WITH no recent race meetings held at the local Glenburnie Raceway for the last four weeks, Mount Gambier drivers have been travelling through South Australia and interstate in search of competitive track time.
Three of the club’s drivers made the journey to Mildura in early to compete in the prestigious North West Titles.
In its 46th consecutive year, the series has been popular among racers for its flowing track layout.
With the meeting held over two days, the Saturday night twilight racing provides some spectacular racing.
Lauren Ferguson put in a brilliant performance to finish inside the top five drivers for the event.
With all her heat races proving she had the speed to be among the podium contenders, a slow start in the final saw her drop back, but a well-calculated drive back through the field in the second half of the race proved she had great pace as she reeled in the leaders.
Running out of laps, Ferguson had to settle for a well-deserved fifth place.
Bronson Boult was another to travel to the circuit and contested two classes over the weekend, which provided plenty of track time to get his kart set-up right.
Qualifying third in the talented field of KA4 entrants, Boult followed that up with several top three placings in the heats.
However, despite contesting for the podium in the final, Boult was relegated back to fourth.
In the KA3 Junior class, Boult came into his own and was right on the pace from the start.
Missing out on pole position by two hundredth of a second highlighted the competitiveness of the class.
A second placing on Saturday and a heat win on Sunday morning put the youngster in a great position for the final race, staring from position two.
Kart contact from the pole sitter into turn one forced both of the pace setters off the track and relegated to the back of the field.
The contact resulted in an unfortunate DNF for Boult.
The final driver to attend the open meeting was Cadet 12 competitor Brock Fewins.
Fewins qualified well, adapting to the track and managed a number of top 10 results, despite having electrical issues causing him power loss.
Managing to diagnose the problem late Saturday evening, Fewins bounced back Sunday morning to record his fastest lap time of the weekend and eventually finished the weekend in the top 10.
Scott takes on State’s best
CADET kart driver Parker Scott has returned from the SA State Series after a credible effort against the best drivers in South Australia.
Spread over a four round series, the final round was held at the Monarto Raceway, south of Adelaide on the first weekend of July.
Qualifying on Sunday morning Scott was on the pace and earned a starting position from the second row of the grid.
A great start saw Scott slot into third position before dropping back to finish in fifth place.
Heat 2 resulted in a DNF for the youngster on lap three, ending his second race prematurely with some work to do in the final.
Starting well down the order for the final, Scott set about making his way back through the field, putting in his fastest lap of the race to greet the chequered flag in sixth position.
After a six-week break, Mount Gambier Kart Club will again come alive this Sunday with its July club day at the Glenburnie Raceway.
There is free entry for spectators, with on-site catering.
Racing will get under way around noon, with members of the public invited to come along and witness some exciting wheel to wheel racing.
