Local Grenfell Kart Club member 12 year old Tom Sargent recently took out the Rookies class of the NSW Closed State Sprint Kart Championships at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Kart Raceway.
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The Closed State Championships is one of New South Wales’s premier Karting events, this year attracting 221 of the best karters from across the State to the 1024 metre high speed circuit. For this event the racing direction was reversed which increases the racing speeds even higher.
Tom was at a distinct disadvantage up against a mostly Sydney based field of 21 in his Rookie Class. However fresh from his win at the previous weekends Bob Hinde Memorial race weekend in Grenfell in what could only be described as atrociously wet conditions, Tom was keen to get back to some dry weather racing. Straight away laying down a pole position winning qualifying time of 47.592 seconds, just 0.050 of a second in front of Sydney’s Travis Worton and just 0.092 off the lap record. With the top 12 karts all recording times within one tenth of a second of each other, the scene was set for what was going to be an epic weekends racing.
Tom starting from the pole in heat one grabbed the early lead but was soon hunted down by the relentless local drivers keen to show who could follow up a quick qualifying time with race results. By lap six Tom had been shuffled back to 5th place but some great passing moves saw him back up to 3rd by the time they crossed the finish line of the 10 lap sprint. With Sydney’s Lucas Lichtenberger claiming the victory.
Heat two saw much of the same this time Tom was pushed wide on lap three with all four wheels off the circuit by the time he managed to re-join the racing he was back in 10th place some 20 metres behind the lead pack. In the remaining laps Tom managed to climb back to 6th place. This time Newcastle’s Brodie Whitmore claimed the victory.
By now the tone of the race meeting had been set with spectators lining the fences to see some of the best racing of the weekend unfold in heat three. Again Tom shot to the lead but after four laps was shuffled back to third then forth by the train of Rookies pushing harder and harder, Tom managed to regain one position crossing the line in third, again Lichenberger claimed the victory.
Tom started the 12 lap pre final out of position 3 once again jumping to the early lead before being pushed back to fourth place, but by lap eight Tom had started his way back up the field hitting the lead on lap 10 shaving three tenths of a second off the lap record on his way, and with an average lap speed of 80 kilometres per hour. Only to be beaten to the finish by 0.04 of a second in a side by side drag race to the line with Travis Worton.
The 20 lap final was certainly going to be a classic race and the crowd was certainly not disappointed. Tom starting out of position two, and on the outside of the first two corners for the first time on the weekend was looking for another one of his great starts but Worton had different ideas and Tom was soon held wide and forced to settle back in fourth position. Tom was having none of this and by lap two was back in the lead, but by lap four Sydney’s Reece Cohern and Whitmore had pushed through to the lead, once again Tom was on the charge back to the front and by lap eight took the lead. Together with Whitmore the pair teamed up for the next eight laps in a spectacular display of driving, the two were never separated by more than a few centimetres. With the pair now holding a five metre gap over third place, on lap sixteen Whitmore decided it was time to make his move diving through to take the lead. Realising that if the two battled too much they would soon fall back into the clutches of third place. Tom pushed Whitmore for three more laps and with two to go snuck by to take the lead crossing the line by a margin of 0.089 of a second. To claim the victory and the rights to display the Champions black number plate for the next twelve months. Such was the intensity of the final all of the front five place getters regularly lapped under the four year old lap record.
Younger brother Josh also put up a great effort in the Cadet class after qualifying in 6th place, Josh progressed steadily over the weekend taking victory in the pre final. Starting out of position 1 in the final Josh was shuffled back to third place, finally gaining the lead back on lap twelve and looking very good to go on for the victory, only to be pushed wide and off the circuit at the infamous Grand Stand corner and back into third place after a heavy impact with the kerb. Despite his best efforts, with damaged steering and an injured knee Josh could not claw back the gap to the leaders, but still managed a very credible third place.
