President's Report - February 2008

Dear members,

On behalf of the Dubbo Kart Club as an organisation I would like to welcome all individual members back to Club for the 2008 season. I hope it shall be a great season and one which will continue the momentum that the Club has experienced over the last couple of years.

The first point of business I would like to address is to notify you all of the changes to the Board that were made during the off-season since the AGM of 2007. As no President was appointed at the 2007 AGM some reshuffling at the Board level was required. I moved from Secretary to President and Bob Hay gallantly agreed to take on the secretarial role. Gerard Skelly is the Vice President, Ray Brown continues his appointment as Treasurer, Geoff Brown and Mick Scholfield are the Club Captains, Arthur Mortimer continues as the State Karting Council delegate and Australian Karting Council Representative for which Dennis King is Co-Delegate and also Membership Secretary. Matthew Woodbridge has kindly agreed to take on the role of the Promotions and Publicity Officer and thankfully Terry Sonntag remains as Caretaker of the track and chief wheeler and dealer. Graham Brown, Darren Koenig and Patrick Cuskelly are also Board members.

On behalf of the Club for 2008 I take this opportunity to reiterate our thanks to the Board and volunteers of 2007 for all of their work to make the Club what it is at the commencement of the 2008 season. Without detracting any appreciation to the volunteers as a whole I would particularly like to thank Dennis King as outgoing President, Geoff Brown as outgoing Treasurer, Arthur Mortimer as the continuing AKA /SKC representative, Gary Sharam, Christine Noke, Denise Hay, Ray Brown and Gerard Skelly as Race Officials, the Canteen staff and all of the flaggies who volunteered their efforts during the 2007 season. Without such volunteered effort the Club would not exist.

In addition to our regular season with the major meetings of the Southern Zone round and Gold Cup it is anticipated that the Club will be hosting rounds of the CIK and Leopard Series during 2008. For those unaware CIK is the premier internationally recognised class and the Leopard Series is an emerging class racing the 125cc water-cooled Leopard engine attracting the top end of the sport. We will keep you informed of any developments concerning the hosting of these classes.

The fact the Dubbo Kart Club has been approached by the premier classes of karting to host meetings during 2008 is testimony to the reputation that the Club has built over the last couple of years, particularly since the NSW State Titles of 2006 which were a great success. To maintain this reputation I ask that all of the members appreciate that the Club exists only through the volunteered efforts of its members and for this purpose, as an old chestnut president's adage, I urge all of you to ask not what the Club can do for you but what you can do for the Club. There is a lot of on going work that needs to be done out at the track, particularly in preparation for the big meetings so if members have a spare hour or two it would be much appreciated if you could go out to the track and take ownership of the Club by providing some time and effort to maintain the facility to the standard of which it is renowned. Bear in mind that Terry is a caretaker and not an employee and as anyone who has spent anytime working out at the track will appreciate it is quite a mammoth task to maintain the facility at such a high standard, certainly a task beyond one person alone. So I ask if you could spare some time at any given moment I am sure Terry would have a job for you to do whether it be just straightening the tyre barriers, painting the ripple strips or mowing the grass etc. Please remember that this Club survives solely on volunteered effort alone.

Another goal of the Club during 2008 is to continue to increase the membership and get more people from the Dubbo community involved. To achieve this we ask that each member do their utmost to promote the Club even if just by simple mention and promotion to friends and associates. Dubbo has one of the best kart tracks in Australia right on its doorstep so it would be great if more locals joined up to enjoy such a great motor sport facility. The more members we have the more exciting the racing. Although focused across the board we particularly want to increase the numbers in the junior classes of Midgets, Rookies and Juniors so we ask members to do whatever they can to promote the Club within the Dubbo community. For this purpose it is intended to continue to host come and try days particularly targeting people who may be serious about getting involved in the sport so if members know someone who may be interested please encourage their involvement. Although subject to Board approval I hope the Club purchases more 4 stroke clutched karts in 2008 to enable people to sample the sport before purchasing their own karts and becoming involved with the Club.

The first Club meeting is scheduled for the Sunday 17th February and I hope that you have dusted the cobwebs off your karts and are ready to get back into the racing. Please remember that all AKA licenses and Club memberships must be paid up and valid in order to race so if you need to address this please contact Dennis either by emailing us or telephone: 0428 480 714.

Finally, I hope 2008 will be great year for the Club and that all of the members have a great season of racing and enjoy being part of the Club. The first Board meeting is scheduled to occur on 4th February. If anyone has any suggestions or comments please direct them to the Board. Perhaps the most effective way is to email us or contact me on 0418 450 940.

I look forward to seeing you all out at the track.

Kind regards,

Trevor Jones