Hossack Beats Zavaglia to First Superkart Win

press release

Darren Hossack got his Australian Superkart Championship campaign of to a superb start after winning a close battle with Sam Zavaglia for the first race on Saturday of the championship, held at the Eastern Creek International Raceway as part of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships.  

The Save Evolutions Anderson-Safe got the jump on Zavaglia at the start but Zavaglia quickly closed the gap and the pair staged a fantastic dice for second position that was only resolved in the dash to the line on the last lap. The win is the first win in a national championship for Scott Ellis's Safe Evolutions team running the self-developed Safe engine. Zavaglia was the first of the Stockman-Hondas home keeping him on the front row for Sunday mornings Race 2 start.

Third place was taken by Gary Pegoraro (RMR Superkarts, Marron Excavations Anderson-FPE) coming through from ninth grid position, overcoming a qualifying plagued by ignition gremlins which had taken a day to trace. Following Pegaroro through the top order was Carlo Chermaz (Buildersmile PVP) who come from twelfth position to finish fourth after the five lap sprint.

Fifth and sixth places were taken by the classes two hot young rookies, Luke May (Zip-BDH Zip Eagle-BRC) and Matthew Wall (RMR Superkarts, Wizzer Race Engines Anderson-FPE). May faded as the race went on while Wall recovered from a poor start to finish sixth ahead of the NEC Automotive Stockman-Honda of Stephen Castles. Anton Stevens was another to recover from a dreadful start to bring the Electrosil Art Motorsport PVP home in eighth position. Kristian Stebbing (Suburban Accounting Stockman-Honda) and Chryss Jamieson (Coach Design Anderson-Honda), both 2007 rivals from the 125cc class, rounded out the top ten.

For reigning champion Warren McIlveen (Mac's Marine Stockman-Honda) it was a troubling start. After an engine failure in qualifying McIlveen battled into third position before running wide through turn 5 and ending the race in the sandtrap on the outside of the corner. Another to strike trouble was Yiani Harpas (Internode Metaplanners Davtect Zip Eagle-BRC) who broke a chain while sitting in fourth position.

Brad Stebbing (Suburban Accounting Stockman-Honda) won the 125cc class, running clear of the field as the race went on after being baulked by a spun car. His direct rival Russell Jamieson lost his engine while leading effectively leaving the class to Stebbing. Tony Lappas was second in the IGA Supermarkets Romeo's Foodland Stockman-Honda with Jarrod Lethborg (Trimfix Bakker-Honda) finishing third, snatching the position on the last lap from the Fuji Zerox Cougar-Honda of Jason Smith.

Martin Latta (MJR Bricklaying, Safe Evolutions Anderson-Yamaha) took out the 250 National class, chasing Brad Stebbing to the line. Frank Giglio (GR Industries Stockman) finished second.

Sunday will feature three races, the final race a bonus point eight lap race.

Race 1 Quotes:

1st 250 International: Darren Hossack (Safe Evolutions Anderson-Safe): "A good win for the Safe Evolutions team, Scott Ellis has done a massive amount of work since the 2007 championship. We've done the Eastern Creek V8 Supercar round then one meeting at Phillip Island. To come back and beat the calibre of driver and team here this weekend and the Stockman team particularly, it's a good result. I'm pretty happy at the moment."

2nd 250 International: Sam Zavaglia (Stockman Superkarts Stockman-Honda): "Hossack's machine was going real good. That is an absolute credit to Scott Ellis to get that Australian made engine against some of the best Japanese engines out there in such a short amount of time. For me that was the best gearbox Superkart racing I've had in my life. I had to think tactically for the first time in gearbox racing. That second place was as good as a win just for the competition."

3rd 250 International: Gary Pegoraro (RMR Superkarts, Marron Excavations Anderson-FPE): "It's not a bad way to start the weekend, it was probably a little bit lucky that a lot of people ran into problems early on. We got a reasonable start and made a reasonable pace. Obviously we're not happy but we'll keep working at it and hopefully go forward from where we are now."

Pole Position 125 Gearbox: Brad Stebbing (Suburban Accounting Stockman-Honda): "One of the twins spun around in turn 2 and I dropped back in the pack avoiding. Unfortunately Russell Jamieson had an off and we got the win. The kart is good, we posted some good lap times and we'll see how we go tomorrow."

1st 250 National: Martin Latta (MJR Bricklaying, Safe Evolutions Anderson-Yamaha): "It felt as strong again as in qualifying. The engine's unbelievable, Rod Prickett my engine builder has done a fantastic job, you can't fault it."