Newcastle hosts opening round of national karting series

Newcastle Kart Racing Club will host the elite event from February 10-12 in what president Paul Hayman said was a major coup for the region.

“It’s bringing a lot of people from all over Australia to the Newcastle Kart Racing Club,” Hayman said.

“We’ve got 269 entries so far and that’s massive.

“It brings a lot of income into the club and it’s good for all of the kids out there. They get to see a lot of the Australian champions, they can came out and watch and be inspired if they want to race themselves.”

The event is the first round of the five-round national series. Practice will be held Friday week and there will be nine classes of racing held over two days of action on February 11 and 12.

Hayman encouraged people of the Hunter to get along to Mt Sugarloaf Raceway to experience some “exhilarating racing” and support a strong local contingent, including Russell.

“It’s a blue-ribbon event; it’s the top of tree of where you can go in karting, apart from on the European circuit,” Hayman said.

“It’s pretty exciting to watch. You’re very close to the track and anyone can wander around the pit area, which is good for the kids. They can go and have a look and see the guys that are driving the karts.”

Headlining the event will be Australia’s most successful kart racer David Sera.

Sera has won an unprecedented 17 Australian championships, 55 state titles and was the runner-up at the 2011 Rotax World Finals. He has also enjoyed success in Europe, United States, Japan and New Zealand.

Russell, 25, grew up racing go karts and was looking forward to getting back to his roots.

“It’s where every real motor sport person starts their journey off, in karts,” Russell said.

“It’s just such a raw form of motor sport ... go karting is just back to grassroots motor sport and a bit of fun and everyone can get involved.”

Russell said the Cameron Park track was “one of the best in the country” and one of the toughest.

“Most tracks around Australia are either known as high speed or low speed or something in particular, this track just has everything,” he said.

“It’s hard on tyres, it’s hard on your body and it has everything rolled into one track and you’ve really got to be smart about how you play your go karting.

“It’s so challenging. It could be won or lost right here in Newcastle.”

There will be plenty of emerging home-grown talent in the likes of Tom Hayman, Oscar Priest, Angus McLean, Thomas Davies, Jordon Greedy, Jack Stocker and Ryan Hughes.