please visit this page often, as it will be updated regularly... click on the links

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE "SERIES REGULATIONS" HERE

Results / Point Score for Round 1 at Toowoomba 11 April click here 
Results / Point Score for Round 2 at Mackay 16 May click here
Results / Point Score for Round 3 at Townsville 8 July

MACKAY TO HOST QUEENSLAND'S BEST THIS WEEKEND - ROUND 2

Many of Queensland's best karters will be heading to Mackay this weekend to compete in round two of the state-wide Supercheap Auto Kart Racing Series.

In excess of 100 drivers are expected to do battle across the seven classes being contested in the event as they not only focus on the Supercheap crown but also gain valuable experience ahead of the Queensland Championships to be held at the venue in July.

Following on from a strong performance in the opening round Harrison Oddie will is likely to figure prominently in the Midgets class (for drivers aged between seven and ten years of age).

The Junior Clubman field will certainly be one to watch, and likely to be one of the largest of the weekend with the likes of Jared Lane and points leader Sam Lumsden to start as two of the favourites.

Fresh from a victory at round two of the CIK Stars of Karting Series in Ipswich last weekend Gladstone's Cian Fothergill is expected to be one of the pace setters in the Leopard Light category.

One of the numerous local drivers who will also be competing is Alistair Ingram. The rising star battled with illness during last weekend's round of Australia's elite karting series, the CIK Stars of karting Series, but is hoping he'll be back to 100% this weekend.

Official practice and qualifying will be held on Saturday from pm with racing, featuring three 15km races for each of the seven categories from 9am on Sunday.

click here 

In 2009, we saw the Supercheap Kart Series promoted and run for the first time.

How did the Supercheap Kart Series come about?

In 2007 and 2008, I had run the Qld Leopard Series, which, by way of numbers, has been hugely successful in Queensland.

At the V8 round at Oran Park 2008 (last one of the year), I made a comment to V8 Ute Driver, Ryal Harris, that we should ask Paul Morris to support the series with some sort of "drive day" prizes to create more incentive for the drivers to compete in the series. (Ryal Harris is also a driving instructor at the Holden Drive Centre)

The initial response was no, and Ryal asked me to talk to the CEO of Paul Morris racing/Holden Driver Centre. After explaining what we wanted to do, they spoke to Supercheap, and between Paul Morris and Supercheap Auto, offered 30 drive days at the Holden Driver Centre.

I decided that 30 drive days was far too much for Leopard only, and brought a proposal to the executive, and then the council in January 2009, to create a series involving more classes than Leopard.

What was the concept of the 2009 Series.?

I proposed that this series be different than any other series, given the support we were given by Paul Morris/Holden Driver Centre, and Supercheap Auto. The major goal was to make this more professional - by the administrators and the competitors - and more marketable for karting, akin to the heydays of CIK of old. The biggest complaints I was hearing in karting is two many classes and not enough laps. Because of the travelling required, travel costs were a concern that would effect overall numbers;
IE The main objectives was to;
1. Make the series a high, professional standard.
2. Make the series marketable for the sport.
3. Maximise track time for the competitors.
4. Minimise the cost to the karter in an attempt to maximise participation numbers.

How did we hope to achieve that?

1. Like CIK of old, my first though was to have the same team of stewards, clerks, starters and technical inspectors. The hope was that by providing high level officials, and consistency of the same ones at each round, was that the karters driving standards would also lift to the highest standards. I believe this was achieved as we saw some of the closest racing you would see anywhere, and little, if any, on (or off) track altercations. By the second and third round, we did not even need to call karters to the grid - the schedule was very tight, and everyone knew what was expected and what they needed to do - and did it. (makes running race day a hell of a lot easier) While all the officials did a great job in achieving this goal, a secial mention must go to the Tech guys - John McCleverty and Ralph Van Doorn, who did all the tyre marking, engine sealing, and thoroughly measured engines at every round, and had the whole lot completed within 1/2 hour of the completion of racing.

2. To market the series, we had Kelly Johnson, from Fastlane Media, volunteer her services at each round. Kart Magazine also gave us full page ads in each magazine leading up to the start of the series. Kelly took photographs at each round and had write ups every month in kart magazine, and auto action, as well as numerous write ups in local newspapers. Craig Doyle - Harrington Doyle Racing - also got involved in marketing and promoting the series, and in turn, his team. The Harrington Doyle team set the bar with what we are trying to achieve - pitting as a team in a marquee at each round, banners and flags around the pit and the track, lots of newspaper and magazine write ups etc.

3. It was decided that we would have 7 classes maximum, and three heats of 15km each at every round. While the weekend was extremely busy (especially with two karts) this concept worked perfectly. Each class had seven practice runs on Saturday, and plenty of laps on Sunday - at one track, to achieve 15km races, we had three 24 lap heats. - for all classes including the midgets (some very tired bodies at the end).

4. Over the years, for a series like this, I have seen juniors taken out of school to practice before each round, and thereby increasing costs for the "away" rounds as well. It was decided that the track at each round would be closed for the seven days prior to each round, thereby allowing practice on the Saturday ONLY. This meant that you could travel late Friday to be on the track Saturday, and head home Sunday night from each round. IE minimises time off work, accommodation costs etc. Again, this seemed to work well.

The prize pool for the series was massive - major support from not only Supercheap and Holden Driving Centre, but Yamaha, Remo Racing, Sniper. We had an engine and a set of tyres for each class (RV engines donated one set of tyres for each of the Junior Classes (three sets in total),) Sniper - five sets of laser aligners, Yamaha - 5 Team Jackets, shirts, and caps, as well as 50 Yamaha caps for each round, Harrington Doyle donated Supercheap Auto Gift Vouchers of $100 each. These prizes, as well as 23 of the 30 Holden Drive Days, were all given out as draw of the hat prizes - again creating an incentive for everyone to stay involved.

For the final round, Paul Morris provided a promo V8 Supercar which was on display in the pits. Kelly Johnson arranged group photos around the cars, and presented a framed photo (with some action shots included) along with the series stats, media coverage stats etc, to the Holden Driving Centre and Supercheap, in the hope that we would secure their support for 2010.

Approximately 2 weeks later, I was notified that 2010 would be supported equally if not more than 2009, and that the presentation was excellent feedback and greatly appreciated. Again, I would like to thank Kelly for her efforts in backing this series.

I believe that we achieved all we set out to in 2009, and we have a great platform to go bigger and better in 2010. The "mood" amongst the karters, and the participatin of the officials, by the end of the series was fantastic, and to see over 100 people stay for the Bar B Que dinner at the final (some stayed way too late......) pretty much said it all for me.

Where to in 2010?

The greatest opportunity we have for 2010 is to have video coverage of every round, and then to take that to free to air TV. I believe this will not only increase particiaption at every round, it will lift the profile of our sport throughout the state. We will also be asking competitors to "team up" in marquees, and display their sponsor signage around the pits and track. There will also be a "media" tent at each round where karters can purchase photos, DVDs etc.

Proposed 2010 Race Format

The concept of the series will remain the same, in that there will be 3 X 15 km races at each round for each class.

There will be 7 Series classes, and the club for each round will be allowed to add one additional, non series, promotional class of their choice. IE 8 classes in total.

The series classes are Midgets, Rookies, Junior Pro National (at 130kg), Junior Clubman, Pro Clubman (at 150kg), Leopard Light 155Kg, X30 at 160kg, and Leopard Heavy 165kg, X30 at 170kg.

Click here for venues and dates;

We will have time trialling on the Saturday of each event (which we did not do in 2009) to determine Sunday starting positions, but race format Sunday will stay the same. The overall winner will be awarded by totalling the best four rounds, as will draw of hat prizes. Karters therefore only need to compete at four events.

In summary, the 2009 series saw some of the best racing seen anywhere in karting. The feedback from the competitors at each round was totally positive, and, I believe, has created the potential to grow into the bestseries in the country, and we see the opportunity - through free to air TV - to create the biggest and best promotion that karting has seen. There was a massive amount of time to devoted by several people to ensure that 2009 was successful, and the same, if not more, will be needed to grow the series into 2010.