McIlveen and Hossack Share day 2 (Saturday) Honours

press release - (full results on Natsoft HERE)

Honours were split at the end of the second day of Superkart Racing at Round 2 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek Raceway after a three car battle at the front of the fifty car Superkart field.

Warren McIlveen (Mac's Marine/Stockman Superkarts Stockman-Honda) converted his pole position into a race one victory, but race two saw Darren Hossack break through for his first victory in Superkart racing and the first victory for Scott Ellis' Safe Evolutions team with the self-developed SAFE engine. McIlveen dived at Hossack for the line in Race 2 but left it just too late as the race was shortened a lap after an incident in the preceding race in the race program.

Gary Pegoraro (Marron Excavations RMR Superkarts Anderson-RCS) took fourth and third in the two races to be third overall for the day, in a difficult day for the Victorian front-runner on a day when the team appeared to be struggling for power.

Stephen Castles had a sensational start to the day, pushing McIlveen and Hossack all the way in Race 1 to finish third but the day ended prematurely after a mechanical failure early in Race 2. Mechanical dramas continue to plague some of the leading names with Carlo Chermaz struggling to get his PVP to run at all, engine problems traced to the keyway and the Queenslander is heading for a machine shop overnight.

With a fragile clutch affecting performance Anton Stevens returned to the scene of his frightening 2007 accident and twice drove from the rear of the field, protecting that fragile clutch, into top ten positions, giving the lanky New Zealander renewed confidence of pace ahead of the 2008 national series, finishing seventh in both races.

The two class champions of 2007 have both stepped into 250 International karts this season ad had mixed weekends. Reigning 250 National champion Jason McIntyre had much of the same problems afflicting team-mate Gary Pegoraro ending with a pair of fifth places while Kristian Stebbing was having mechanical problems and failed to finish Race 2 after finishing 11th in race 1.

After mechanical dramas cruelled his qualifying, Anthony Lappas (IGA Stockman-Honda) climbed through the field to win the 125cc division in race 1, and backed it up with a more impressive performance in race 2, pushing the smaller capacity kart into 11th position by racers end.

Rick Setterfield (RMR Superkarts Anderson-KTM) brought some joy for the Victorian Anderson based team, comfortably in control of the 250 National division with a pair of race victories. Patrick Atherton and Wayne Horsewell shared the Rotax Max division wins.

Driver Quotes:
Warren McIlveen (Mac's Marine/Stockman Superkarts Stockman-Honda): first and second: "We tried a six inch tyre on the front with the intention of going hard for a couple of laps early on. We were quite encouraged by the result. Just got caught out at the end with the race being cut a lap short."

Darren Hossack (Safe Evolutions Anderson-SAFE) second and first: "The car's very good," said Hossack. "It felt the same as it did yesterday, it's a little rich in the jetting. We're still learning, Warren got away in front but comparing ourselves to the rest of the field for our experience its been encouraging."

Gary Pegoraro (RMR Superkart Anderson-RCS) fourth and third: "I can't get the balance right. We're looking for information this weekend ahead of the nationals later in the year. The first race we driven without a helmet visor. We've just lost a bit of momentum."

Anthony Lappas (IGA Stockman-Honda) first in 125cc class: "Feels good, it's doing what it's supposed to do. We're just keeping out of trouble with the lapped traffic, which is clean ayway. We just want to get as much data as we can for the nationals.

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