Vale: Russel Miller

Funeral Details
Wednesday 30th July at 9 30am at the Bunnerong Memorial 790 Frankston Dandenong Rd, Dandenong South

It is with sadness and regret that the Club learned of the untimely death of Clubman Over 40's competitor Russell Miller. Russell was found in his motel room in Bendigo prior to racing at last weekends round of the Golden City Power Series, having passed away sometime on Friday night. Our thoughts and best wishes are with Russell's family and friends.
OGKRC Committee.

It is with great sadness and some shock that we here at Melbourne Kart Centre report the passing of our valued customer and friend Russell Miller. Russell was a regular competitor in the Clubman 040s class where he raced his number 68 Monaco GP5 kart. Although the details surrounding his death are still a little sketchy, Russell apparently collapsed in his motel room on Friday night whilst away racing at the Bendigo Power Series round held last weekend.

He had only been in our shop that very day picking up some tyres for the weekend and he was looking forward to having a go at a new track. You often hear stories of how great a person was after they go, but in Russell's case this was genuinely true! We never heard a complaint from him, he never argued with other competitors and was always happy to help out where he could.

The Oakleigh club will remember Russell this club day as racing goes on as usual and it will be a sad day on the grid with Russell's #68 kart not there. But we will all be there doing what we love, just as Russell would if he could. Thanks for being a great customer and a top bloke Russell, we will miss your smiling face walking through the door at MKC.

Steve Polak - Melbourne Kart Center.

Funeral Details

Wednesday 30th July at 9 30am at the Bunnerong Memorial 790 Frankston Dandenong Rd, Dandenong South

23/7/08

Notice to 125 licence holders

As of the 1st July all D and C grade licence holders must use a 125 restrictor in any 125 engine to practice or race. ONLY A & B grade licence holders can compete and practice in the unrestricted 125 classes.

As per Rule 32.09 - If you hold a 2007 AKA C Grade senior 125 licence and have completed your P Plate endorsements and have four (4 ) B grade endorsements by the 31st June 2008 and wish you to be upgraded to a B grade licence Please forward you're AKA licence into the VKA office immediately for the upgrade.

If you haven't completed the above your licence is to remain a C grade and you will need to get a 125 restrictor for practice and racing from the VKA office. Cost $25.00 If you are caught using a 125 engine without a restrictor in then penalties will apply by the VKA and Club.

19/6/08 UPDATED

Oakleigh Track is still OPEN

The club track will remain open as normal. At a later stage in the year the
track repairs will commence when it is more suitable to do so.

30/4/2008

All Star Series calendar

Drivers competing in this series should note that the final round at Puckapunyal is now to be held on the 2nd and 3rd of August.

30/4/2008 UPDATED

Oakleigh drivers claimed 3 National Championships over the Easter long weekend proving that the best drivers in the country are bred at Oakleigh.

Bart Price won Clubman Light with out-going national champion and fellow Oakleigh member James Sera coming home closely behind in 2nd place. Price sat in 3rd for most of the race behind James Sera and WA's Steven Scoble but with around 6 laps remaining Price moved past Scoble for 2nd and then a lap or so later passed Sera for the lead and was unchallenged from then on. A very well thought out race just like his Vic Open drive.

Despite not getting back to back national championships in Clubman Light, James Sera still walked away with a green plate dominating the Leopard Light final. Oakleigh drivers filled the top 4 spots in Qualifying with David Sera fastest with Adam Hughes, Grant Smith and James Sera following. Hughes won his opening heat and was showing very strong speed but an unfortunate incident in the 3rd heat saw him DNF and started the final out of grid 9. Smith was out of P3 for the final but got caught up at the start and was shuffled back and didnt recover, he finished 7th. It wasn't looking too good for Oakleigh when David Sera DNFed half way through the race while in the top 3 after starting on the front row. But James Sera kept a level head to drive away from the field and win by a very large margin.

Speaking of large margins, Justin Schneider was never challenged in the pre final or the final. The kart looked awesome and he drove faultlessly to win his first National Championship. It was a very controlled drive and well deserved.

Senior National Light driver Dominic Lostitch showed fantastic speed qualifying fastest and finishing 2nd in the final in a very well faught and tough race.

Oakleigh Clubman Heavy regular Franky Costanzo had a very stong performance in the final of Senior National Heavy. Making a late charge on the front 2 in the final, Franky just ran out of laps to get a sniff at the top 2 positions taking fastest lap along the way.

27/3/2008

Volunteers: For club days and especially the first round of the All Star Series on the 5th and 6th of April, we need volunteers for the canteen and to help with the setting up and running of the Allstar series.

We need Canteen, transponder, tyre markers, engine taggers and we need someone who would like to learn to do the starting.

Oakleigh members please note that there is a Working Bee on the 15th March (track will be closed on this day) and also the 1st April on Tuesday evening. Can members please bring wipper snippers, shovels and picks and gloves please.

The clubs general meeting will be held on the 11th March at 7.30pm.

3/3/2008 UPDATED

Once again Oakleigh drivers have performed very strongly at this years Victorian Open Championship. On top of 5 blue plates Oakleigh drivers placed 1st to 4th in Leopard Light. Bart Price successfully defended his Clubman Light crown. David Sera won F100 in only his second appearence in the category.

Well done to all the OGKRC drivers that competed at the Victorian Open at Geelong on the weekend.

15/2/2008

3/2/2008

OGKRC Presentations

Thank you to everyone that turned up on the day. A big crowd, lots of give aways and the all important trophies.

If anyone has some photos from the say they would like to send in can they please drop me an email. Thanks.

11/12/2007

Franky's 'Got Pace'

Qualifying at Oakleigh's annual Class Titles saw the lap record fall in Clubman Heavy with Franky Costanzo setting the new benchmark of 41.865 - almost 2 tenths faster than the previous record held by Remo Luciani set way back in 2004 at the Victorian Open, the class was also 5kg's lighter back then as well! Well done Franky!

Travis Millar originally broke the record setting a 42.015 but seconds later Costanzo crossed the line to better that time again!

11/12/2007

Leopard Final Results

The David Sera bandwagon rolls on - this time David has scored himself his second Toyota Yaris in as many years claiming the Leopard Light Final held at Puckapunyal on the 4th November. David made the tretourous conditions look easy as he built as early lead and maintained the gap. So much so was David's dominance only 8 of the best Leopard Light drivers in the country were left in the leading lap! Following David home in second place was cousin James Sera. James ran a very strong race but just could not eat into David's lead at all. Rounding out the top 5 was another Oakleigh driver - Adam Hughes. After starting 11th for the pre-final, Adam moved his way up to finish 4th. A strong run by Adam placed him 5th and he also scored himself a trip overseas to the IAME World Final next year to be held in Barcelona.

In Leopard Heavy it was one of those races where you just couldn't predict what was going to happen. Oakleigh driver Michael Griffiths was a strong showing early on leading 5 of the first 6 laps in again extreme wet conditions. Ben Walter passed him but then struck mechanical problems. Michael found himself back in front but lost the lead a lap later to a flying Queenslander Hayden Stephensen. Unfortunatly for Michael he just couldn't hang on but braught the kart home in 2nd place - taking home a brand new Leopard motor for his troubles.

OGKRC would like to congratulate these drivers on a fantastic performance.

12/11/2007

The weekend of the 24th-25th November will see the Oakleigh's annual Class Titles meeting. This will see Oakleigh's best drivers battle it out over 4 races and 2 days.

Please note that this is stand alone meeting for Oakleigh members and will decide the Oakliegh Class Titles Champion for each class. Any points scored at this race meeting do not count towards the overall club championship - that has been run and won - full points scores for each class can be seen at MyLaps HERE

31/10/2007

The Annual General Meeting was held Tuesday 11th September and a new board was voted in.

We have a new President in Adam Bourke and new Committee members in Bruce Mclean, Mark Renshaw and Nola Mason. Glen Wiles has taken over the role as Treasurer. The full list of committee members and roles around the club can be viewed on the Contacts page.

We would like to thank the out-going members of the committee. Bernie Kelly has stepped down as president who has done a fantastic job in bringing this club forwards and turning it into one of the most advanced kart club in Australia. To the other out-going committee members we thank you for your time and input into the club in making it the fantastic club it is today.

12/9/2007

A BIG THANKS to all the members who came to working bee, we had about 20 people which is a great turn out.

All had a free lunch and get to race FREE next time they race.

It's your club so lets keep it looking great! Keep watching the web site for the next working bee.
Thank You from your Committee.

29/7/2007

Congratulations to David Sera once again, David’s has achieved some fantastic results in the time he has been racing karts, with back to back National champion and I cant remember him not having a state championships for many years.

His latest was a trip to QLD to compete for the state titles at toowoomba. He competed in Clubman Light where he qualified 4th and went on to win the four heats very comfortably, he also competed in Leopard light and done much the same except he qualified fastest putting him in pole position, he went on to win each heat by more than 2 seconds.

Fantastic Dave well done, also congratulations to your old man (George) for supplying all the encouragement and help he gives you along the way,

Keep up the good work.

Bernie Kelly
Club President OGKRC

29/7/2007

Victoria’s Premier Series concluded in Geelong last weekend - big grids for all classes as it has been throughout the whole series with good, close and tight racing taking place from the pointy end right down to the tail enders. Series place getters were awarded at presentations and also the big Yamaha MotoGP prizes were given out. Caleb Rayner from ELKC who competed in JNL & JNH won the Junior prize and Mike Godsell from GKCV who competed in Clubman Heavy won the Senior prize. Have fun at the MotoGP guys!

Well done to the Oakleigh drivers who placed in the series

9/6/2007

Sera boys bring home the Green and Gold!

Bit of late news but in case you didn't hear cousins David and James Sera have won a National Championship each.

David won Leopard Light after starting out of the top 10 for the pre-final - he raced to the front and finished 2nd which gave him a front row spot for the final. David pulled a race winning gap early while a train of 3 tried to work out who was going to lead the way to catch him. In the last few laps that train appeared to be catching David. The race being cut short by a couple of laps due to a red flag rollover, David was awarded the Leopard Light Australian Champion - A clean sweep so far this year after his Victorian State Championship win at Cobden.

Cooper's Photography 0439 607 072, (02) 9565 2728

A National Championship was the only thing missing from James Sera's trophy cabinet but he has finally got what he has deserved so many times before. Right from the outset James looked really 'on it' and was the man to catch all weekend, taking pole position, winning the 2nd heat and the pre-final. Starting out of Pole James got the start he needed gapping the field while they all sorted themselves out. A pack of 4 drivers mounted a challenge to catch James with each driver leading the pack at some stage but none of them had what they needed to catch him. James won the final by almost a second.

Cooper's Photography 0439 607 072, (02) 9565 2728

OGKRC would like to congratulate David and James on an outstanding effort at this years Nationals.

Cooper's Photography, 0439 607 072, (02) 9565 2728

26/4/2007

There are a few missing items from the Kingston Cup 2 weeks ago. These include an electric starter that was left on the grid - It is similar looking to the yellow colored starters that are purchased, but it is made from aluminum & is not painted (Aluminum finish). It had a Tony Kart sticker on the front & name Angelo D'Ettorre on the rear. There is also a pair of prescription sunglasses and a pair of sunglasses that have gone missing. If anyone has come across any of these items can they please let a member of the committee know.

Full results from the Kingston Cup/Central City Series Round 1 are now available on mylaps HERE

In Formula 100 Trent James now holds the lap record with a time of 39.752.

We hope everyone had a great weekend - The Central City Series continues at VACC Park on the 5th & 6th of May.

26/3/2007

Oakleigh has brought home another 4 State Championships over the weekend. Our apologies go out to Bart Price who we have missed off our winners list. Bart won the Clubman Light class - one of the toughest in Australia. The DPE driver managed to keep the kart 'on' right through to the end, winning by a comfortable margin. David Sera won leopard light comfortably from another Oakleigh driver Grant Smith who started out of P5. Ricky Capo won his Midget race also with a large margin, young Ricky making it look all too easy in the final as the rest fought for 2nd place. James May was the winner of Senior National Heavy. May moved up through the field on a drying track and chased down Daniel Stein – the pair having a close battle till May made the move into turn 1 and made it stick having a nice buffer to 2nd place by the races end.

Also well done to these other Oakleigh drivers who finished in the top 5 - a very strong showing indeed!

12/2/2007

Another Oakleigh karter is moving up in the ranks of motorsport. 16 year old Elliot Barbour has been offered a drive in the 2007 Victorian Motor Racing Championships in the Mercbits HQ. Read More...

12/2/2007

All the results from the 2 rounds of racing can be found at mylaps. Also on mylaps you will find the series points.
Round 1 | Round 2 | Series Points

A new lap record was set during round 2 by Luigi Cantanese in Formula JMA setting a lap of 41.393 which smashed the old record of 42.065. Cantanese finished 3rd on the night.

A big thank you to everyone that competed - we hope to see you all return again next year! Oakleigh would like to thank the following for their support of the 2007 Junior Top Guns:

ARC Race Engines | Yamaha | Remo Racing | Drew Price Engineering | Powermac | Dunlop

1/2/2007