When all was said and done at the 48th annual Goldenstates earlier this month the Higgins brothers were very happy indeed, with Kyle and Beau taking out the winning ANDRA Silver Christmas Trees in Super Sedan and Super Street respectively.
The Goldenstates featured the latest round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series, with the next round, the South Coast Nationals, scheduled for South Coast Raceway across December 10 and 11.
“It definitely was an extra special Goldenstates for our family, with myself and my younger brother Beau taking out wins. It was Beau’s first win in Super Street, and the first time in 14 years of our family racing together that we have had two wins from one event,” said Kyle, who also won at the 2021 Goldenstates event.
“We were also racing in memory of a special family friend who had passed away recently in a workplace accident, so it was definitely fitting that we both were able to get a win for him.
“I couldn’t believe that I had won the Goldenstates back-to-back. Any event is tough to win, but with the addition of the extra interstate racers it always adds some extra pressure. Wins like these for me shows that you can win any event – even without a weather station and without a delay box, you can still beat the best in the business.
“For me, the event started off well in qualifying and despite having some red lights it was a good time to get comfortable again in the car after some off-season changes.
“I felt like I was driving a new car, so it took a bit to get used to it, but we qualified 12th out of 16 cars. We were matched up with Jodi Thorstensen in the first round – Jodi is always a tough matchup as she always runs close to her times but fortunately for me, I got her on the tree, and we got the win.
“For the second round I was up against Marty Mirco. Marty is one of the toughest competitors in Super Sedan and I always enjoy racing against him as we always have some close runs together. For some reason I felt calm and didn’t worry about Marty too much and I just focused on what I had to do to get the win. We took off with myself having the better reaction time which made Marty push hard to catch me but unfortunately, he broke out. gifting me the win.
“In the semi-final I was matched up against Brian Hicks. I dialled in a 9.50 and ran 9.51 while Brian unfortunately red lit which gave me the win
“In the final I was up against Jason Lippi who had earlier top qualified. Jason unfortunately sustained damage to his car earlier on in the day so I was gifted a solo pass in the final. It’s not the way I would have liked to have won but I sure hope I put on a good enough show for the spectators.”
Beau overcame numerous cases of nerves to strike through for his first Super Street final and first Super Street win at the event.
“What a massive two-day event that was,” Beau exclaimed.
“Coming out Friday night I missed the first qualifying run due to work commitments, so only having one qualifier heading into Saturday wasn’t ideal, but it was good to at least get one run in.
“Super Street is always a very hard competition as we have the biggest class out of everyone, but on Saturday we ended up qualifying 14th out of 28 cars.
“For the first round of every event I am absolutely nervous, as you always want to try and get through the first round and try and set yourself up for the upcoming rounds. I had Tony Zaccaria first up and it was a very close race all the way to the end. With his reaction time not being the best, I was able to drive around him and then back off, so I didn’t break out to take my first round win.
“In the second round I was up against Cameron Lockett and he unfortunately red lit, giving me an instant win to go through to the third round.
“This was the first time in two years I had been able to go to the third round, so I was extremely nervous heading into that one. I looked online at the previous runs Jacob Mills had been doing and he had been running close to his dial-ins and reaction times, so I knew I had to be switched on for this race as it was going to be very tight.
“Somehow, I ended up pulling a perfect 0.000 light while Jacob broke out, giving me the win to go through to the semi-final.
“I never thought I was going to get that far, and when going up against Stephen Hotchkin unfortunately his car started swerving in the top end of the track, so he backed off and once I knew I had it, I backed off too, so I didn’t break out with a 10.991.
“And just like that, we were in the final and it was a real special moment to reach that far. I was very nervous, but I had a job to get done and what a way to finish off the night it was with two Fords in the final with us up against Robert Stone.
“Unfortunately, Robert didn’t have the best reaction time and that made it hard for him to catch up to me. I had dialled in 10.97 and ended up backing off against for a 11.07.
“To win my first ever Super Street meeting was certainly very special, and having an old school XY GT Falcon running 10.90 is pretty fantastic too.
“I would like to say a big thank you to my family for helping me get the car to where it is today – there are not many 21-year-olds out there who have the opportunity to drive an old school classic XY GT and I have appreciated all of the help along the way.
“Also, congratulations to my brother Kyle winning in Super Sedan, it sure was great to have both Higgos boys taking home Silver Christmas Trees!”
You may soon see the Higgins brothers taking their competitive spirit to Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series rounds outside of their home track of the Perth Motorplex.
“As a team we are hopeful on starting to travel around Australia in the near future to experience other tracks and to contend in the ANDRA national points rounds,” Kyle explained.
“In the meantime, Beau and I would like to thank our crew, mum, dad, Jake, Kane, Amy and Adam, as well as our sponsors Superoo Falcon Spares, Midvale Auto Electrics, Mik Waters Fabrication, AST Mechanical, Scene Signs, Midland Sand and Soil Supplies, Midland Mini Crete and Down to Earth Garden Supplies for all of their support.”
For results from the Goldenstates at the Perth Motorplex, please click here
The next round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series will be held at Portland’s South Coast Raceway across December 10 and 11. For event info, go to www.southcoastraceway.com.au
For more from ANDRA, visit www.andra.com.au
