Tom Williamson Motorsport took on the second round of the Australian Rotax Pro Tour Championship at the Eastern Creek kart circuit. With a team of 18 drivers heading to the meeting representing the team with Cody Gillis, Beau Pronesti and Aiva Anagnostiadis all taking home podium finishes in their respective finals.
After finishing in the top three for the entire weekend Gillis was off the outside of the front row of the grid when the former champion was shuffled back in the top ten and had immediate work to do. The former world champion was able to work his way back through the field coming home on the final step of the podium in third spot. Jackson Rooney was able also come home inside the top ten in sixth spot. Matthew Lopino, Tayla Harnas and Kye Cavedon all had top twenty finishes in the final in fourteenth, eighteenth and twentieth respectively with Jaiden Pope being one of the hard luck stories of the weekend after running top five not starting the final and getting no points.
Beau Pronesti and William Seal led the TWM charge in the Junior Max class with both coming home with strong top five finishes in the final. Pronesti battle inside the top three being as high as second at one point to come home a respectable third spot taking the final podium spot. Seal ran inside the top five all race moving to fourth and finishing there just missing out on a podium spot. Josh Richmond ran inside the top ten the whole final being as high as sixth before dropping back a spot to come through in a strong seventh place with Sebastian Ruiz battling just outside the top ten before coming home inside the top fifteen in position fifteen.
The Anagnostiadis siblings in Aiva and James proved again why they are some of the best up and coming drivers in the country. Aiva, after striking trouble in qualifying and starting down in 17th, was able to make progress throughout the heats and come through for an unlikely podium finish in position three in the final gaining good championship points to the series. James Anagnostiadis took out pole position in qualifying and after a hard fought win was able to cross the line first in the final. In one of the hard luck stories of the weekend in post race check Anagnostiadis was stripped of the win in what was a tough moment for the young driver.
Jac Preston lead the charge of four TWM Motorsport drivers in the highly competitive DD2 class. Preston after running inside the top five all weekend come out with a strong final just missing the podium coming home in position four in another consistent weekend and more vital points for the former national champion. Josh Bethune and Elly Morrow also had strong finals with Bethune moving forward throughout the final coming home in the top five in position five with Morrow coming home in the top ten coming home in position eight. Bond Roby after finishing as high as top five in one of his heats, unfortunately, come away with a DNF in the final after showing some strong pace.
Ben Mcmellan in Rotax Heavy and Ash Seward in DD2 Masters were TWM’s final drivers and both drivers come away with strong top ten finishes. Mcmellan after taking out the opening round ran top five in all the heat races before striking trouble in the prefinal putting him to the rear for the final. Mcmellan fought back in the final just missing the top five coming home in position six. Seward ran top ten all weekend being as high as sixth in the heats. Seward in a hard fought final come home inside the top ten in position eight.
Williamson was happy with the results but still wants more improvement to come in the next round. “It was a good weekend, three podiums is a great result. Just feel like were missing that tiny bit but we will regroup and come back stronger at the next round”. Tom Williamson Motorsport’s next national championship assault will be at the second round of the Australian Kart Championship at the Newcastle Kart Club.
