21/07/2025
The team headed down the road to a very chilly Taree on the weekend to compete in the SEK NSW 14hr Enduro. The event was run over 2 days with 7hr 30min of racing that continued into the night on Saturday with the final 6hr 30min being run on Sunday. Although the event was over 2 days, it was counted as one continuous race with 21 pit stops, 9 of which were for fuel.
Kart #10 was driven by Mark Walker, Cooper Summers & Cooper Walvin
Kart #11 was driven by James Irwin, Olivia Summers and Dan Irwin
Approximately 90 min into the race, kart 11 suffered some engine issues. We were very fortunate to have another team lend us one of their spare engines so we could continue on in the race. Kart #11 went many laps down whilst transferring everything over to the borrowed engine, but they were determined to continue and of course keep our "always finish every race" record intact. The drama didn't end there for kart #11 with a side pod coming adrift on Sunday causing them to go down the order once again. With a never say die attitude, the team pushed on right to the end and recovered to a very admirable 7th place in their class.
All 3 drivers drove exceptionally well. James and Olivia continue to grow in confidence. Racing in such a big field was invaluable to their continued development. A massive shout out to Dan on a number of fronts. Firstly, driving amazingly for his first time in an endurance kart posting good consistent lap times all weekend. Secondly, it was great to see a father son combo in the number 11 again, a memory to cherish for sure.
Not to be outdone, kart #10 showed fantastic pace to be running in the front group in our class but unfortunately at the first fuel stop a broken starter pull cord put an end to podium potential. The problem was very unusual for such new motors and cost many laps to repair. Nevertheless, the boys pushed on, showing consistent pace to recover to a 4th place finish in class, only a handful of laps down on the next competitor. A second incident on Sunday tried to rob them of this result with the rear bar being dislodged when overtaking a slower kart. More laps lost for the repair unfortunately. All 3 drivers were exceptional all weekend. They didn't get the result they deserved but everyone still had a great time and enjoyed the racing.
Big thanks to John Summers for helping run the teams, taking control of kart #11 for the weekend. Well done to all involved, it was a great weekend indeed.