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| July 01, 2009 |
| Australian CIK Championship Round 2 Report |
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 | Tyson Pearce crossing the line for victory at Melbourne's VACC Park
(Photo: photowagon.com.au) |
For many years Tyson Pearce has been highly regarded in Australian karting circles and he confirmed this status with a dominant display during Round Two of the Australian CIK Championship, held alongside the Rotax Pro Tour, at Melbourne’s VACC Park over the weekend.
Competing aboard the Omega TK24 kart, designed and manufactured in South Australia by he and his Father Kym, Pearce was undefeated throughout the qualifying, heat races and pair of finals to claim maximum points for the weekend.
The success is a turnaround from the opening round, where the 29 year-old second generation racer's speed was masked by mechanical gremlins.
“It is a great feeling to finish the weekend undefeated in a round of the CIK Championship and get my chase for the title back on track,” said Pearce, who won the 2003 Australian CIK Intercontinental C Title.
With the rejuvenated CIK Championship seeing all drivers use identical IAME Parilla KF2 specification engines and Dunlop tyres, both similar to those used in the World and European Championships, it is driver talent and kart set-up that is rewarded the most.
“I’ve spent some time away from the sport with family commitments but the idea of having everyone using the same engine and tyres in the CIK-style of racing has really got me enthused again,” said Pearce.
“You know that every time you take to the circuit that you’re racing against guys on equal equipment rather than who has got the biggest cheque book or best engine – it really boils down to the best chassis and who is the fastest driver on the day.”
 | David Sera charged his way to the win in Rotax Light
(Photo: photowagon.com.au) |
Finishing second behind Pearce in both main events was opening round winner Hayden McBride.
The Novocastrian hung on for a sensational second placing in both finals ahead of Team CRG’s Mitchell Cunningham. The New Zealand Formula Toyota Champion put in a solid effort to record two third placings.
The second final saw West Aussie Steven Scoble finish fourth, salvaging something out of what had been a pretty torrid weekend for the Top Kart driver with mechanical issues plaguing him during his CIK debut. Ryan Gallagher recorded his first top five finish of the CIK season.
A thought had to be spared for Kosmic driver Damien Radosevic, who was leading the Championship entering this weekend's event. He finished yesterday second on points, but it all went pear shaped at VACC Park. No doubt, he will be keen to put this weekend behind him and move on to the next event at Raleigh (August 7 – 9).
Melbourne’s David Sera put together arguably the drive of his career to take the Rotax Light victory in the Rotax Pro Tour Skyline Cup, coming from the rear of the field to take his second successive Rotax Pro Tour victory.
Sera was forced to start his Arrow X-1 from the rear of grid in the Final after a collision on the opening lap of the Pre-Final. He scythed through the field until he was on racing terms with runaway leader Daniel Rochford. With a handful of laps to run, Sera made his move on Rochford, however the young CC Racing Intrepid driver fought back, meeting the chequered flag line astern with Sera, the margin of victory just 0.047 seconds.
Third place was Bart Price who set his final charge up in the Pre-Final. Price started that race 11th and made best use of the melee in front of him to charge through and secure a front row start alongside Troy Woolston. Price would best Woolston in the final. Rounding out the top five was Tony Kart driver Jordie Lindstrom, who, like Sera had to charge from the back after a turn one Pre-Final incident.
In Rotax Heavy William Yarwood was on-track for a clean sweep of the weekend, however CC Racing’s Paul Rodgers aimed to spoil that. Yarwood, Rogers and Jason Pringle cleared out at the start of the final, before Rogers was able to get past the Queenslander.
Try as he might, Yarwood was unable to make his way past Rodgers who went on to record one of the biggest wins of his career in front of a vocal home crowd and CC Racing team.
Ben Jurczak took his Redspeed machine to a fabulous victory in Formula J-MAX, which doubled as the Victorian Championship for the class. The battle was between pole-sitter Max Johnston, Jurczak, Pierce Lehane and lady racer, Brittany Hall.
In the end, Jurczak was able to assert the advantage to take the win, whilst Johnston held out Lehane in the Rockstar Energy Drinks CRG. The battles all the way through the top 10 raged for the entire 28-lap distance. Matthew Hart charged his way through to finish fourth, whilst Hall was fifth.
Jack Howard in the Crimsafe Arrow was one of the fastest on track after a problem in the Pre-Final and charged his way through to sixth in front of Vodafone Tony Kart driver, Christopher Hays who was in the thick of it near the front of the field before a mid-race collision.
Paul Mapperson won the Rotax Over 35’s category while Travis Millar claimed the victory in the Rotax DD2 category.
The next round of the Australian CIK Championship and Rotax Pro Tour event will be held at the Raleigh Circuit just outside Coffs Harbour, NSW on August 7-9.
The action from this weekend’s event will be broadcast on Fox Sports on July 14 at 3pm, with replays at 10am Saturday, July 18 and Thursday, July 23 at 12pm. |
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