Launceston Kart Club – Statewide Series Round 4

The Launceston Kart Club hosted the final round of the Karting Tas Statewide Series on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of July. Seventy competitors convened at the Archerville Raceway circuit in Launceston for a weekend of wet and windy conditions. The final round of the series produced only three clean sweeps, with sixteen drivers taking a race win from the two-day event.

Cadet 9 would see Andy Rowlings take wins in heat one and two with fellow Launceston Kart Club member Cooper Lockett taking the win in heat three. In the final it would be a two-horse race between Lockett and Rowlings. Lockett would get the best of the start to lead the first six laps before Rowlings would fight his way to the lead on lap seven and go on to register a win by just under three seconds from Lockett, with fellow LKC member Makenzie Leonard crossing the line in third place. At the end of the four rounds, it would be Cooper Lockett who would win his first ever Tasmanian Statewide Series by 427-points from Eli White in second place. Andy Rowlings would finish a further 90-points behind in third place. Makenzie Leonard would finish the series in fourth place.

KA3 Senior Medium would see Brodie Sward win all four races in dominating fashion by an average margin of just under four seconds. Patrick Johnston would finish the final in second place with Jonathon Harris crossing the line in third place, however due to a two place drop down penalty Harris would be relegated to fifth with Gene Medwin inheriting third place. Hobart’s Riley Newick would register enough points in the final round to go on to win the series by 365-points from Burnie’s Patrick Johnston in second place. Joel Howe would have his best round of the series to finish in third place, a further 518-points behind Johnston.

KA3 Junior Heavy would see Smithton’s Jaiden Marshall initially clean sweep the three heat races, however a two place drop down bumper penalty in heat three would see Hobarts Jack Turnbull inherit the heat three victory. The final would see a five-way battle between Marshall, Turnbull, Burnie’s Ari Lawes, along with Launceston pair Jack Taylor and Jonty Rowbottom. The five drivers would be nose to tail for several laps but when the checkered flag waved it would be Jack Turnbull who would cross the line for his first ever win in a final. Jack Taylor would cross the line in second place with Ari Lawes finishing in third. At the end of racing, it would be Jaiden Marshall who would win the series by 415-points from Turnbull. Jonty Rowbottom would secure enough points to finish the series in third, a further 372-points behind with Jack Taylor finishing in fourth place.

TaG 125 Restricted Medium would be one of the most anticipated classes of the weekend with only 108-points separating the top three drivers. The weekend started with Dave McCullagh sweeping both heat races on Saturday before Allan Sheahen would fight back to take heat three on Sunday morning. In the final it would be Dave McCullagh who held the three Sheahen brothers at bay to cross the line 2.725 seconds clear of Allan. Nigel Sheahen would cross the line in third place. In what would be the second closest finishing margin of the series Dave McCullagh would beat out Allan Sheahen by 92-points to capture his first ever Tasmanian Statewide Series. Allan’s brother Troy would finish a further 157-points behind in third place.

KA3 Senior Light would see another dominant weekend for Hobarts Gemma Wyllie. Wyllie would cross the line in first place in all four races for the weekend, with only a drop-down bumper penalty in heat two costing Wyllie a clean sheet. Due to the penalty Callum Bishop would inherit the heat two win. In the final Wyllie would cross the line 2.700 seconds clear of Cameron Jeffrey with earlier heat winner Callum Bishop finishing in third place. Cameron Jeffrey would go on to win his second ever Statewide series after winning Cadet 9 in 2017 by 521-points over Gemma Wyllie who just couldn’t make up for missing the whole of round two earlier in the year. Hobarts Lewis Turnbull who was a further 151-points behind Wyllie would finish the series in third place.

KA3 Junior Light would see two heat wins taken by Hobarts Harry Bresnehan, with the other being taken out by series leader Lucas Furphy. In the final it would be Samuel Gorisch who would take the win by 1.313 seconds over Lucas Furphy. Harry Bresnehan would cross the line in third but a post-race two place drop down bumper penalty would move him down to fifth with Hobarts Kai Bush inheriting third place making it back-to-back podiums for Kai after a second-place finish in round three. Once the dust had settled Lucas Furphy would take out the series by 636-points over Samuel Gorisch with Hobarts Eli Davey finishing in third.

Cadet 12 would see Cruz Kelly put on a dominating display on Saturday to comfortably win heat one and two. Sunday morning would see an action-packed heat three with Hobarts Levi Bush taking the win. In the final Cruz Kelly would get the jump from outside pole and go on to lead every lap of the final, crossing the line just under four seconds clear of Harry Warmsley in second. Ollie Garwood would hold off Casper Anderson to cross the line in third place. At the end of the series Levi Bush would win his first ever Statewide Series by 33-points over current State Champion Harry Warmsley. Third place in the series would go down to the last few laps of the final with both Elenah Rankin and Ollie Garwood holding the points lead thanks to all of the toing and froing of positions. Once all the karts crossed the line, Rankin would secure third place by 32-points over Garwood.

TaG 125 Restricted Heavy would see Marcus Howe dominate heat racing taking three from three wins as well as crossing the line in the final over ten second clear of his closest rival, Michael Wilson in second place. Dave Fidler would bounce back from a rough run in the heats to finish the final in third place. Hobarts Luke Millar would secure enough points in the final round to win the series by 480-points over Fidler with Marcus Howe being an additional 157-points behind in third.

KA3 Tas Masters would see current State Champion Shane Stonehouse continue his dominant form registering another four comfortable wins by an average winning margin of just over seven seconds. Crossing the line in second place would be Anthony McCullagh with Matty Mayne in third. Thanks to winning thirteen of the fourteen races of the series Shane Stonehouse would register the biggest winning margin of any class in the 2023 Karting Tas Statewide Series, 1517-points clear of second place finisher Matty Mayne. Clinton Slatter would manage to finish the series in third after only competing at three of the four rounds, 1033-points behind Mayne.

Racing continues at the Archerville circuit in Launceston on September 9th and 10th for Tasmanian State Cup event, The Cowbiz Archerville Classic IV.

Produced by: Jade Stone