Sean Whitfield, has won the 2007 Australian National 125 NGB Jnr Superkart Championship recently held at Mallala Raceway South Australia.

Driving against a class field, Sean set the fastest lap time in qualifying to start the weekend and first race from Pole Position.

Once racing, he ended the weekend with a 1, 2, 1, 1, scorecard to win the championship.

Congratulations to Sean Whitfield, Year 6, who now holds the August Superkart Lap Record, held in Queensland.

Sean behind the wheel of his winning kart

The kart race training team has been hard at work over the season sharpening driving skills, mechanical abilities, set up skills and general logistical capability.
Saturday added a new dimension by allowing the boys to do it all in the rain. The biggest impact was on the driving, as we use slicks even in the wet and the boys quickly discovered that the karts behave differently from normal, with initial understeer followed by a rapid spin if the brakes were grabbed in an attempt to reduce speed. James Hall proved to have no problems in the conditions, even driving a Rotax kart which could break traction under power anywhere on the circuit, and the others learned to adapt their lines and braking techniques. Callum Howse had a few “offs”, even finding the tyre wall on one occasion (the karts don’t slow down when they get to wet grass), David Anorov kept Dave Barbalet busy being push started after finding the catch traps on many occasions, and Hal Franzen get the idea quite well through the experience of going past the limits and gradually pulling back.

It was a terrific learning experience for all, and marked the end of this term’s driving. We plan to go to an away track early in Term 2 to put all that the boys have learned to the test in a new environment. That is something to look forward to.

On Sunday two experienced members of the kart training  
group embarked on their motor racing exploits. James Hall and Hal  
Franzen took to the track for the first time in competition, and  
they acquitted themselves well. Hal completed all races with  
clockwork reliability over 60 laps of racing in four heats, and  
James Hall came through the day almost unscathed other than an  
'off' near the end of race 2. James was on the pace all day, and  
ran in very close company with experienced competitors.

Will Brandon-Baker continued his promising beginning in motor  
sports, though he failed to finish the first three races through  
contact with other competitors. He had good pace throughout the  
day, with the move to a different category suiting him well.

James and Hal now understand why they need good levels of physical  
fitness for this sport, as both were exhausted after each 15 lap  
race. They were very grateful to the rest of the karting group for  
pit crewing during the day.