WHILE locals cheered on Joseph Tighe during his win in the KA3 Senior final, everyone at the Lincoln County Raceway was on their feet when Leigh Nicolaou produced the drive of the weekend in the X30 final.
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The opening round of the Australian Karting Championships came to a close on Sunday afternoon and Nicolaou's stunning victory was the highlight.
Difficulty during the heat racing forced the Victorian to start the final from the rear of grid but within the first couple of laps he had already advanced from 30th to halfway through the field.
After five laps Nicolaou moved into the top 10 and that delivered belief into his camp that he could perhaps chase a podium finish.
That became a realistic possibility when he was lapping six-tenths faster than the leading five karts and then pushed his way forward, eventually taking the lead with two laps left to go.
While all eyes were on Nicolaou, Australian champion Daniel Rochford and Morgan Feast were having a terrific battle up front unaware of the charge coming from behind.
Feast had got to the lead only to see the number four of Nicolaou range up on him and then deny what would have otherwise been a certain victory.
The best moment for the Dubbo Kart Club was when local drivers Joseph Tighe and Dean O'Brien recorded the KA3 Senior one-two with less than a second separating the pair at the end of 20 laps.
Matt McLean was third while female racer Beck Connell finished in fourth position after a great weekend.
Another popular winner was Reece Sidebottom, who dominated the weekend on his way to winning the KA1 final by 1.3 seconds. In his first race since moving up from juniors, Sidebottom was a standout and passed the chequered flag ahead of Dutchman Marijn Kremers and Scott Sorensen.
The weekend's racing was an action-packed one for Dubbo and Daily Liberal photographers Brook Kellehear-Smith and Kathryn O'Sullivan were on hand to capture some of the best moments.
The next round of the Championship will be conducted March 25-27 at Hume International Raceway, Puckapunyal.