Judd Plaisted (190cc) and Chaz Williams (160cc) are the two pole sitters for the opening round of the FuSport FIM MiniGP series being held at the Newcastle Kart Racing Club over March 7-9. With scattered showers causing chaos throughout the day, both Plaisted and Williams set their best times in the opening sessions as the second qualifying bout became wet weather practice. Stepping up to the larger 190cc class this year, Plaisted has wasted no time adapting and set a mark 0.372 seconds faster than Queenslander Jake Paige. Nikolas Lazos was a further second back to complete the front row. It was a similar story for Williams in the 160cc class, the runner up to Plaisted last year setting a time 1.176 seconds quicker than Austin Attard with Ethan Ayad a close 0.003 seconds adrift.
The program also includes the usual support classes, with Levi Russo taking out pole and the opening race of the combined Mini Bikes Pro / Amateur class. The opening race was red flagged after multiple Veterans champion Matt Watkins crashed out at the first corner. At the restart a determined Russo had the better of a four-way battle between Cam Dunker, Marcus Hamod and his brother Jai, with the event stopped mid-race as another shower hit the circuit. Russo, who had just fallen as the race was declared, was awarded the win with the results reverting to the last completed lap.
Marcus Hamod took out the opening Supermoto Pro and Clubman event from JJ Nahlous while Alessrandro Fogli took out the Veterans with two more races to come on Sunday.
Both the 160cc and 190cc classes will line up for two feature races each today, with the action beginning at 10am. The racing will be livestreamed on the Ohvale Australia Facebook page.
