The Melbourne Blokart Club would like to invite blokarters nationally and internationally to the 2011 ABA Open Championships. These will be held from Saturday 22nd January 2011 through to Tuesday 25th January at Olivers Lake near Horsham, Victoria. The dates have been chosen so that the event is still during school holidays, hopefully making a family trip to Victoria more possible. The day after the event is the Australia day public holiday, which ay also help with travel arrangements.

Oliver's Lake is a venue unlike any most blokarters will have experienced. It is a salt lake that has been dry throughout summer for several years. The surface is firm with very little rolling resistance. Sailing speeds are faster than achieved on beaches and the unique factor is the size of the sailing area. The main area used in the past has been a rectangle of approximately 1,200m x 700m. What this provides is the ability to set a variety of courses including a triangular course for any wind direction. This enables pointing, tacking, gybing and reaching skills to all be tested. The MBC have sailed here at this time of year for the past 3 years. For those who just have to go exploring, the lake extends a further 5km from the main pad. Oliver's Lake is 30 minutes outside Horsham in the midst of farmland. The MBC will provide marquees for shade and toilet facilities on site. Competitors and spectators will need to provide their own food supplies, which can be sourced from several bakeries and supermarkets in Horsham.

Horsham is 300km north of Melbourne Airport almost entirely on 100 or 110kmh highway, so allow about 3hrs plus any meal stops to get there. Horsham is a city of 14,000 people that acts as the main trading centre for the region. In January the mean maximum temperature is 30 C and the average afternoon wind speed is 19 kmh. There is a choice of tenting or cabins in our usual base of the Wimmera Lakes Caravan Park, or there are a selection of motels throughout the town.

For those people coming, but not wanting to watch the events everyday, the region provides a number of excursion opportunities. Horsham is only 70 k from Hall's Gap, the picturesque holiday destination township nestled at the foot of the Grampians Ranges. This area offers cafes, shopping, a swimming pool, arguably the best mini golf course in the country, bush walks and scenic drives through the hills. Stawell is the nearest large town to Hall's Gap. Ararat is an old gold mining town 95 km from Horsham, as is St Arnaud. For the more adventureous the well known cities of Ballarat or Castlemaine are each approximately 200 km from Horsham. Horsham itself has a modern indoor / outdoor aquatic centre, mini golf, ten pin bowling, a cinema and pleasant riverside parks and walks. Try www.travelvictoria.com.au to see more about the region.

We look forward to sharing this unique sailing venue with the blokarting community and look forward to your entry in the 2011Australian Blokart Association Open Championships in January.

Please Click here for Race and Event Details

   2010 Victorian State Titles

    Sandy Point Victoria

   Registration & Briefing 8.00am at the Cafe

   Saturday 16 October 2010. 

   Low Tide 12.00

• 10.30hrs  Racing on the Beach.

   Day Two

    Sunday 17^th October 2010. 

• Low Tide 01.00 hrs
• 11.00 Racing on the Beach

    There is an event meal Saturday night.  You will need to indicate numbers  for Saturday night’s meal at time of entry. 

Email: Ben.Lazzar@ bluescopesteel.com  for entry forms.

The Dates for the 4th State of Origin Cup have been set and will be held on the

19th, 20th, 21st November 2010 at Evans Head Airport, Northern NSW,

The event is being hosted by the NSW blokart Club.

More Info with NOR etc will be posted soon, any queries please contact Danny Hall

04 1752 5123 or danny@dhphc.com.au

Cheers

Phil. 

This years' Hunter Enduro / Windfest Weekend will be held on 27th, 28th & 29th August.

The Enduro will be limited to only 30x Entrants due to camping facilities / infrastructure etc.

More info to be posted soon ...

C.Q.B.C. are proud to announce that our regatta 2010, will be held on October 15th -16th -17th, the 15th being sign in/practise, Sat 16th & Sun 17th, racing.

Entry forms and fees will be available via most forums soon. Venue will be Cape Hillsborough Beach Mackay, with camping / caravan / cabins available on site. light catering will be available on beach for lunch Sat-Sun, with Sat night being our get together B.B.Q dinner night.

This regatta will be a bigger event than last years very successful 54 contestants, with a chance for visitors to see our wonderful area as well as the Whitsundays (1.1/2hrs drive north), come on up north and spend a week or two in wonderful Central Qld.
See you all there, Regards Dave Moore.

2010 Australian Open 

Another excellent blokart event with 82 karts registered to race over 2 Classes and 7 weight categories, we had competitors from NZ, WA, VIC, NSW & QLD.
It was fantastic to meet up with many old and new faces, there’s just something about being involved with such a great community of people that this sport brings together. 

Friday 26^th saw introductions and briefing out of the way by 9.30am and racing starting at 10.30, everybody was hyped and rearing to go, with the wind at a healthy 15 + knots the sail choice was between 3 & 4m, we saw the odd 5.5m sail brought out but at times this proved to be a bit of a handful, a decision was made not to run a marathon and continue to sail the short course for the rest of the day ( excellent decision considering the good wind conditions we had ) we were all cleaned up and off the beach by 5pm  ...

8am Saturday morning in the convention room was tech talk time hosted by Paul Beckett, the room was full with a good number of sailors hoping to gain some inside knowledge from the GURU, excellent talk thanks Paul, I’m sure many would have taken away your handy hints on maintenance and sailing.

Day 2 Racing started 11am and with the previous day’s results posted many sailors were cautious of their placing, the conditions were a little lighter than the day before with sail choices ranging between 4m and 5.5m, the 4m’s definitely had it running up wind but the 5.5’s had the power down wind, this made for some interesting races.By 4pm the wind had picked up to a healthy 15knots just in time for the 15km marathon, 40 plus Production karts took off first followed 2 minutes later by 40 Performance kart, WOW what a sight, 80 blokarts racing down the beach to a marker and back, some good speeds were reached during an excellent marathon.Saturday evening saw 148 plus for dinner in the Palms room at the Resort, a beautiful meal with a fear bit of fun and laughter throughout the evening, great to see that Andy B from WA win the Raffle, a few good words said and I’m sure Danny H will never loose his plate again!! 

Sunday had briefing out of the way by 9.30 and racing start at 11am, the wind started completely down the beach but by the time we had completed 2 races it had swung to onshore, delighting a number of sailors who found tacking to be there worst enemy, 4m sails were in full use and we managed to push through 3 rounds of races and another excellent marathon before heading up for prize giving. Prize giving saw a good spread of trophy’s throughout the states and across the ditch with Queensland seemingly picking up the most overall, Well done to everyone who competed and thank you to all that helped put the event together

A huge Congratulations to the Central Qld blokart Club for hosting an extremely well run event 

Check out the video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZErMZpKTF8&feature=youtube_gdata

Cheers

PhilC

Placings posted below. 

The 2010 Word blokart Champs are to be held in Belgian this year from the 13th to the 17th of October.

I have heard there are a few from Australia heading that way to have a shot at competing on the world stage of blokart racing, this will be a huge event with top competotor from around the globe contesting for the prestigious world trophies,

The Event is being hosted by the Belgium blokart Club, for more info www.blokartworlds2010.com

Cheers......Phil