McIlveen Wins Race 1
from Mark Jones
Warren McIlveen has struck the first blow as he attempts to reel in a fifteen point deficit to series points leader Gary Pegoraro at the final round of the Rockpress Australian Superkart Championship.
It was a lights to flag victory for the Soundy's Retravision/Mac's Marin Stockman-Honda, establishing a lap record for Superkarts at 1:13.2737. Series points leader Gary Pegoraro (Dunlop/BRC Engines Anderson-BRC) was able keep in touch with McIlveen until the hit lapped traffic, afterwhich McIlveen was able to build a gap ahead of an eight second win. After having an engine failure in qualifying, second expanded his points lead to seven points over Darren Hossack who finished third in the Safe Evolution Anderson-Safe.
Jason Smith had a poor start from the second row of the grid, dropping to seventh position at the end of the first lap. The Fuji Xerox Anderson-FPE driver quickly picked off Kristian Stebbing before hunting down the dicing duo of Ilya Harpas and Sam Zavaglia. Smith passed both drivers across the start-finish line at the end of the third lap.
Harpas (Internode/Davtec Zip-BRC) finally got the better of his fight with Zavaglia on the final lap. Both karts were wounded, Harpas was losing power with clogged injection jets while Zavaglia had a broken upright adjuster on the front left suspension, leaving one corner of the SZR Stockman-Yamaha only able to contribute modestly to the karts grip.
Kristian Stebbing spun twice on his way to eighth place in the Suburban Accounting Stockman-Honda, still suffering some brake issues from Friday. The second spin allowed Jason Laker (Top Torque Stockman-Honda) into seventh. After running as high as seventh, Steven Murray faded to ninth in the East Coast Lubes/R&R Powersports PVP-Honda. Rod Prickett (Rocket Race Engines Anderson-Safe) rounded out the top ten.
Russell Jamieson was at one point fighting for second place with Pegoraro and Hossack after a superb start from the third row in the Coach Design Stockman-Honda, but the young Queensland spun in the turn 11-12 switchback after hitting the kerbs slightly too hard. His team mate Chryss Jamieson did not make past the first corner in his Coach Design Anderson-Honda as engine dramas continue to cause him stress.
In 250 Nationals Luke May chased hard after Martin Latta for most of the race, using the slipstream behind Latta's Viper Racing UK/MJR Bricklaying Anderson-Honda, but once into traffic, May (Marron Excavations Stockman-Yamaha) lost the tow and Latta was able to build a gap. The pair finished eleventh and twelfth and Latta now holds a single point lead over May. Young Victorian racer Brendan Luneman finished third in the Autobarn Taralgon Anderson-Yamaha, picking up the spot after Anton Stevens stopped in his guest drive of the STR Truck Bodies Stockman-Kawasaki. Wayne Sprostan finished fourth in the Wilsons Auto Services Anderson-Rotax ahead of the GR Indutries Stockman-Honda and Frank Giglio as the battle for third in the class closes up.
Steven Tamasi finished thirteenth in the wake of Latta and May in the Domain Prestige Homes Stockman-Honda, the only 125 to finish the full race distance. Tamasi trimmed the points gap to Darren Dunn (Broadbent Compressor Services Topkart-Honda) to seven points in the battle for the 125cc championship. Jeff Reed (Cycle City Stockman-Honda) chased Dunn home keeping Dunn in sight for the whole race as the pair battled thorugh the slower 250cc engined karts. Tim Philp (Floth Engineering Avoig-Honda) claimed fourth place, well ahead of Brad Stebbing (Suburban Accounting Stockman-Yamaha). Jeremy Shelton (Speed Gonzales Team Avoig-Honda) won a close battle with Lindsay Jamieson (Linra Properties Group Stockman-Honda) and Brian Wild (Iguana Signs & Concepts/N&G Motor Repairs Stockman-Honda) for sixth in class.
Three races will feature on Sunday's program at Round Seven of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships. With 65 points on offer in each of the three classes, all three championships are still open.
Driver Quotes:
First 250 International: Warren McIlveen (Soundy's Retravision/Mac's Marine Stockman MR2-Honda) "It was very tough work over the bumpy circuit, it certainly takes it out of you trying to stay in front. Gary Pegoraro was right on my tail for the first three laps and made it very tough. I got a bit of a break somehow and from there was able to cruise a little to the win."
Second 250 International: Gary Pegoraro (Safe Evolutions Anderson Maverick-Safe) "We're moving forward again for sure. We thought we had the pace with our first engine. We had a bearing failure with tthat this morning and sent us back a bit. We had to use Dave Hepworth's Zip BDH engine which is a different tuned to our Anderson, and suited to a different gearbox. We were on the back foot for qualifying. We're just trying to consolidate, second will do. We all like to be winners but a smart bloke gets it home today. We'll make some changes and see if we can put a bit more pressure on Warren and take the pressure of us."
Third 250 International: Darren Hossack (Safe Evolutions Anderson Maverick-Safe) "We're not quite there. We've had some dramas today with the tune of the engine which for some reason is so much different to yesterday. It caught us out in qualifying, we didn't even get out in the second qualifying session. It kept foulling up plugs. The guys did a great job with the kart, I'm off playing cars as well in the Sports Sedan, it's a little bit compromised, but I did a good job to finish third in that race and really I know where we need to be better, but I don't yet know how to do that. I think we've just got to run our own race."
Pole Position 250 National: Martin Latta (Viper Racing UK/MJR Bricklaying Anderson Maverick-Honda) "We had a good session, a few good laps together with Luke, to be honest we got stuffed up by a couple of twins, which was a shame because Luke was really driving well, I think it would have been a really good fight to the end. I got my head together as the race went on, kept it on the black stuff, had a couple of little issues but got the win."
Pole Position 125cc: Steven Tamasi (Domain Prestige Homes Stockman MR2 Honda) "I'm definately trying my hardest, Dad (Daniel) is trying his hardest. It's not easy. I'm pushing to the limits to stay in front of the 125 class. I was able to find a gap in the field after struggling to get through some of the Inters and Nationals, traffic was not as bad as I feared it might be."
Points after Race 1 Round 2: Gary Pegoraro 92, Darren Hossack 85, Warren McIlveen 80, Trevor Roberts 64, Ilya Harpas 52, Anton Stevens 46, Sam Zavaglia 45, Jason Smith 43, Chryss Jamieson 39, Rod Prickett 25 etc
250 National: Martin Latta 97, Luke May 96, David Yuill 63, Frank Giglio 57, Wayne Sprostan 56, Brendan Luneman 55 etc
125 Gearbox: Darren Dunn 87, Steven Tamasi 80, Jeff Reed 67, Brad Stebbing 62, John Pellicano 54, Jeremy Shelton 48 etc
