State Title Diasaster

Jarman’s hopes of a state title success were crushed last weekend at the 2009 South Australian Open State Championships, hosted by the Barossa Go-Kart Club at the Bolivar Raceway. The going was always going to be tough for Jarman, especially with drivers like Chris Hays, Matthew Hart, Joseph Mawson, Lucas Ward and Jarrod Egan returning to defend his state title success of the previous year as well as local drivers Todd Hazelwood and Simon Hodge.

Jarman had a disappointing qualifying run in the first session, only posting the 17^th fastest time, lapping the circuit in 36.719 seconds. With the wind picking up the track only got worse and it was impossible for Jarman to improve in the 2^nd session on his earlier qualifying effort only managing a 37.094 second lap time.

The 1^st heat was a wet race and knowing that finishing in the wet is half the battle, Jarman chose to play it safe and make sure he greeted the chequered flag. Jarman managed to make the most of everyone else’s mistakes and passed a few karts on his way to 12^th place.

Jarman had a poor start in the 2^nd heat but still managed to make up a position by the end of the 2^nd lap.  Jarman was then turned around at the Wakefield turn ending his race immediately.

After the 12^th place and a Did Not Finish result in the 2 heats, Jarman was in 18^th position for the pre-final. Jarman managed to grab a handful of places in the 1^st few corners using the outside of the track well. Jarman was then involved in a bit of wheel banging and came of 2^nd best dropping him to the back of the field. Jarman then fought back to place a respectable 17^th giving him an inside start for the final. However, throughout the pre-final Jarman was suffering with a bad vibration from his kart. Upon closer inspection it was found that the steering arm joints were badly worn, causing the vibration

A couple of changes had been made overnight to the kart and the kart was rocket off the start. Jarman was starting to make progress and set himself up for the rest of the race when there was an incident in front of him. Jarman was driving around the incident when he was hit from behind ending his race.

Jarman finishes 2nd

The final round of the Festival State Cup which was meant to be run last Sunday (November 15) was cancelled do to the hot weather policy put in place by the AKA of SA. This means that Jarman finishes the Festival State Cup in 2nd position for the Junior Clubman class.

Close, But No Cigar

Jarman Dalitz came close to winning the City Of Adelaide titles — hosted by the Southern Sprint Kart Club at the Bolivar Raceway — on the weekend (October 31-November 1), giving him something to be happy about in a miserable season so far. But at the end he only had a 2nd place trophy to show for it.

Jarman was never going to have it easy if he wanted to win the event and that proved to be correct in the first heat as he rode on the back of another kart coming out of turn 1. This dropped Jarman to the back of the pack a long way behind the rest of the field. Jarman’s next 2 laps were super quick bringing him back up to the rest of the field. He then made up two positions by passing Rhett Noonan and Michael Phillpott at the end of the race to finish 5th in a seven kart field.

Jarman was starting the second eight lap heat from position two and that was where he was for most of the opening lap behind Rhett Noonan. Jarman then moved into the lead, only to be passed by Simon Hodge. Jarman sat patiently behind the kart for the duration of the race and waited until the second to last corner to make the winning pass. This result had Jarman 2nd in the points standings, setting him up for a good start in the 12 lap pre-final on Sunday morning.

Jarman had an even start with the kart alonside him but he dropped to fourth on the first lap of the race. Once he passed the 3rd place kart of Joseph Linscott, he set about trying to hunt down the lead two karts of Hodge and Todd Hazelwood. But Jarman was unable to make any gains on the field and had to fight off the kart behind him to take an inside starting position for the final.

Jarman had a good start for the 21 lap final but was still in 3rd position. Jarman tried hard to move into second ahead of Hodge but eventually he settled in behind the second place kart and worked with him to catch the leader Hazelwood. Jarman moved into second place from the misfortune of Hazelwood, who locked his brakes at the end of the main straight putting him out the race. Jarman then spent the next handful of laps watching Hodge and trying to find where he could make the winning pass. Coming into the last lap it seemed to be a two horse race with Jarman and Hodge a fair distance ahead of the rest of the field. Jarman made a move coming into wakefield and he was almost completely past when contact was made between the two karts. This slowed both of them down drastically, but Jarman was able to take the lead while George Gutierrez past Hodge. Jarman looked to be in a commanding position now with the lead heading into the esses. But when he turned into the corner he was hit by Gutierrez, putting him wide and dropping him to 3rd place. Jarman crossed the line in 3rd spot behind Gutierrez and Hodge.

After the event Jarman was promoted to 2nd after a couple of stewards hearings.The complaint lodged by the stewards against Jarman was dismissed and then the second hearing that the stewards lodged found Gutierrez guilty of kart contact towards Jarman and Gutireez was demoted to 3rd place giving Hodge the win and promoting Jarman to 2nd place.

City of Adelaide Preview

A South Australian Karter only really aims towards accomplishing 3 feats in South Australia. Winning the Festival State Cup, the City of Adelaide Titles and winning a State Title. Jarman will be hoping to put his terrible season so far behind him this weekend at the City of Adelaide Titles, hosted by the Southern Sprint Kart Club at the Bolivar Raceway. The event is the second biggest on the South Australian karting calendar, and is the perfect way to prepare for the upcoming State Titles which will be held at the same track. Although the entry numbers are a bit low this year, considering there is a cash prize being offered, the quality of the field is high with interstate driver Rhett Noonan making the trip to give local drivers like Jarman, Simon Hodge and Todd Hazelwood an extra challenge if they want the pay day they are aiming for. Jarman’s hopes of victory are high considering he has won the last 3 meetings he has entered on this track, and both the meetings he entered this year, in a dominant fashion.

Entry List For City of Adelaide Titles

Junior Clubman

14 Todd Hazelwood

15 Rhett Noonan

28 Joseph Linscott

29 George Gutierrez

41 Simon Hodge

94 Michael Phillpott

95 Jarman Dalitz

Festival State Cup Hopes Ruined

Last weekend, September 12-13, Jarman Dalitz took part in the 4th Round of the Festival State Cup at the Whyalla circuit in the hope of keeping in contention for the series. The only way he was going to do that was to win the round.

Starting from position 4 for the 1st heat on Saturday, Jarman quickly moved into 2nd at the 1st corner. A poorly judged passing attempt meant that Jarman lost a lot of ground on Simon Hodge. This proved really costly as Simon then became out of reach even though Jarman was clearly gaining on Hodge. With the engine temperatures near boiling point, and the 3rd place kart a long way behind, Jarman decided to settle for 2nd place in the heat.

Jarman started from pole position for the 2nd heat and was closely followed by Hodge throughout the opening laps. Hodge then got through on Jarman and after a small tussle between the 2, Jarman decided to settle in behind him and wait until the closing laps to make a move. However, coming of the top corner with 3 laps remaing, Jarman broke a wire on the electrical system and had to retire from the 2nd heat. At this point it looked like Simon was going to wrap up the Festival State Cup at this Round.

Sunday morning came around and Jarman was 3rd in points after the 2 heats, Jarman was able to get a good start and slotted into 2nd behind Hodge. Jarman made a move up the top corner and took the lead before battling with Hodge for a couple of laps. It all came unstuck for Hodge though, as he made a mistake at the bottom of straight, spinnig out of the race. This allowed Jarman to cruise to an easy win, take pole position for the Final and allow him to be back in the hunt for the series.

Jarman was still 3rd on point coming into the final, though he was only 2 points behind Hodge and 1 point behind Michael Phillpott. Jarman had a poor start from pole position and was in 2nd at the 1st corner. Jarman waws able to pass Phillpott at the top corner to jump into the lead with Hodge following behind in 2nd. Jarman was leading most of the race and covering Simon well. A kart had however spun going up the hill and Jarman had to back off to avoid the kart and this ruined his run down the back straight and Jarman was passed by Hodge. Jarman again had a poor judgement of overtaking and lost ground on Simon allowing him to win. Jarman crossed the line in 2nd to take 2nd spot for the meeting but putting him out of reach in the Festival State Cup Standings.

On the Dirt For the Right Reasons

Jarman was on the dirt for good reasons last Sunday, September 6. Jarman had the opportunity to drive a wingless sprintcar at the Riverview Speedway in Murray Bridge. Jarman had 1 session in the car and he gradually improved throughout the session, gradually getting quicker.

Jarman’s Senior Moment

On the 29th of August, Jarman raced at the Midget, Rookie, Junior Challenge, hosted by the Barossa Go-Kart Club at the Liberty Oils Raceway in Nuriootpa. Jarman raced in wet conditions and realisation that he was oldest driver in the Junior Clubman field.

Jarman started from 3rd position for the 1st heat but a poor start by the driver of pole position held Jarman up and he dropped to the back of the 7 kart field. But by turn 4 Jarman was able to move past 2 karts into 5th position and then set about chasing the front runners. As a result of all the battling up front, Jarman was able to catch up to the front 4 karts quickly and gained a position with a few laps to go. The front of the field had sorted itself out and the field had spread and Jarman had to settle for a 4th place finish.

Jarman started heat 2 from position 5 and his race only lasted a few laps when he ran wide coming out of turn 3 and was unable to keep the momentum going to keep the kart moving. After the DNF Jarman was 6th in points so that was where he started the pre-final. Jarman was only able to make up a couple positions to finish 5th in the pre-final. Jarman then started the final from position 5 and lost a spot during the final finishing 6th.

At the moment the full results are unavailable but Jarman’s final position will be posted on the website as soon as the results are made available. Jarman’s next race meeting is the 4th Round of the Festival State Cup at Whyalla on the 12th and 13th of September.

Hard Racing At The CoM

Jarman Dalitz took part in one Australia’s biggest karting meetings for the year, the City of Melbourne Titles at the VACC Park in Port Melbourne on the  15th and 16th of August. Jarman was competing in the Junior Clubman class against some of the best karters in the country.

Saturday started with a timed practice session to determine the grid positions for the first 2 heats. Jarman had a very difficult session where he was caught in a bunch of karts fighting for clean air. So Jarman decided to do the smart thing and back off and create a considerable gap between him and the next kart. But within 3 laps Jarman managed to catch up to the kart in front just as he was able to post a quick lap. Jarman was still able to post a time quick enough to place him in position 16 in the 22 kart field.

Jarman started heat 1 and 2 from 16th position. In heat 1 Jarman managed to gain a couple of spots and finished in 14th position.  In heat 2 Jarman was caught up in an incident at the first corner. But he managed to recover and worked his way up the field in 13th position by the end of the race. After the first 2 heats, Jarman was 14th in points so he started the Pre-Final from position 14. 

Jarman ended up being swamped in the first lap by a bunch of karts but then fought back throughout the race to finish the pre-final in 15th.  The heavens opened up before the final and the field were all on wet weather tyres for the final. After experimenting with lines for the first 6 laps, Jarman finally found a way around the track that worked and was passing karts fast before the checkered flag came out with Jarman in 13th position. Jarman’s next meeting is the Midget Rookie Junior Challenge held at Barossa on the 29th of August.

Bad Day in Ballarat

The 4th round of the Victorian Country Series on the 2nd August was hosted by the Ballarat Kart Club at the Haddon Park Raceway. After a couple of poor rounds in the Victorian Country Series, Jarman Dalitz was hoping he could get his title chase back on track. However this was not to be the case as Jarman had a poor weekend which has taken him out of contention for the series.

Jarman was drawn to start heat 1 from 8th and heat 2 from the 7th position on the grid. Jarman’s team took the gamble to stay on wets for the 1st heat, but it did not pay off. Even though Jarman got a good start off the line and made up a couple of positions. An incident at turn 2 which saw another driver push Jarman wide, cost him a lot of positions dropping him to the back of the pack. Jarman managed to recover and closed right on to the back of the other 2 drivers on wet weather tyres just when the chequered flag came out. Jarman finished the first heat in 12th.

Jarman got off to a good start in the 2nd heat and made good progress on the 1st lap until he ran through the infield. Jarman’s kart was launched into the air and Jarman hurt his back when he came crashing down. The race was going to be restarted however which gave Jarman time to recover. He then made a bad start and was running towards the back again when a kart drove across the back of his kart and pushed of line allowing another 2 karts to duck underneath him. Jarman then went on to finish the 2nd heat in 10th position.

Jarman was 11th in points for the day after the 1st 2 heats, so he had to start from 11th in the final. At the start Jarman dropped to last and fell of the back of the field but as soon his kart came on, he set fast times and easily caught up to field. Then a 4 kart incident allowed Jarman to duck underneath Simon Hodge. For the last 3 laps, Jarman was all over the back of Kyle Rethus but was unable to make his way past, finishing the final in 11th spot. Jarman ended up 11th for the day

Learning Experience

On Sunday the 19th of July, Jarman Dalitz took part in the Southern Sprint Kart Club Open Meeting at the Bolivar Racway. With a 21 lap final, which is the same distance as the final for the South Australian Open State Championships, this was the perfect opportunity for Jarman to get an understanding of how his kart handles throughout a long race at the Bolivar circuit.

With only a small field of 3 drivers entered Jarman was drawn to start the 1st heat from the 2nd position. Jarman was able to take the lead at the 1st corner of the race. From there Jarman was never challenged throughout the race and took a comfortable victory. Jarman’s team decided to change gearing before the 2nd heat. Jarman was to start the 2nd heat from pole position and yet again he was able to get a good start and jump into the lead at the 1st corner. The gearing change did not work as planned but Jarman still went on to win the 2nd heat and secure pole position for the 21 lap Final. After the 2nd heat, the decision was made to revert back to the gearing used in the 1st heat. Jarman got off to another great start and led into the 1st turn. Jarman then posted consistent lap times from the opening laps of the 21 lap final right through to the finish of the final, and took the win in the Final and the meeting.

Jarman’s next race meeting will be the 4th round of the Victorian Country Series hosted by the Ballarat Kart Club on the 2nd of August