THE Mount Gambier Karting Club recently played host to karters from across South Australia and interstate, as drivers competed for the 2018 South Australian Black Plate at the Glenburnie Raceway.
Brief heavy rain on the Friday did limit practice, but there were several drivers who braved the elements and used the opportunity to develop a wet-weather setup in case the rain settled in.
However, by early afternoon the track had dried and drivers were back to fine tuning their karts.
The youngsters of event were the Cadet 9s, with drivers starting from the age of seven.
Three Mount Gambier drivers, Charlie Evans, Xavier Cain and Hayley Fewins suited up.
Evans showed great pace early and took the win in heat one, while Noah Enright found additional speed in heats two and three for the wins.
The final on Sunday saw kart contact between Enright and Evans in the early laps.
Ewan Anderson took the lead by turn three and from there produced a faultless race, with a steady pace to keep the rest of the field at bay and claim the win ahead of Evans and Mitchell Burgemeister.
Cain finished fourth and Fewins sixth.
Cadet 12’s had the largest field of the weekend and again two local drivers represented MGKC.
Parker Scott and Brock Fewins showed good pace, but were unable to match the front runners.
Victorian Jesse Lacey took bragging rights early, with Portland’s Brocklan Parker and Adelaide’s Leo Iannella crossing the line within less than 0.8 of a second.
Xavier Avramides and Ben Holliday fought out the lead in heat two, with Parker in third.
Iannella took the win in heat three, followed by Lacey and Holliday.
Brocklan Parker led the final from the start, but after a slow start Lacey fought his way back to take the honours, ahead of Holliday and Toby Dvorak.
Scott crossed the line in seventh, while Fewins suffered a mechanical failure.
KA4 Junior Light saw Limestone Coast drivers Tyson White, Bronson Boult and Kai Allen in the mix.
Allen set a blistering pace early for pole position and converted that to a win in heat one, ahead of Boult and Kobi Williams.
Heat two saw saw Allen lead from start to finish ahead of a fast charging Matthew Domaschenz and Boult.
Heat three was a repeat from heat one, as Allen, Boult and Williams filled the podium.
The final saw every driver in the field within one second each other, but Allen continued his hard charge to claim the honours from Domaschenz and Williams.
KA4 Junior Heavy was hard fought, with Zaiden Barry the winner in heat one, followed by Joshua D’Ambrosio and local driver Keean Ferguson.
Aaron Oliver claimed heat two ahead of D’Ambrosio, Barry and Ferguson.
Sunday saw Barry back at the front to lead Riley Jabke across the line in front of D’Ambrosio.
Barry led the final early, before he was passed on lap 11 by D’Ambrosio, with Jabke in third.
KA3 Junior saw Boult, Jobe Stewart and Allen set a blistering pace, with all three Limestone Coast drivers filling the first three positions after qualifying.
Boult claimed the opening race, ahead of Allen and Emerson Harvey.
Race two went to Allen, Harvey and Ryan Morgan, with race three awarded to Boult, Allen and Harvey.
Harvey saved his best for last, crossing the line ahead of Allen and Stewart.
Christopher Thomas set a benchmark time in qualifying for KA3 Medium to lead Remo Luciani and Portland drivers Scott King, Todd Chambers and Brad Anderson.
Local karter Lauren Ferguson showed outstanding pace to start off the third row of the grid.
Luciani, Thomas and King finished heat one in that order, with Thomas, Chambers and King mixing things up in heat two.
Sunday morning honours went to Thomas ahead of King, Luciani, Chambers and Ferguson.
As the chequered flag dropped Thomas was victorious over Luciani and King.
TAG Restricted Light provided plenty of action, with Derrick Rodgers making a successful return to the sport.
Still on his probationary licence, Rodgers set the fastest time in qualifying to secure pole.
Less than a 10th of a second behind was Todd Chambers, with James Boden rounding out the top three.
Heats one, two and three all mirrored qualifying, with Rodgers taking wins ahead of Chambers and Boden.
Faultless drives in the final saw Rodgers, Chambers and Boden claim the top three positions.
Phil Smith set a blistering pace in TAG 125 Medium in qualifying, along with Daniel Boorman and Alex Baker for the first three grid positions.
Heat one saw Boorman claim the honours ahead of Baker and Smith, while heat two went to Smith and heat three to Baker.
Smith was first to cross the line in the final ahead of Boorman and Baker.
Among the no restricted classes, Tag 125 Heavy had some serious players vying for the prestigious Black Plate.
Blake Mooney, Scott King, Brandon Stilwell and Leigh Cocker qualified well, with the four drivers leading the charge.
King claimed the win in heat one, followed by Stillwell and Mooney, while heat two went to Mooney, ahead of Cocker and King.
King was back on the pace Sunday for a good victory, ahead of Mooney and Stillwell, then took an early lead in the final before he dropped back to third, while Mooney climbed to second before suffering a DNF on lap five.
Stillwell led for 14 of the 18 laps and crossed the line first ahead of King and Cocker.
The TAG125 Light saw another large field, in what was possibly the closest contested racing of the weekend, with the top 10 drivers separated by seven-tenths of a second after qualifying.
Jacob Dowson, Josh Denton and local Morgan Feast made up the top three, with another MGKC member Shane Moreland off the third row of the grid.
Dowson led heat one from start to finish, ahead of Feast and Denton.
Feast used local track knowledge in heat two and secured a win ahead of Dowson, while Moreland drove a brilliant race to finish third.
Heat three saw Denton back among the lead pack for the win ahead of Dowson and Connor Farr.
Dowson took an early lead in the final and Matthew Hall slipped into second, followed by Denton.
As the race unfolded Dowson went on to take a well-deserved victory as Denton challenged on the run to the flag, but settled for second, with Feast in a comfortable third place.
Moreland just missed out on a top five.
With the Limestone Coast kart racing season now finished, a number of local drivers will still take the opportunity to race again in early December and compete for the 2018 Victorian Black Plate to be held in Mildura.
The Glenburnie Raceway will come back to life in February with both club-level racing and a Vintage Karts.
