Full Throttle

PAGE 24, 25, 26 - AKC ROUND 2
BACK TO BACK WINS FOR RICCIARDO KART PAIR
Ricciardo Kart pair Troy Loeskow and Jace Matthews have continued their winning ways in the 2017
Australian Kart Championship in Geelong, Victoria.
Round two of the five-event Championship, presented by Jayco and Castrol EDGE, had a strong
weekend of racing throughout each category, producing outstanding racing for the big crowd on hand
and the record live stream numbers.
Loeskow’s second straight win in the KZ2 class came in a final that saw a turn one incident claim
no less than eight competitors. Starting from pole position he quickly established an advantage over
Daniel Price and was able to maintain the gap right to the chequered flag, securing the win over the
CRG driver. Aaron Cameron had been in the thick of the action aboard his JC Kart throughout the
weekend and he salvaged a hard fought third placing with Jason Pringle finishing fourth and Series
stalwart, Sam Houston gaining a career-best finish in fifth.
2011 Bathurst 1000 Champion, Nick Percat had an entertaining late race exchange with his Brad Jones
Racing stablemate, Macauley Jones – with the battle of the Supercars drivers going the way of Jones
after recovering from the turn 1 melee.
Continuing the good form of Ricciardo Kart in the Karting Australia Manufacturer’s Championship was
Jace Matthews in KA1. Matthews backed up his Newcastle win to make it two on the trot since moving
to seniors.
KA1 was one of the more entertaining affairs over the weekend – whilst Matthews and defending
Champion, Scott Sorensen were comfortable in first and second, third placed raged right to the end.
It fell the way of Scuderia PCR driver, Kyle Henry-Smith, but it could have easily gone in many different
directions. The second Ricciardo Kart of Thomas Steele, Ryan Sanderson’s Formula K and Matthew
Stenner’s Kosmic all had dalliances with the final step of the podium.
In KA2, the elite junior category, a two-kart battle was staged for the round win between defending
Australian Champion Jack Doohan and Broc Feeney.
Feeney led the majority of the race in his Kosmic before Doohan closed down and made the decisive
move two laps from home.
Christian Pancione in his FA Kart survived a late race surge from Jordyn Sinni to finish in third.
KA3 Senior delivered the closest finish of the day with Leigh Nicolaou taking his Shamick Racing Arrow
to victory by just a tenth of a second over Matthew McLean. Australian Champion McLean had to work
hard to close the gap to Nicolaou and did so in the end, however it was the only race all weekend that
McLean had been headed – those results keeping his Title defence well on track. New South Welshman
Oscar Priest put a strong performance in to finish third.
Joshua Car took a solid win in the TaG 125 category aboard his Comp Kart. The Sydneysider pushed
hard to advance himself into the lead and had enough to outlast a surge by Queenslander Brendan
Nelson. Nelson skipped ahead of a battle between Joshua Rogers and Paul Rodgers which lasted the
entire 26-lap distance, which eventually fell the way of the latter.
Nelson was again denied in the X30 final in what became a battle of the FA Karts. After leading early,
he dropped to second behind South Australian Morgan Feast who took off at the front. Nelson’s biggest
challenge came from West Australian Ben Harders – who also had a stint at the front of the pack.
In the end, Feast led the FA Kart trifecta to take the second AKC round win of his career over Nelson
and Harders, with Car coming home in fourth.
In KA4 Junior, Kai Allen played his role perfectly in waiting until the final moments to strike.
Weekend long combatants, Cooper Webster and Jay Hanson were battling up front for the lead with
Zac Crichton and Kacey Mann playing a supporting role with Allen.
Allen was able to close the gap to Australian Champion Webster and Hanson and then waited for the