State Cup success for Mareeba local

GO-karters from all over Queensland recently travelled to Mareeba’s MakoTrac where contestants battled it out, lap by lap, in the hopes of taking home the 2024 Tyrepower Queensland State Cup for their respective divisions.

Adain Stevens was arguably the coolest Karter on the track.

The weekend saw exhilarating competition and nail-biting finishes with Mareeba’s Sebastian Di Salvo winning the Tag Restricted Medium class by a mere 0.2 seconds.

Mareeba Shire Mayor Angela Toppin kick-started Queensland’s biggest go-kart race meet for 2024 on the first day of official racing and John Raso from Tyrepower Mareeba was on hand to wave the chequered flag in the final race and present trophies to the place getters.

The cup featured several different classes of racing including the young Cadet 12s and Juniors, while the Senior division was comprised of six different classes.

Mareeba local Sebastian Di Salvo set a blistering qualifying time in the senior Tag Restricted Medium class. Di Salvo did not have it all his own way, with Townsville’s Matt Taylor winning the second heat and setting up an exciting final. In the final, Gladstone’s Ryley Jones passed Taylor at the start and chased Di Salvo for the remaining laps. In the end Di Salvo won by just 0.2 seconds with Jones second and Taylor third. Cadet 12 featured the youngest racers and produced some of the best racing of the weekend.

The front two contenders Jack Larsen and Brock Nolan share an Australian and Queensland title between them, and they both wanted to add a State Cup to their 2024 achievements. For their whole 12 lap final they traded places often multiple times per lap but in the end Larsen was victorious with Nolan second and Cruz Smith third. Townsville driver Nate Thompson was the class of the field in the very competitive Junior division. Behind Thompson the competition for the minor placing was fierce, with Cairns locals Alex Boscarini, Luca Seeto, Luke Downs and Connor Hole all performing well in the heats.

In the final all four drivers were fighting for the podium positions, but it was Jake Lydom and Zac Tyson who took second and third place respectively behind Nate Thompson. Other class winners: Tag 125 Light – Zac Ewing first, Emily Calwell second and Dylan Dunston third Tag 125 Restricted Masters – Wayne Ohl first, Julian Laws second and Rick Jones third 4SS (4-Stroke) – Gerard Nolan first, Matt Butland second and Matt Hunter third