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| September 29, 2009 |
| Sera Wins Epic Battle at Australian Rotax Nationals |
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 | Victorian David Sera leading the Rotax Light freight train at the Rotax Nationals
(Photo: photowagon.com.au) |
Victorian David Sera secured one of the hardest fought victories of his karting career during the Rotax Nationals at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway over the weekend.
The 21 year-old gallantly fended off a number of challenges from local driver David Whitmore, who was the pacesetter all weekend in his Kosmic Kart, along with Queenslanders Tyler Greenbury and Jessica Golding to take the win in the 28-lap Championship final.
“That was undoubtedly the hardest race that I’ve ever competed in,” said Sera.
“This track is very physical and when you do 28 laps around here it certainly works your body over. I made a couple of errors late in the race but luckily it seems so did the other guys and I was very relieved to have taken the win.”
Whitmore claimed second behind the Arrow kart of Sera while Ryan Rannard emerged third from a frantic last lap ahead of Golding and Shae Davies. Greenbury dropped from first to sixth in the final lap.
Sera’s victory was his fourth win from five attempts at the Rotax Nationals and the ninth national karting championship of his career.
Karting veteran Matthew Wall broke the dominance of the Queenslanders, who had won the last six titles in the Rotax Heavy division, when he won the eighth national championship of his career.
Wall, who was making only his second ever career start in the Heavy division, started on the outside of fellow Victorian Jason Pringle for the Championship Final, which had to be restarted following a lap one rollover by Jonathan Dwyer.
 | Matthew Wall on his way to victory in Rotax Heavy
(Photo: photowagon.com.au) |
Pringle jumped into the lead at the start ahead of his CRG team-mate Simon Meyer and Wall. It wasn’t long before Wall moved into the lead aboard his J&A Tuning Arrow.
The Victorian duo opening a slight gap over their pursuers while local driver Daniel Baker was charging from his ninth starting spot to be inside the top five.
Defending Champion Kel Treseder was also on the move to be inside the top ten after 15 laps after being forced to start from the back of the pack following a DNF in the Pre-Final.
With six laps remaining the top four were almost nose to tail before Wall opened a slender gap and went on to claim the eighth national crown of his illustrious career. Baker passed Pringle for the runner-up spot on lap 26 of the 28 lap encounter.
Queenslander Ben Jurczak has been the standout performer in the Formula JMA category throughout 2009. After this weekend he can add the inaugural Formula JMA Championship crown to his ever-growing list of achievements.
Only an electrical issue in heat three halted Jurczak from taking a clean sweep of the weekend. The Forrest Lake teenager was consistently lapping over two-tenths faster than his opposition in the 28-lap final on his way to victory. The battle for second was intense between Luke Rochford and Jack Howard with the pair swapping the runner-up spot on a number of occasions.
 | Redspeed driver Ben Jurczak (76) took out the Formula JMA category
(Photo: photowagon.com.au) |
Howard made a last lap pass aboard his Intrepid kart to claim the runner up spot while Macauley Jones benefited from the move by Howard to move into third, relegating Rochford back to fourth. Tobias Bellbowen crossed the line fifth, narrowly ahead of fellow Tony Kart pilot Chris Hays.
In the support classes Gerry Brookes claimed the win in Rotax Over 35s and Brinley Gread won the Open Performance (DD2) class.
2009 ROTAX NATIONALS
Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway, Sydney NSW
ROTAX LIGHT
1. #1 David Sera
2. #57 David Whitmore
3. #18 Ryan Rannard
4. #48 Jessica Golding
5. #69 Shae Davies
Without doubt the final of Rotax Light at the Rotax Nationals was one of the races of the year with the likes of David Sera, David Whitmore, Tyler Greenbury, Bart Price and Jessica Golding all spending time at the front of the field.
Whitmore got the lead at the start in his Kosmic kart ahead of the Intrepid of Golding followed by Sera, Greenbury, Mark Flood, Price and Hryniuk. Greenbury was looking strong and by lap ten had found his way into second spot and closed in on the leader, Sera.
At the half way point of the 28-lap race the top five were nose to tail with Sera leading in his Arrow kart followed by Whitmore, Greenbury, Golding and Price.
With ten laps remaining Greenbury ran wide allowing the leading duo open a gap but when Sera did the same thing a handful of laps later the field closed up at the front to ensure the race would go down to the wire.
Greenbury sliced his way past Sera for the lead with one and a half laps remaining, however, Sera wasn’t about to let his ninth Australian Championship slip away that easily. The 21 year-old fought back to regain the lead and hold on for the win. Whitmore claimed second while Rannard emerged third from a frantic lap ahead of Golding and Davies. Greenbury went from first to sixth in the final lap.
ROTAX HEAVY
1. #15 Matthew Wall
2. #77 Daniel Baker
3. #35 Jason Pringle
4. #66 Hamish Cross
5. #10 Paul Rodgers
Victorians Jason Pringle and Matthew Wall lined up on the front row for the 28-lap final of Rotax Heavy in the Rotax Nationals at Eastern Creek. A rollover by Jonathan Dwyer on the opening lap brought about a red flag and complete restart.
At the restart Pringle jumped into the lead ahead of his CRG team-mate Simon Meyer and Wall. It wasn’t long before Wall moved into the lead aboard his J&A Tuning Arrow.
The Victorian duo opening a slight gap over their pursuers while local driver Daniel Baker was charging from his ninth starting spot to inside the top five. Defending Champion Kel Treseder was also on the move to be inside the top ten after 15 laps after being forced to start from the back of the pack following a DNF in the Pre-Final.
With six laps remaining the top four were almost nose to tail before Wall opened a slender gap and went on to claim the eighth National crown of his illustrious career. Baker passed Pringle for the runner-up spot on lap 26. Two of the hard luck stories of the final were Simon Meyer, who suffered an electrical gremlin while running inside the top three, and four-time class Champion William Yarwood suffered a deflating tyre bringing his race to a premature end.
FORMULA JMA
1. #76 Ben Jurczak
2. #39 Jack Howard
3. #14 Macauley Jones
4. #35 Luke Rochford
5. #75 Tobias Bellbowen
Queenslander Ben Jurczak showed superior speed all weekend in the Formula JMA category. The Redspeed pilot qualified on pole position before winning the opening two heats and the pre-final before dominating proceedings in the final to become the inaugural Formula JMA National Champion.
Jurczak was consistently lapping over two-tenths faster than his opposition in the 28-lap final on his way to victory. The battle for second was intense between Luke Rochford and Jack Howard with the pair swapping the runner-up spot on a number of occasions.
Howard made a last lap pass aboard his Intrepid kart to claim the runner up spot. Macauley Jones benefited from the move by Howard to move into third relegating Rochford back to fourth. Tobias Bellbowen crossed the line fifth, narrowly ahead of fellow Tony Kart pilot Chris Hays.
ROTAX OVER 35s
1. #18 Gerry Brookes
2. #3 Nicholas Crawshay
3. #27 Bruce Otter
4. #44 Luke Wall
5. #32 Paul Mapperson
Gerry Brookes was undefeated throughout the weekend in the Rotax Over 35s aboard his Intrepid kart.
The Aurora Racing boss simply cleared off into the distance during the 28-lap final to claim a convincing victory. The battle for second place was intense between Nicholas Crawshay and Tim Paslow. Unfortunately for Paslow his race came to an end with an electrical issue allowing Crawshay to claim the runner-up spot.
OPEN PERFORMANCE – DD2
1. #51 Brinley Gread
2. #29 Kyle Ensbey
3. #14 Paul Hamilton
4. #35 Tony Prendergast
5. #95 Nick Klippan
Brinley Gread was dominant in every race of the Open Performance (DD2) category – a trend that continued in the final.
The Victorian grabbed the lead from the start before Kyle Ensbey took over the front running on lap two. However, it wasn’t long before Gread retook the race lead and went on to claim a convincing victory.
The battle for second heated up mid race with Travis Millar and Ensbey battling for the runner-up spot. Unfortunately for Millar the pair came together mid-race, dropping him to fourth, and then his race went from bad from worse later in the race when his campaign came to an end following an incident with a lapped competitor. Ensbey claimed second place ahead of Paul Hamilton. |
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