TOYOTA IAME Leopard Series travels to Burnie in Tassie

Burnie 22/7/07

The cream of the state's karters were at Burnie's Highclere circuit for round two of the 2007 Tasmanian island karts 'n' parts Leopard series at the weekend.

Leopards ready for a start
Photograph by Northeast Photography

The preliminary heats the Light and Heavy classes ran together on the tight track making it difficult for spectators to work out the relative form of the drivers in each class, especially when they kept tripping over each other in the opening laps of the heats.

The clear winter sky meant a cold track for the opening heat and some had trouble getting heat into their tyres on the warm up laps with a couple of spinners in the shadow of the pine trees.

When finals time came, the drivers could get serious, as these races count towards the series.

In Light, the young veteran Jason Wyllie showed he still knew the fastest way around his home track after an absence from the sport. Wyllie spent many years driving full size cars, including AUSCARS at the Thunderdome.

Unlike the first round of the series, Wyllie did not give the young guns a chance to get close enough to challenge him for victory. Wyllie blasted from the front row and left the rest to argue over second place.

Steven Wrigley held off Matt Holmes and Jamie Bricknell in the battle for second to keep the lead in the series, although Wylie closed the gap by winning this round.

Jason Wyllie leads Leopard Light
Photograph by Northeast Photography

It was a similar story in the Heavy final, with reigning State Champion, Ben Walter, beating fellow front row starter, Zayne Wyatt, into the first corner and driving away with the race.

Jeff Dickson overcame a poor start from the second row to dispose of Jared Bishop and then Wyatt to loom as the main danger to Walter.

However, the time Dickson spent getting into a clear second spot allowed Walter to establish a substantial lead. While Dickson matched Walter's pace lap after lap he could make no impression on the champ's lead.

Walter is a class act and a major contender to drive a new car from the national final of the Toyota IAME Leopard series at Puckapunyal, Victoria in November.

The promoters of Tasmania's major karting series, Andrew Walter and Brendan Dimsey from island karts 'n' parts arranged a draw for prizes on the grid, so everybody has a chance of taking home a prize from the series.