Preview: Final Round, Euro Superkart Championships

press release

The most popular Superkart event of the season, the “Rizla Racing Day” held at Assen (Netherlands), will crown the 2009 CIK-FIA European Superkart Champion on Sunday 9 August 2009. Even though ten drivers still have a mathematical chance of landing the title, it seems very likely that the champion’s crown will be won either by the Briton Gavin Bennett (Anderson-DEA), champion in 2007, or by the title-holder, Germany’s Peter Elkmann (MS Kart-Yamaha).

The more confident of the two protagonists before this third and final championship event is undoubtedly Bennett. With three wins in four races under his belt, his lead in the provisional classification is rather comfortable and he will have the advantage of being able to model his behaviour on that of his opponent, the former Formula 3 driver Peter Elkmann. Elkmann will however probably stake his all until the very final lap. At the same time last year he did not lead the championship when he started the Dutch event so he had to get it all right, and he managed to win both the race and the championship.

Considering that they will need quite a big boost from some really exceptional circumstances to get the title, drivers like Lee Harpham (Anderson-FPE), Mark Owens (ADE-DEA), Carl Hulme (Anderson-FPE), Guido Kleinemeyer (PVP-BRC), John Riley (Anderson-Rotax), Damien Payart (PVP-FPE), Malcolm Crowe (Anderson-FPE) and Trevor Roberts (Anderson-BRC) will be determined to conclude the European tour with a stage victory.

The Northern Irishman Trevor Roberts has shown he was in great form over the last few weeks. As a matter of fact, the former Superkart World Champion (1995) won Race 2 of the previous event, at Most in the Czech Republic, and is now making the most of his Canadian BRC engine. Within the field, it is worth noting the participation of two seeded automobile drivers, namely the Swede Thomas Johansson (Anderson-FPE) and the Dutchman Cor Euser (MS-TM). Additionally, the Oceanian continent will have two representatives; as well as Carlo Chermaz (PVP-PVP), who already entered the first two rounds of the European Championship, another Australian will be joining the European Superkart elite: Sam Zavaglia (Anderson-PVP), the 2009 champion of his country.

Boasting 55 drivers of 11 nationalities, Assen will be the Superkart race with the largest number of competitors this season. Drivers enjoy the welcome reserved for them in the Netherlands and know that the 50,000 spectators present each year follow with great interest both Superkart races entered on the programme of a meeting which includes motorcycles, F3 and Formula Renault, as well as the GT and Touring Cars of the “Dutch Supercar Challenge”. And it is not without a certain pride that, at the TT-Circuit of Assen’s temple of motorcycles, the Superkart drivers will keep in mind that their so special form of sport now has an extra fan: a few weeks ago at Laguna Seca, Valentino Rossi won a Superkart demonstration race held as a curtain raiser to the US MotoGP.

For more information (entry list, time table) and the results in real time, please consult: www.cikfia.com/News2009/Assen.htm.

 

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