The 6th November 2016 Khanacross and Motorkhana results

With several competitors out through illness a smaller than usual field of drivers lined up for the tenth and penultimate round of the Clubs 2016 Championship.

All eyes were on the looming contest between seasoned driver Steve Van der Brug and young gun Heath Barry. Heath had been forced to drive Northy and Kara’s Ford Laser after his Micra suffered mechanical problems in Mareeba the weekend before.

Steve was less than half a second faster than Heath on the first run, a scene that was to play out for most of the day. At times only hundredths of seconds separated the pair’s times.

Steve’s almost faultless effort saw him scoring fastest times on all but one run to see him take the round win on 694 seconds, eleven seconds clear of Heath.

Tony Cristaudo returned after taking a year off to rebuild the engine in his Toyota Corolla. The twelve month break from racing only seamed to fire him up and he finished a very respectable third outright just ahead of a fast improving Shane Buchanan.

Winner of the Ladies class Kara North rounded out the top five.

Five juniors line up for the junior motorkhana, with the club welcoming two new members in Liam O’Reilly and Mackenzie Barry.

Fastest times were shared between the drivers over the first five or so runs but after that it was Liam who took control posting fastest times on the last ten runs of the day to take the round win.

Josh Yendle finished second ahead of Carlin Cristaudo and Mackenzie Barry, while Zed Thackray was unlucky not to post a final time having to leave just before the last run of the day.

Liam’s win in only his first event was quite impressive and he will be a driver to watch in coming years.

The final round of the championship is on 4th December.