CRG On Top In Two CIK Classes
press release
The CIK Stars of Karting Series has now passed the half way point and after three rounds the CRG Australia Racing Team lead the Championship Points in two of the five classes on offer and sit second by a mere point and also hold third in another.
Reigning class Champion Pierce Lehane continues to lead the way on the Pro Junior KF3 points table as does Lydon Dodge in the Clubman Yamaha Challenge while in Pro Gearbox KZ2 driver Kel Treseder now sits second albeit by the narrowest of margins.
Above: Pierce Lehane on his way to victory at round 3 in Melbourne
pic - AF Images, www.afimages.com.au
Round three of the five round series was conducted at the Go Kart Club of Victoria’s Todd Road circuit in Port Melbourne over the weekend (June 16-18) with Lehane once again the dominant force.
15 year-old Lehane was in fine form taking out the opening heat before a broken chain robbed him of another top result however the Castle Hill NSW resident recovered with another victory in heat three.
Starting from grid position six due to the DNF in heat two, Lehane quickly moved to the front and from lap 2 onwards was never headed scoring a well-deserved victory.
Final two saw the number one CRG kart line up on pole and from there Lehane drove a faultless race to again be triumphant, claiming the round win and with it the Victorian State Title.
“My new CRG chassis handled perfectly all weekend which was great,” said Lehane.
“This was another great round of the series for me as I was able to extend my points lead in the series which is perfect heading into the final two rounds of the championship.”
"The last two rounds are pretty much my home tracks, they are the two closest tracks to me and the places I have done the most laps at so it should be a good advantage to finish off the series with.”
Lehane’s CRG Pro Junior KF3 teammate Jake Coleman was also very impressive throughout the weekend despite qualifying in last position after fouling a spark plug.
This however didn’t deter Coleman as he raced through the pack with great speed in the three heats to record a 5 – 5 – 7 card of results qualifying him fifth for the first final.
Above: Team CRG junior pilots (KF3), Jake Coleman (L) and Pierce Lehane (R)
pic - AF Images, www.afimages.com.au
Coleman quickly charged his way into second place behind Lehane and at the mid way point was the faster of the two drivers but in the end had to settle for a fine second place in a CRG one – two.
Final two didn’t quite bring the same speed for Coleman who dropped off in the latter stages but a top five result was enough to see him jump up to fourth in the championship standings.
"It was a disappointing start in qualifying, we had good pace in practice and thought we would be up there with a shot but fouled a plug which was really disheartening."
"It's a good feeling to get second, it is the best result we've had in the series so far and then unfortunately I dropped back a bit in the second final but my CRG was good all weekend, we still collected some good points and I'm really happy with our results."
Lydon Dodge extended his series points lead in the Clubman Yamaha Challenge to now lead by 50 points.
Despite narrowly missing the podium, Dodge’s top five result saw him as the highest placed series regular, crossing the line behind three local competitors.
Above: Lydon Dodge extended his Yahama Clubman championship lead with a top 5 result at Round 3
pic - AF Images, www.afimages.com.au
"It turned out to be a good weekend points wise, after not looking so good on the opening day we turned it around for two good results in the finals," explained Dodge
"I've got a pretty good points lead now heading into the next two rounds but the next two rounds are the home tracks of the two guys behind me so I really need to be on top of my game when we head there."
"I made a few changes to the kart for the pre-final and it was a bullet but unfortunately another little change I made for the final didn't really work but all in all the kart is unreal and we really haven't had to change much since the start of the last round at Bolivar."
Once again the Pro Gearbox KZ2 class was as competitive as ever and CRG teammates Kel Treseder and Jason Pringle were again right in the mix at the pointy end of the field.
Above: Kel Treseder #75 now sits second in the fiercely contested KZ2 Pro Gearbox championship
pic - AF Images, www.afimages.com.au
Treseder now sits second in the Championship by just one point after crossing the line seventh and sixth in the two finals.
"To walk away from Todd Road with a bag full of points is pretty handy, it's been a bit of a bogey track in the past so to gain some valuable points is good - it's an interesting championship, it's anyone’s race at the moment," said Treseder.
"The CRG worked well for both Jason and I here this weekend and we both go pretty good at Eastern Creek so we're looking forward to it."
Pringle has climbed two spots in the series to third after never finishing outside the top five all weekend in the 30-kart field, taking a fifth and fourth in the two finals.
Above: Jason Pringle #35 now sits third in the KZ2 Championship
pic - AF Images, www.afimages.com.au
Pringle is now just ten points behind Treseder and eleven of the lead with both drivers heading to round four of the series full of confidence.
"It was another good result again, I mean we have been pretty solid all series but obviously I'd like to get some race wins but I think we're nearly there," said Pringle
"Unfortunately the tyre pressures just got up a little too high in the end there and we dropped back to fourth but my kart was good all weekend and it should be good again at the creek as we had a good round there last year and we're really looking forward to it."
CRG’s Pro Light KF1 driver Jason Hryniuk overcame mechanical gremlins in the heats to put in two solid performances in the finals. Coming from grid 19 in final one Hryniuk charged through the pack greeting the chequered flag in eighth before running as high as fourth in final two, eventually crossing the line sixth.
The CRG Australia Racing Team look forward to tackling round four of the Championship at the North Shore Kart Club’s resurfaced Eastern Creek International Raceway (July 29-31).
