GOPRO SUMMER SERIES 2024 GETS UNDERWAY IN NEWCASTLE

Karting Australia’s GoPro Summer Series started on Saturday morning in decidedly summery conditions in Newcastle.

After sunny, humid conditions were around for most of the day it ended with a freak storm shower which threw the KA2 race into chaos – as all drivers had embarked on the 11 minute Feature Race with dry tyres.

With just two racers remaining at the end of the race, it was young local driver Jack Bartlett who took the Saturday Gold Medal – a unique feature of the GoPro Summer Series. It is the biggest of his career thus far – similarly silver medallist Anashe Manyau had his biggest KA2 result.

The race of the day was the Feature for TaG 125. The unique format of the Summer Series sees qualifying invert the top 10 for the Sprint Race. Qualifying 10th, Colombrita started on the pole for the Sprint. He converted that to a win then went on to win the feature from pole in a Summer Series first.

The battle for the race win was epic with up to eight drivers in with a shot right until the last three corners.

With several drivers fighting for the minor medals, Colombrita sailed away – this coincided with light rain arriving. With him taking a conservative approach, second placed driver, Jackson Souslin-Harlow put in some sterling laps to close to within a Gold Medal challenging position, ultimately the pair were separated by millimetres – or 0.097 on the clock. Brodie Whitmore came home in third.

Youngster Tommy Risk took a dominant victory in KA3 Junior, getting home by 6.3 seconds over another pair of new names on the national scene in Nic Reid and Braxton Regan. Regan had to fight his way among multiple campaigners to get through to win the Gold.

Narooma (NSW) based KZ2 racer, Matty Parker survived a war of attrition – a wet track and an excursion through a large puddle of water – to win the Gold Medal. It became a challenge to complete the podium! Ultimately, Jay Murray got the Silver Medal and Chadd Moore secured bronze after Bailey Sagaidak succumbed to the slippery conditions on the final lap.

Freshly minted Cadet 9 Australian Champion, Oliver Williamson took his first major Cadet 12 win in the Feature. He like Colombrita created history for the Series, in becoming the first driver in Summer Series history to convert the inversion place from 10th to a Sprint and Feature win.

Local driver, Cooper Clavell marked his arrival on the national scene with a Silver Medal finish and Sydney-sider, Mason Lucchitti claimed the bronze.

On Sunday, a new event meeting see the GoPro Summer Series race day two with a resumption of qualifying at 9:45am (with the top 10 inversion repeated for Sprint Race one), a second Sprint Race based on finishing order of the first and the Feature Race – which grid is formed via amassing the finishing order of the first two races. Practice action starts at 8am.

Entry for spectators to the Newcastle Kart Racing Club facility is free with ample parking and full catering facilities. It is based at 5 Cameron Park Drive, Cameron Park.