Onboard with Remo Luciani the 2022 Victorian State Champion
HEAT 3 from 7th to 4th
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PLAYLIST
QUALIFYING: • Remo Luciani - Onboard...
HEAT 1 • Remo Luciani - Onboard...
HEAT 2 • Remo Luciani - Onboard...
HEAT 3 • Remo Luciani - Onboard...
FINAL • Remo Luciani - Onboard...
MY RACE REPORT:
What a weekend wow where do I start with this report.
Everything began smoothly at the start of my weekend with the first practice session on Friday by setting the fastest time in KA3 Senior Medium.
The next two sessions were mediocre so it was time to put on some new rubber to see exactly where I stood in terms of pace. I was fastest with new tyres in the first timed session with a 44.849 and was also fastest in the second timed session 44.935 with my second run in new tyres which I was quite confident on having the speed.
On Friday afternoon everything was looking pretty cool for the weekend. Starting on grid 1 for qualifying it was only a matter of around 300 meters from the grid before disaster struck. Unfortunately I fouled the spark plug which is very rare for me but there is a first time for everything. I pulled over off the side of the track and attempted to restart the engine and eventually got it going and I rejoined the session.
Within only a few laps in, I was given the black flag for hopping out of my kart and repairing it on the side of the track, which is a no-no. I copped the penalty sweet, as the rules are the rules and had my qualifying time deleted which meant starting at the rear of the grid in the first two heats.
On returning to the pits, one of the first questions I was asked was, wow what are you going to do now? I swiftly replied “I’ve been in this position before and come out of the other side okay in the past, if you believe in yourself you don’t give up and just put your head down and deal with the cards that you’ve been dealt with. 42 years of experience kicked into gear knowing all so well that all I had to do was pass as many karts as possible in the heats without crashing.
To me starting from the back is nothing strange as I have been racing for 42 years and in the old days you never ever had to time-trial at any race meeting apart from a State or National Championship, so I was quite used to drawing your grid position out of the hat. It taught me valuable lessons over the years on how to read traffic and how to position my kart without losing too much time. This experience kicked in and off to work I went.
Heat one from 25th to 7th
Heat two 25th to 10th
Heat three from 7th to 4th
Final 5th to 1st
The Final was an eventful race going straight to 4th on the start then being overtaken into turn two and went back to 5th place. In the first lap I had already regained a 4th position and gave chase for 3rd. I soon caught up to 3rd and gained 3rd position.
Then my job was to catch the front two Zachary Thompson and Gerry Westerville. The further you get up the positions the harder it is to pass the guys at the front.
I had good pace and closed in on the front two drivers and followed them for a few laps and tried to make my move for 2nd but it did not come off, so I pulled out of the move and we both lost a little bit of distance to 1st, so I did not attempt to pass for 2nd until we had both closed the gap to 1st place again. We both caught up to 1st and as we were approaching the final lap the front two drivers had a slight incident which gave me 1st position by default. I was very close to 1st and 2nd and was lucky to miss the incident. Luck ran my way on the last lap but I will take it, as I had had enough bad luck throughout the weekend, you gotta take the good and the bad when you race.
My Victorian State Championship was won by passing a total of 39 Karts throughout the heats and final without crashing by reading the situation.
Congratulations must go to Zackary Thompson for fastest qualifier and doing an excellent job throughout the heats and to Gerry Westerveld for his performance throughout the weekend. Excellent result 2nd and 3rd places Ben Mouritz and Braden Clark to round out the podium.
So the moral of the story is to never give up even if the odds are against you.
My next challenge will be Round 2 Victorian Country Series at Warrnambool May 7-8, 2022
WINNER
Date: 22-24 April, 2022
Event: 2022 Victorian Kart Championship
Driver: Remo Luciani #20
Class: KA3 Senior Medium
Chassis: Arrow X6.1
Engine: IAME KA100
Engine Builder: Shayne Piper Race Engines
Venue: Eastern Lions Kart Club
Puckapunyal (Melbourne) Victoria Australia
9 сен 2024
