Local karter in hunt for State title
“OCEAN’S 80” is the NSW Sportsman Enduro Kart championship’s only all-female team and features Grace Gilbert who grew up in Dubbo and honed her skills at the city’s Lincoln Park Raceway.
According to the team it started in 2018 with the initiative to bring more females into the growing NSW SEK Kart Championship and has since continued to grow and thrive.
Today the team hosts three vastly experienced drivers – Sydney based driver Julie Pauling and Newcastle based university students Grace Gilbert and Holly Holden-stewart.
Between the three drivers there’s nearly 40 years of experience driving sprint karts at all levels, as well as endurance karting and various other car racing events.
The 2022 championship opened in February at Canberra Kart Racing Club where the team started with a bang! The drivers finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium after receiving a penalty for coming in 0.5kg underweight during a compulsory mid race weight check.
Media reports were impressive. “Ocean’s 80 demonstrated a calm, composed approach to driving in the six-hour race”.
Last weekend the Ocean’s 80 team competed in round 2 of the SEK NSW Championship at Manning Valley Kart Club, Wingham. The team delivered an outstanding performance in the 12-hour race.
“After qualifying in 7th place we were unfortunately sent to the rear of the grid (14th place) due to a penalty so we decided to make the kart more mechanically reliable throughout the 12-hour Enduro,” Grace told Dubbo Photo News.
“Ocean’s 80 demonstrated our obvious pace by moving quickly from 14th to 5th within the first 40 minutes of the race on the traditionally challenging-to-overtake layout of the anti-clockwise configuration of the Manning Valley Kart Club circuit,” Grace added.
“We maintained this high position throughout the remainder of the race whilst nursing severe understeering issues from excessive front tyre degradation.”
Ocean’s 80 finished one of the longest races of the year in sixth place and with a flat front tyre.
The team is heading into round 3 of the 8-round championship, with remaining rounds at Newcastle (24 April), Port Macquarie (12 June), Orange (17 July), Sydney (21 August), Grenfell (2 October)
and Lithgow (13 November).
“Ocean’s 80 is equal 4th in the championship with two other teams. We are aiming to finish in the top 3 of the 2022 SEK NSW Kart Championship, however, due to the lasting effects of Covid-19 the team has struggled to obtain the financial support needed to compete in all the remaining rounds this year,” Grace explained.
Anyone interested in supporting the team can contact them via their social media accounts (@Oceans80sekkartracingteam on Facebook and Instagram).
“Any support would be greatly appreciated”.