2019 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship - Round 1 - Ipswich

Emerson Harvey’s impressive senior debut.

2019 SP Tools Australian Kart Championship - Round 1 Ipswich QLD

So much has happened in the off-season, new team, new class & up to seniors.

Qualifying; Stepping up to seniors was always going to be a challenge due to the 38 strong field, practice went well but KA3 senior is a very competitive class. Out of the gate things were looking good for qualifying until the Shannons driver was bumped wide leaving him alone on the track, sitting in P26 for most of the session, team principal of Melbourne Kart Centre James Sera looked worried. With about 3 minutes to go in the session, Emerson really got in the groove & on the second last lap moved up to 5th, an outstanding effort given he hadn’t been to the track since 2015.

The Ipswich track is well known as a difficult place to make a good start, Emerson’s goal for the heats was just to stay out of trouble and be in a good position for the final. 

Results for the heats were; H1-9th, H2-9th, H3-10th & H4-11th.

Emerson realised very early that seniors was going to be tough, the racing was hard but fair, add to that the class is so close. The positive for the Shannons backed driver was that he was learning how everyone around him races, so although he dropped a few positions for the final, the team knew he had very good pace for Sunday’s 20 lap final.

Final; Sunday was 38 degrees and what seemed like 85% humidity, so it was going to be tough on all the drivers. Emerson would start out of 10th, which was ok, as long as he made a clean start, all the drivers behaved on lap 1 & a freight train of karts started the journey.  Emerson’s plan was to take his time knowing he had the speed to just pick off positions when he could. So that’s exactly what the Shannons driver did, moving up lap after lap, along the way making some great passes moving up to 5th by half race distance. With 10 laps to go Emerson pushed hard to catch the lead pack and setting the fastest lap of the race but 5th was where he would stay.

Overall we are very proud & exited by not only Emerson’s pace but also his ability to mix it with the seniors.

Next Round; Round 2 - Newcastle, NSW - live streaming Sunday 31st March