time of 38.553 followed by Daniel Hinds with a 39.207. Sam and Daniel decided to sit out heat 1, with Sam taking out heats 2 and 3. Daniel Hinds took the lead in the final for the first 8 laps before the boys decided to swap positions on track for the last half of the race. Fortunately for Daniel he happened to find his way back past Sam Chettle to take the top
step on the podium.
KA3 Junior Light and Heavy both ran together for the weekend as Taig Birtwistle was the only entrant for the light division. KA3 Junior heavy seen three entries . Boyd McCarthy who was the quickest in qualifying with a 44.180 followed by Byron Lee 44.494 and Samuel Braid 46.529.
Heat one seen both Taig and Boyd both be the only finishers for their respective classes with Sam Briad and Byron Lee both having DNF's . Boyd McCarthy continued his qualifying form throughout the remaining heat races. Sam Braid took out second position in heat 2 with Byron Lee unfortunately getting disqualified from the heat. Heat three seen a change of minor positions with Byron Lee taking out second in the last heat with Sam Braid third. The final seen Boyd McCarthy streak away to finish with a 18.5 second advantage over Samuel Braid with Byron Lee spinning in pit turn on the first lap and sitting out the final.
KA3 was the Feature class for the weekend, grids were set by random draw with heat points setting the final grid for what would become one of the best races this season.
Heat one seen Gemma Wyllie take out the race by a 1.407 second margin, followed closely by Riley Newick and Ari Lawes a further 3 seconds behind.
Heat 2 was a closer race, Clinton Slatter got the jump at the start and led the first lap before Patrick Johnston made a move and had him leading until the last lap where Riley Newick made a pass finishing the second heat in first spot, Patrick Johnston was second followed by Ben Dobson in third.
Heat 3 start seen Joel Howe take the lead for the first two laps beore dropping back to sixth position, Riley Newick again the one with the pace, finishing 4.2 seconds in front of Ben Dobson, with Jack Taylor finishing less than half a second behind Ben in third.
Heat 4 had Clinton Slatter again take an early lead to only be passed by Riley Newick who continued to lead the race until being caught by Patrick Johnston on the second last lap.Patrick Johnston finishing the heat on the top step with Riley Newick only 0.248 of a second behind in second and Gemma Wyllie only 0.200 of a second behind Riley in third place.
The feature race seen a few different things happen, with the grid set on points from overall heat race points, the Pole sitter for the final had the chance to draw a number out of the Championship cup, this then decided the amount of positions on the grid which would be inverted. 3 was the number drawn out, so with
the top 3 changing positions the field was set for the 20 laps final, but that wasn't where the fun stopped. With 22 laps on the board, and and a competition caution of two laps to come in at lap 11 the field was all set to let loose. Patrick Johnston got the jump on the field from the time the lights went out, leading the field until the competition caution was executed on lap 11. Once the field was closed back up they where then shown the Green flag for the downhill sprint to the flag. On Lap 18 the dark clouds decided to play some havoc on the race, turning the track into an ice rink for all those out on track with slicks. The rain turned the race on its head with a group of karts deciding to park up in the gravel at the B&J Joiners Hairpin.
Somehow, Ben Dobson found his way to the front of the field for the last two laps to take out the NWKC KA3 Dash for Cash, Ben was followed over the line by Patrick Johnston with Ari Lawes rounding out the podium.
