Jinba Ittai Challenge 2017

24 October 2017 / Story by Graham Fletcher Photos by Gillian Fletcher

Beautiful weather welcomed the chapters who had gathered at Wilberforce Go Kart track for the 2017 Jinba Ittai challenge. Fielding only half the drivers that normally attend this event due to a long weekend, female driver numbers were down to two while only 10 male drivers battled it out .Sydney and RPM were desperate for the title, While Illawarra was adamant that the trophy would stay down south. The event had been changed at late notice to Wilberforce and all participants readily accepted the change of venue. Hunter was unable to get a team together and withdrew a week or two out from the event. The trip north for Illawarra had proven to slower than expected and the team arrived too late to drive in the first run. Later it was recognised that this had cost them the title, which was a pity as they had fielded the strongest team on the day. A late notice telephone call was received from Kristian Zadro (Club member) who asked if he could join in on the race, to which Graham said, “Yes, only because we were short of numbers and on the proviso that you represent the Hunter Chapter”. Kristian readily agreed and proved to be the quickest in heat 1. Bryan Hicks (Sydney) and Connor Atkins (RPM) finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. The second run saw the Illawarra team commence their defence of the title for which they had travelled so far and saw young David Temesvary representing RPM take out first place from teammate Connor Atkins followed closely by Jamie Martin (Sydney). Illawarra’s ladies battled out for trophies in the female section with a close battle finally won by Alex Breitsameter over a very determined Jan Gibson. Overall , the results were as follows:

Males:

1st: Kristian Zadro (Hunter)

2nd: Connor Atkins (RPM)

3rd: David Temesvary (RPM)

Females:

1st: Alex Breitsameter (Illawarra)

2nd: Jan Gibson (Illawarra)

Outright team Points:

RPM 97

Sydney     88

Hunter 49

Illawarra 44.5

Congratulations to all of the teams and the spirit in which the Challenge was conducted. Special thanks to the RPM cheer squad headed by Ron and Brigid Gallop.