The Launceston Kart Club prepared for next week's State Titles today by holding the prestigious Sportsman Cup meeting at Archerville.

Team Green joined a small field of eight in the over 40's light class, with David Cramp, Steve Crocker and Lyn Cengia being seen as the main rivals.

It was damp for race one on Sunday, so the team put on a worn set of wet tyres and Robert took his place on the second row of the grid in third position. After dropping to fourth at the start, Robert passed Lyn Cengia on lap one and after a clean but intense dice managed to pass Tony Rielley, who was running in the heavy class, on lap six. Unfortunately, even though the kart felt good in the conditions, Steve Crocker was too far ahead in the lead and Robert had to settle for second place.

By the time race two came around the track had dried, but it was still cool. Starting from seventh, Robert was caught up in an accident that unfolded in front of him at McDonalds on the first lap. He had to throw the kart into a half spin to avoid John Buttery who had been turned around in front of him.

Robert rejoined the race in last place and by the end of the race had battled his way back to fourth on the track (third in the lightweight class) behind Steve, David Cramp and Tony.
For race three, Robert started from third position and had a race long dice with David, with seven changes for position. David finally prevailed with a pass into Tasman on the last lap after Robert had a moment through McDonalds. In the meantime, Steve hd made a clean break and was not troubled in first place.

With his clean sweep in the heats, Steve started the final from pole position, with David joining him on the front row. Robert started from third place, but flooded the motor before the start and was swamped by Tony and Lyn when the lights turned green. He then had a race long dice with Lyn, but did not have enough speed to effect a pass.

With just under two laps to go, Lyn made a mistake and then needlessly went defensive. This gave Robert the chance to close back in on her and on the last lap, knowing he had but one chance, he planned his move by getting a great run through Jones, the third last corner. Robert then dived up the inside of Lyn under brakes into Yamaha and completed an effective block pass. Holding the inside line through the last corner, even with a nudge in the rear from Lyn, was enough to give Robert third place in the lightweight class.
David dug deep to take the win in the final from Steve, with Tony taking out the heavyweight class after a great drive.