Australian Karting Championship - Geelong Round 2
Race Report
Australian Karting Championship Round 2 – Geelong.
Shannon’s backed junior karter Emerson Harvey has made a strong return to racing after suffering a broken ankle just prior to the 2017 season.
From the moment Emerson hit the track for practice he did not slip outside the top 10, which was extremely encouraging considering his lack of race laps.
Qualifying; was going well until Emerson was tangled in an incident that left him nowhere to go and the slightest of kart contact means under the new rules a 10 second penalty is added to your time, this dropped Emerson from 9th to 30th. A very tough penalty which is compounded because this also means we have to start every heat in 30th.
Heat 1; Emerson made a cautious start but really started to move through the field and was up to about 12 when he was turned around and dropped to 20th.
Heat 2; this was a fantastic start moving up 5 places on the first lap, Emerson clearly was on a mission and in one of the best drives of the weekend, the Shannon’s Rocket past 19 karts on his way to 11th.
Heat 3; the starts are always very hectic and with the new drop down bumper drivers have to be so carful not to be penalized, again with extremely good race pace Emerson moved up 17 places to 13th.
Heat 4; this was a really important race as another strong finish would give the team a top 10 staring position for the final. Unfortunately the kart seemed to have lost it’s edge in this heat & Emerson was struggling adding to that, he was again turned around with 2 laps to go, coming home in P26.
Final; We were hoping after tuning the kart upside down we had found the issue from heat 4 after being encouraged by our top 15 starting position. However, the second the light went green we knew the issue was still there. Emerson battled very hard & smart to maintain his position knowing he was vulnerable down the long straight and finished the race in 15th place.
The Championship moves on to Monarto in South Australia and with far more positives than negatives from Geelong, Emerson can’t wait.
