Kingston Park Raceway 1 Hour Enduro Round 2

Welcome to Round 2 of Kingston Park Raceways  2019 1 hour Endurance Challenge. Before the night even got under way we saw one of our drivers come in beforehand for a practice run and low & behold he set the fastest lap time of the year, Daniel Martin doing a 59.737 just 30 minutes before tonight’s event was an incredible run by the young. Consistency is what matters though in tonight’s 1 Hour Endurance Challenge so let’s see if he has what it takes, dropping those sorts of lap times we know he’s going to be a contender. We saw another full grid for tonight’s event across the Light and Heavy divisions Light being anybody 85kg or under and Heavy 86kg and over. We saw 10 drivers enter the light division and 14 enter the heavy for this evening. 6:30 pm rolled by and Race control got the drivers into the briefing area to get everyone ready to go for qualifying.

It was an exciting qualifying session that came down to the wire, first it was Dylan Jones dropping into the 61’s with a 61.937 on his 2^nd last lap, seconds later Tom Fanshawe laid down the gauntlet on his final hot lap with a 61.378 to snag pole position for tonight’s race.

This is how we saw our top 3 qualifying spots for tonight:

1^st           Tom Fanshawe
2^nd          Dylan Jones
3^rd           Beau Coplick

 Qualifying was complete and the times where all set, our drivers had a brief break before it was time to get back into it, the adrenaline was starting to pump and our drivers are getting revved up. All of our drivers are all wanting that top step on the Coca Cola podium, all hungry for the trophy and tonight’s win.

The drivers where ready all eager to get in the kart for the 1 Hour Challenge around the Le Mans track, the drivers make their way to their karts, all drivers very eager to get this under way they set off on their pace kart lap. The drivers form up very nicely down the straight the pace kart comes in and the lights go green and we are off! All the drivers go very neat into turn 1, Dylan Jones jumps into an early lead over Tom Fanshawe, Daniel Martin tries to make a few positions early goes 3 wide into turn 2 but gets shoved out wide and loses a lot of positions, that’s not the way you want to start but he has a stack of time to make them up. A lot of rustling for positions especially down the field has allowed Dylan Jones to run out to an early lead setting a 60.734 on the 3^rd lap! He just might be a hard man to beat tonight. Tom Fanshawe has his hands full with the pack closing in behind him. A lot of action going on in the early stages of the race. Beau Coplick starting off 3^rd on the grid has got out to a very early lead in the heavyweight division with Dylan Leo battling Ken Kennedy for 2^nd in the heavies. The Mandatory 60 second kart changeover will need to be completed between the 10 minute mark and the 40^th minute mark, once those quad bike headlights some on at the pit entrance  at the 10 minute pit lane will be officially open, they will then be turned off 2 minutes before the 40^th minute letting drivers know pit lane will close soon, you don’t want to miss it because once pit lane is closed there are penalties involved if you haven’t completed at least 1 mandatory pit stop. The lights come on and straight away Tom Fanshawe comes in for his kart change attempting to perform the undercut on his competition. Elwyn Torres follows him straight in with Christopher Schaper and Robert Dair. Tom Fanshawe sets off on track again after pitting from 2^nd with a very tidy pit stop, maybe a little too quick and tidy, it is! He left after only 54 seconds that’s a 1 lap penalty at the end of the race at just 10 minutes in! The pitlane became very busy in the first 7 minutes it was open as it always does with 15 of the 24 drivers coming in to do their kart change overs. The one Hour Enduro is often about strategy more than outright pace & Dylan Jones is playing a masterstroke at that staying out with blistering speed setting a 60. 644, consistency is key and he is keeping the pace up for the first 30 minutes. Beau Coplick comes in for his kart change in the lead of the Heavies, next lap around followed by Dylan Jones at the halfway point thus handing the lead over to Daniel Martin that has fought his way back consistently doing 60 and 61 second lap time’s not letting Dylan Jones get further than a 16 second lead. As Dylan Jones comes into the pits he comes in way too hot locking up making contact with the tyres almost losing control. He is notified by the marshals at his kart change that he will have to come back into pitlane for a drive thru penalty next lap around. Essentially this now gives Daniel Martin the lead as long as he keeps his speed up. We’re now at the 35 minute mark and everyone has completed their kart change except our leader Daniel Martin who only “just” makes it in time, coming in at just a mere 20 seconds before the pit lane closes. Daniel does have more than enough time and comes out of pitlane in the lead 6 seconds ahead of Tom Fanshawe and who’s essentially out of the podium contention due to his 1 lap penalty, a further 6 seconds back is Dylan Jones.

Beau Coplick is ahead of Ken Kennedy by another 20 seconds in the Heavies but Ken has his hands full for 3^rd with Jay Jordan right on his hammer, they are neck and neck at the moment. We drop down to 5 minutes to go and Daniel Martin starts pulling consistent high 60 second lap times when everyone else is doing low to mid 61’s, he just keeps extending his lead lap by lap with 2 to go. It looks like no one will be able to stop him and sure enough, no one did, the chequered flag waves and Daniel Martin wins by 11 seconds, Dylan Jones crosses home in 2^nd after inheriting it off Tom Fanshawe after Tom’s time penalty. Beau Coplick comes in him 3^rd overall but 1^st in the Heavies after Battling hard with Christopher Schaper who was 3^rd in the lights. Ken Kennedy edges out Jay Jordan at the end in the fight for 2^nd and 3^rd in the heavies but it was some intensely close racing right to the end.

Our podium place getters are as follows:

Lightweight Division  1^st Daniel Martin
                                      2^nd Dylan Jones (Fastest Lap of the race – 60.644)
                                      3^rd Christopher Schaper

Heavyweight Division  1^st Beau Coplick
                                         2^nd Ken Kennedy
                                         3^rd Jay Jordan

That concludes another enthralling 1 Hour Endurance Challenge this evening at Kingston Park Raceway,  we hope all our competitors and spectators had “One Hell Of A Night Out: here at Kingston Park Raceway. If you think you have what it takes to take on the 1100m Le Mans track for our 1 Hour Endurance Challenge make sure you join us for round 3, secure your spot on the grid at https://kingstonpark.com.au/endurance-challenge - or call our friendly Sales Team on 07 3826 2255.

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