Serious Fast Fun on week 34 FNC
Good evening and welcome to another exciting night of racing here at Kingston Park Raceways Friday Night Challenge, Australia’s premiere go-karting event! Tonight was unbelievably eventful and even more so for a very familiar face down here at the raceway, Andrew Barnes making it into the Super Final for the first time! Not only that but beating his personal best lap time with a 63.483. So very big congratulations to him first off as all the practice and time on track paid off, and tonight was no slouch with some big name regulars joining us as well as a lot of new hopefuls.
Right off the bat we had drivers down into the 62 seconds and pushing that 61 second barrier. With the track quite slick after yesterday’s rain it was a bit of a shaky start but as the track started to come on heading into heats 2 and 3 the night came alive with us not only seeing quite a few drivers breaking into the 61 seconds but we also saw a 60 second lap time show up in heat 3 done by Liam Neutze. So the Super Final, as it finally rolls around we see some familiar and new faces join the ranks; Andrew “Superman†Barnes, Clayton Unterrheiner, Martin Connellan, Stephen O’brien, Bryce “Slayer†Steadman, Drew Mackay, Liam Neutze and Brad Smith. Let’s take a look how the race unfolds.
As we grid up behind the pace kart preparing for the challenge ahead, playing out the race in their heads and how they are going to attack that first corner when the light goes green, pace kart peels in and the green flag drops! Into turn one and Drew holds the lead with Bryce tucking in behind him on the inside line. Clean runs through turns 2 and 3 with our leaders Drew and Bryce already pulling away from the pack as the tussle for third is a 5 way battle. Back around into turn 1 and Clayton makes a brave move into one picking up 2 positions but giving Stephen a little rub on the way though, we’ll have to keep an eye on that and see how it plays out. Back around to turn 8 and as excepted in slides Stephen under Clayton to take back third position. You give what you get, within reason and rubbings racing.
The back and forth battle continues with Martin and Brad in the mix there as well. Looking to the front and Drew is gone! 5.2 second lead as it seems Bryce decided he couldn’t catch Drew and let him go. Maybe not the best of ideas as the battling pack for third position are now closing fast. Martin deciding now is his chance and picks off one, two, and three! In a brilliant string of overtakes and takes third position for now. Leading the charge now and Bryce falls into the mix. Things heat up as Bryce drops back to fourth position though 7 and 8 with only 3 laps to go.
2 laps remaining now and Bryce gets back on the pedal, not to be out done he dives into 7 and 8 picking off the Martin and Clayton that passed him the lap before in similar fashion to reclaim second position. Clayton seizes the opportunity and follows through under Martin who’s off line to take third. Into the final lap and there is no stopping Drew as he rockets through the final turns and takes the checkered flag with a lead of 13.4 seconds! Bryce just narrowly holding onto second with a gap of 0.2 seconds ahead of Clayton who crossed in third.
1st – Drew Mackay – 61.221
2nd – Bryce “Slayer†Steadman – 63.383
3rd – Clayton Unterrheiner – 62.569
Fastest lap of the night – Liam Neutze – 60.975
Well you really can’t beat the action down here trackside and even more so on Friday nights here at Kingston Park Raceway. Where anything can, and does happen! Unbeatable racing and so much fun, but why are you here reading what I have to say about it? Come down and get amongst it! You’ll soon see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
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REPORT : Friday Night Challenge 25/08/2017
