Australian Superkart Championships

by Mark Jones

The final round of the Dave Potter Honda Australian Superkart Championship has seen three new champions collecting the silverware after a fraught weekend of racing, in particular the battle between Darren Hossack, Sam Zavaglia and Gary Pegoraro for the 250 International class became a nerveless affair, decided in the closing laps of the race.

Above: 250 Inter Australian Champion Darren Hossack
pic - Ash Budd, photowagon.com.au

Held at the ninth round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships at South Australia's Mallala Motor Sport Park, the Superkart fraternity contributed 39 entries, again the largest category at the meeting. Heading into the final round Hossack (Safe Evolutions Anderson-Safe) had held a 19 point lead over Sam Zavaglia (Stockman Superkarts Stockman-Yamaha). The first race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon saw Hossack chase 2007 champion Warren McIlveen home in second position well on top of the battle between title rivals Zavaglia and Pegoraro who fought out third position. Both Zavaglia and Pegoraro (RMR Superkarts/Marron Excavations Anderson-FPE) were running wounded after Zavaglia lost a day chasing an electrical gremlin and Pegoraro had a damaged gearbox from qualifying.

Sunday morning dawned with rain falling. In the wet Pegoraro was supreme and bolted away with Zavaglia in pursuit. A slightly brakeless McIlveen (Mac's Marine Stockman-Honda) followed while Hossack lost a fight with Ilya Harpas (Intermode/Metaplanners/Davtec Zip-BRC) for fifth. Race three, held on an inconsistently slippery surface saw Zavaglia get on top of Pegoraro but Hossack had a dreadful start and spent the race fighting back into fifth position.

Above: Mallala round winner Gary Pegoraro
pic - Ash Budd, photowagon.com.au

The same poor start haunted Hossack in the final but Zavaglia needed to win. With Zavaglia unable to catch Pegoraro interest centred on how far up the field Hossack could climb. Throwing caution to the wind Hossack sprinted back through the field and quickly found himself climbing into the top six on the tail of Ralf Rupprecht (Stockman-Honda). It became top five when McIlveen dropped out of the race. With Zavaglia second Hossack needed fourth, which he got on lap 4, then passed Daniel Ramerman (KC Tools Anderson-Yamaha) for third on the last lap, allowing him to claim his first Australian Superkart Championship, breaking a ten year domination of the class by Stockman Superkarts, and a first Australian championship for an Australian designed engine for Scott Ellis' Safe Evolutions team.

Above: Fresh from a fantastic race in the USA, Sam Zavaglia
pic - Ash Budd, photowagon.com.au

Anthony Lappas (Romeo's Foodland / IGA Supermarket Stockman-Honda) dominated the 125cc class, winning all four races, but in the end Brad Stebbing's points lead was to great to overtake. Fourth place in the final race for Stebbing (Suburban Accounting Stockman-Honda) secured the title by three points over Lappas.

Martin Latta (MJR Bricklaying / Safe Evolutions Stockman-Yamaha) claimed the 250 National title, wrapping the points chase up in race three having won all seven races. David Yuill (Aardvark Polishing Anderson-Yamaha) won the final race of the day.

Above: Marty Latta. 250 National winner
pic - Ash Budd, photowagon.com.au

Driver Quotes:
Winner Mallala Round and Third in Australian Superkart Championship - Gary Pegoraro (RMR Superkarts/Marron Excavations Anderson Maverick FPE): "It's a bit of a hard pill to swallow, you make mistakes and you don't benefit from it. Certainly the boys back in the workshop in the wee hours of the morning put a package together and I made a couple of mistakes and you lose a championship. We came here with a mission to show we can put an Anderson/FPE/Dunlop kart on the front and we came away today with what we expected with the round win."

Runner Up Mallala Round and Runner Up Australian Superkart Championship - Sam Zavaglia (Stockman Superkarts Stockman MR2 Yamaha): "I was behind the eight ball from day one chasing electrical gremlins and trying to develop a brand new kart from the beginning of the season. It was a chance we took and you've gotta take chances. Darren was a worthy winner. It's great that the championship went down to the final placing. I'm happy with everything, I've been here before I know what it feels like."

Third for Mallala Round and Australian Superkart Champion - Darren Hossack (Safe Evolutions Anderson Maverick Safe): "I thought after running second yesterday I had everything under control just had to finish fourth in every race. I probably didn't count on the rain this morning and I certainly didn't count on the track being covered in diesel for the third race and then I made it hard by mucking the starts or some sort of carburetion issue, we just pushed on as hard as we could. I thought it was probably over and I should just enjoy the drive but then after a few laps I was sixth, this is still do-able and Sam (Zavaglia) wasn't winning. I pushed on and while the guys gave me room, jeez they raced hard, it was not a gimme, I just can't believe it. This is my sixth meeting in a Superkart, run by a couple of guys who really don't know a helluva lot about Superkarting and we just won a national title! Hopefully we can win another in three weeks time in the Sports Sedan and make it a really good year."

Winner 125 Gearbox division Mallala round and Australian Championship Runner Up - Anthony Lappas (Romeo's Foodland / IGA Supermarkets Stockman MR2 Honda): "There was nothing else we could do. We tried our hardest, that's all. The kart was going fine just out of the box, it just done what it had to do. I need to thank my pit crew and Romeo's IGA."

Runner up 125 Gearbox Mallala Round and Australian 125cc Champion - Brad Stebbing (Suburban Accounting Stockman MR2 Honda): "I had a bit of a break in the points so I could drive intuitively and finish in the top five or six in each of the races. I probably wasn't trying 100%. The engine ran well and was reliable. We've come away with the win, I'm wrapped!"

Above: A bit faster than a MAX! Brad Stebbing held on for the 125 Gearbox title
pic - Ash Budd, photowagon.com.au

Winner 250 National Mallala Round and winner 250 Nationals National Title - Martin Latta (MJR Bricklaying / Safe Evolutions Anderson Maverick Yamaha): "I've got a lot of thanks for Scott (Ellis - Safe Evolutions) for all the work they've done this year. I actually thought there was one more lap, I could have gotten Dave (Yuill), there's always next time. It's been one helluva season, I'm looking forward to the next."

Points: Darren Hossack 137, Sam Zavaglia 134, Gary Pegoraro 129, Warren McIlveen 97, Carlo Chermaz 85, Daniel Ramerman 68, Matthew Wall 51, Ilya Harpas 49, Ralf Rupprecht 40, Anton Stevens 39, Yiani Harpas 39 etc

250 Nationals: Martin Latta 167, David Yuill 130, Frank Giglio 96, Rick Setterfield 67

125 Gearbox: Brad Stebbing 147, Anthony Lappas 144, Jarrod Lethborg 105, John Bakker 101, Tim Philp 94 etc

Above: Sprint karter Matthew Wall used some big wheels to get back to the pits
pic - Ash Budd, photowagon.com.au

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