Victorian drivers put on a show at Round 4 of the 2017 Australian Kart Championship at the Emerald Karting Club Queensland, claiming victory in 5 of the 9 classes and claiming 10 of the 27 podium positions from the race meeting, while Eastern Lions Kart Club member Cadet 12 driver #13 James Wharton became the 1st Australian Karting Champion-elect of the 2017 season after taking victory and building a big enough points lead in the championship that he cannot be caught even with 1 round to go.
Just under 40 Victorian drivers made the trek up to Queensland to be apart of the 218 drivers at the meeting.
Make sure you checkout the on-demand video of the meeting to see all of the racing action from all classes from the weekend and head along to the Go Kart Club of Victoria on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of September (3 weekends after the City of Melbourne Titles) to watch all of the Victorian stars in action at the final of the 2017 Australian Kart Championship, as they race to try and claim the national title victory in their classes.
The KA3 class was dominated by the Victorian drivers with #94 James Sera (Oakligh / GKCV/ Geelong) and #1 Matthew McLean (Oakleigh / Geelong) taking 1st and 2nd while #14 Leigh Nicolaou (Go Kart Club of Victoria) also round out a podium clean sweep with 3rd.
Young Bendigo Kart Club Cadet 9 driver #40 Harry Arnett showed blistering speed all weekend taking out victory in 3 of the 4 heats and going on to take victory in the final, with Toby Dvorak (Oakleigh Go Kart Racing Club), Cadel Ambrose (Oakleigh / Eastern Lions Kart Club) and Lewis Francis (Go Kart Club of Victoria / Oakleigh) who took his 1st win at the national level in heat 3, all just finishing off the podium in 4th, 5th and 6th.
In the KA4 Junior class it was another clean sweep of the podium for Victoria with #64 Kacey Mann (Go Kart Club of Victoria) 1st, Jay Hanson 2nd (Eastern Lions Kart Club / Geelong Karting Club) and Cooper Webster 3rd (Go Kart Club of Victoria). Hanson retaking the lead on the final lap and crossing the line in 1st but a post race protest dropped him to 2nd.
As mentioned above in the Cadet 12 class Eastern Lions Kart Club member #13 James Wharton took a clean sweep of the weekend winning all 4 heats and the final to become the 2017 Cadet 12 national champion elect while Rochester Kart Club member #55 Fletcher Harris put in a great fight back drive to claim 3rd, Go Kart Club of Victoria member #17 Hugo Simpson just off the podium in 4th and fellow member Tex Starr-McKoy in 10th, Geelong driver #66 Will Harper was also in contention in the final but ended up with an unlucky DNF.
In the KA2 class Oakleigh Go Kart Racing Club member #76 Christian Pancione fought through a slow start to his weekend to come home strong when it mattered most and took out the final victory.
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See the full Australian Kart Championship article here http://www.karting.net.au/championship-changes-in-emerald
