Breakthrough win for Cooper Folley as Italian flies in Melbourne
Young Queenslander, Cooper Folley has stunned the field in his first KA2 Junior round at the opening SP Tools Australian Kart Championship, presented by Castrol event sweeping to the win at the opening round in Melbourne.
Folley stepped into the premier Junior category straight from Cadet racing and it was a stunning performance that saw him win a heat yesterday. The two drivers he’d been battling with throughout the weekend - Liam Carr and Hamish Campbell collided and dropped down the order, leaving Folley in front. From there, the BirelART driver dominated proceedings extending his lead as the race drew on. Campbell was able to charge through to second position to get his Championship campaign off to a solid start - and Empire Kartsport’s Ayrton Dalmaso hung on after a fierce late race battle to score third place.
Italian star, Moritz Ebner ended his weekend in the KZ2 Gearbox class leading every single lap, after a fierce round one Final with PremAir Racing Supercars star, James Golding.
Parolin karter, Golding went toe-to-toe with the professional EKS chassis racer for the entire 18 minutes, a late race attempt at passing Ebner at turn one saw the door close quickly on the Australian, the move ultimately delivering enough for the Eagle to fly to the win. In claiming the win, Ebner became the first Italian driver to claim a round win in the history of the Championship. Finishing third was West Australian BirelART driver, Dylan Guest.
Battlelines have been drawn in the TaG 125 title chase with Jackson Souslin-Harlow and Harrison Hoey’s first meeting of the weekend this morning living up to what is being considered to be one of the key storylines in this year’s SP Tools Championship.
The morning heat races saw the duo share wins before this afternoon’s Final saw Souslin-Harlow lead the entire way in his Kart Republic. Hoey shadowed his rival however throughout the entire race, the pair with a commanding advantage over their rivals. Victorian, Amos Orr showed pace by working his way through the field to end up on the podium.
Braxton Regan swept his way to his first AKC win in the hotly contested KA3 Junior Final. Numerous drivers led the race through the 14-minute Final, ultimately, Regan was able to make a final lap manoeuvre to take the lead and cross the line nearly three-tenths of a second in front of Lucas Costanzo and Jai George was able to complete an impressive weekend with a maiden national-level podium.
Former junior round winner, Christian Estasy left his best race of the weekend until last on Sunday afternoon, sweeping through to take the win.
The lead was swapped on a number of occasions, however, Estasy had the right setup to hold tough and take a 1.1 second win. Another former junior round winner, William Thompson claimed second, while JSH Racing’s Jett Adamson was denied victory despite being arguably the form driver of the weekend, finishing third.
The X30 Final had arguably the biggest controversy of the weekend when Sydneysider, Brodie Whitmore was handed a post-race five second penalty after crossing the line first.
The race came under a full course caution after a racing accident saw Jace Matthews collect a tyre barrier at high speed after chasing the lead. This led to a one lap dash to the end and Whitmore breached the rules by changing lanes on the way to the green flag. Drivers must stay in single file in the middle of the starting lane on their path to the control line. This then handed the win to Jaiden Pope, who claimed a return to the top step of an AKC podium and elevated Pip Casabene to second and Max Walton to third after he started midway in the field.
In Cadet 12, Jude Ammoun claimed his first Australian Kart Championship win after an incredible Final, where any one of eight drivers were in with a shot to raise the #1 trophy. Numerous competitors led the race, but it was Ammoun who kept his cool to grab the tenth-of-a-second win. Jensen Damaschino claimed second and Koda Singh third.
The Cadet 9 Final was one of the more extraordinary races seen in the 10 years of the AKC and was a fitting way to begin the Finals Series today. After numerous drivers had attempts at winning the race, ultimately, Milan Sami was the one that could hold on to take the win. Ari Djemil finished in second, while Felix Sim came home in third after leading certain parts of the race.
This completes the opening round of the SP Tools Australian Kart Championship, presented by Castrol. The next round of the Title chase will be held at the Monarto complex in Murray Bridge, South Australia, May 2-4.
For the Full Results please click here.